Director, External Communications

CCC Intelligent Solutions•Chicago, IL

1d•Remote

About The Position

CCC Intelligent Solutions Inc. (CCC) is seeking a seasoned communications professional for the role of Director, External Communications. This high-ownership position is responsible for the company’s external reputation across press and industry channels, architecting and maintaining crisis communications capabilities, and managing a supporting analyst relations function. The role is part of a lean, high-functioning corporate communications team and requires a strategic thinker who is also a hands-on practitioner, comfortable pitching journalists, drafting crisis statements, and advising leadership. The Director will collaborate closely with marketing and product marketing through a unified editorial calendar and shared message framework.

Requirements

12+ years of communications experience, with at least 6 years focused on B2B technology PR.
A track record of earning meaningful coverage, including placements in trade and business press that moved perception.
Direct, hands-on experience owning or co-leading crisis communications response, including at least one live, high-stakes situation.
Experience managing external PR agencies with high standards and clear accountability.
Strong executive communication skills — you can advise the C-suite under pressure and push back when the instinct in the room is wrong.
Comfort operating in a lean team where you are both the strategist and the executor.
Familiarity with the insurance, financial services, or enterprise software sectors preferred; direct insurance industry experience a meaningful plus.
Experience with analyst relations at any level; deep AR expertise is not required but intellectual curiosity about the function is.

Responsibilities

Lead all earned media strategy across trade, business, and technology press, with fluency in both the insurance carrier and collision repair markets.
Build and own relationships with key journalists, editors, and producers at priority publications and outlets.
Drive a proactive thought leadership placement program in close partnership with the content team: bylines, contributed articles, executive interviews, and feature coverage.
Own spokesperson readiness through training and maintenance programs.
Own a press release and media monitoring process that delivers internal visibility on news going out the door and coverage secured from PR and thought leadership activities.
Own the PR agency relationship, including setting the strategy, managing priorities, holding the agency accountable to outcomes, and escalating when performance warrants it.
Establish and maintain a PR measurement framework tracking share of voice, narrative alignment, and coverage quality.
Serve as a standing contributor to the unified corporate editorial calendar, ensuring PR activity is coordinated with content, internal comms, and marketing.
Architect, maintain, and continuously improve the company’s crisis communications playbook, including escalation protocols, spokesperson guidance, holding statement libraries, channel-by-channel response frameworks, and post-incident review processes.
Serve as the primary communications lead during active crisis situations, working in direct partnership with legal, HR, and executive leadership.
Conduct regular readiness reviews and tabletop exercises to ensure the company can respond quickly and credibly.
Serve as an ongoing advisor on reputational risk and issues management — identifying and flagging emerging concerns before they reach crisis threshold.
Ensure customer-facing and employee-facing crisis communications are coordinated and sequenced correctly, in partnership with internal communications.
Maintain active relationships with relevant industry analysts covering insurance technology, insurtech, and adjacent enterprise software / AI categories.
Own strategic engagement with key analysts that work to advance our corporate positioning.
Track analyst coverage, reports, and sentiment; ensure key analysts have accurate, current information about the company’s direction, differentiation, and customer outcomes.
Flag analyst perspectives that carry strategic relevance for product, sales, or executive leadership.