Director, Earned Media & Public Relations

Role Summary

Kizik is redefining footwear through hands-free innovation—and building one of the most distinctive product stories in the industry.

As Director, Earned Media & Public Relations, you will be responsible for how Kizik earns attention in the world. This role sits at the center of brand storytelling, cultural relevance, and launch amplification—ensuring our biggest investments in product, partnerships, and marketing translate into conversation, coverage, and cultural momentum.

You will define and lead Kizik’s earned media strategy across product launches, brand campaigns, partnerships, creator collaborations, and high-impact brand moments. You will manage our PR agency and act as a strategic connector across Brand Marketing, Social, Partnerships, and Creative to ensure earned media is embedded from the start. Success in this role means making Kizik disproportionately visible, relevant, and talked about relative to its size and media spend.

While the primary focus of this role is Kizik, you will also support our parent entity, HandsFree Labs® (HFL), with select corporate communications initiatives, helping shape the broader narrative of HFL as a footwear innovation platform and emerging ingredient brand within a licensing-driven future.

Key Responsibilities

Earned Media Strategy & Brand Storytelling

• Define and lead Kizik's earned media strategy in support of brand and business objectives
• Translate product innovation, partnerships, and brand strategy into compelling narratives that generate attention and cultural relevance
• Establish the role earned media plays within Kizik's broader marketing ecosystem and ensure earned opportunities are considered early in campaign development
• Identify opportunities to generate awareness, credibility, and conversation through proactive storytelling and media engagement
• Oversee affiliate and publisher relationships that contribute to brand storytelling, earned visibility, and consumer advocacy
• Lead storytelling and amplify presence on LinkedIn, in coordination with Social team

Launch Amplification & Cultural Storytelling

• Lead earned media strategy for product launches, brand campaigns, partnerships, and key commercial moments
• Ensure every major initiative has a clear earned narrative that extends beyond paid media and owned channels
• Partner with Brand Marketing, Creative, Partnerships, and Social to build integrated storytelling that drives cultural impact
• Lead strategy for high-impact brand events and activations, designing moments that are intentionally built to generate media coverage, creator content, and cultural conversation, and ensuring they are anchored in Kizik’s innovation and cultural positioning
• Identify opportunities to leverage creators, publishers, ambassadors, and affiliate partners as extensions of Kizik's earned media ecosystem.

Agency Leadership & Media Relations

• Lead day-to-day management of Kizik’s PR agency, ensuring strong strategic output, executional excellence, and accountability to business impact
• Set priorities, define success metrics, and ensure agency work consistently elevates brand relevance and visibility
• Build and maintain strong relationships with key media across lifestyle, fashion, business, innovation, sport, and culture
• Serve as a key external representative for Kizik’s brand narrative and storytelling priorities

Cultural Intelligence & Opportunity Identification

• Maintain a strong pulse on culture, creators, sport, entertainment, lifestyle, and emerging consumer trends
• Identify opportunities for Kizik to participate in cultural conversations in ways that are authentic, relevant, and timely
• Bring proactive ideas that help Kizik earn disproportionate attention and cultural relevance
• Partner closely with Social, Influencer, and Partnerships teams to ensure alignment and amplification across channels

Corporate Communications & HFL Narrative

• Support development and amplification of HFL’s corporate narrative, positioning HFL as an innovation platform behind category-defining footwear brands
• Help shape HFL’s evolution as hands-free technology becomes an ingredient brand and licensing platform
• Provide strategic communications counsel across the HFL portfolio, including Kizik and emerging brands such as Blue Ox
• Support executive visibility, thought leadership, and key corporate milestones where appropriate
• Advise on reputational considerations and external communications across the portfolio

Measurement & Optimization

• Define KPIs for earned media performance, including reach, quality of coverage, share of voice, sentiment, and campaign impact
• Deliver regular insights on performance, media landscape trends, and competitive activity
• Continuously refine earned strategy based on results, cultural shifts, and business priorities

Qualifications

• 10 years of experience in public relations, earned media, brand communications, or integrated communications roles
• Passion for building brands, creating cultural relevance, and generating earned attention through breakthrough storytelling
• Proven success developing communications strategies that support broader brand and business objectives
• Strong relationships across consumer, lifestyle, business, innovation, sports, and culture media
• Demonstrated ability to identify cultural trends and translate them into opportunities that drive brand relevance and earned attention
• Exceptional storytelling, writing, communication, and relationship-building skills
• Strong strategic thinking, business acumen, and problem-solving abilities
• Demonstrated ability to influence cross-functional stakeholders and drive alignment across multiple teams and partners
• Highly organized with the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment
• Experience supporting both consumer brand storytelling and corporate communications initiatives, with the ability to move fluidly between product narratives, cultural storytelling, and business communications