Director, Integration Communications

Grant Thornton • Chicago, IL

5d • $187,000 - $250,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

The Director, Integration Communications develops and delivers integration communications for Grant Thornton’s Global Transformation Office (GTO), which governs integration and value creation across the multinational platform. The role translates integration and operating model decisions into a clear, sequenced communications program for acquired member firms, existing practices, and firm leadership. It owns the integration narrative, the executive and acquired-entity-facing communications calendar, and channel infrastructure used by regional and entity teams. The position begins as an individual lead and is expected to build and lead a communications team as integration volume grows.

The Director works within the GTO’s governance, cadence, and playbooks, and coordinates closely with Grant Thornton Advisors Communications and Change Management. Communications is responsible for narrative, messaging, channels, and content, while Change Management leads stakeholder analysis, readiness, training, and adoption. The role also supports executive and employee communications, establishes scalable delivery tools and standards, measures effectiveness, and builds lasting communications capability across integration waves.

The position follows the firm’s hybrid work model and requires in-person attendance at least three days per week at a Grant Thornton office or client site. The base salary range is $187,000 to $250,000, with placement determined by factors including skills, experience, business needs, location, and internal equity.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• 10 or more years of internal, change, or transformation communications experience.
• Demonstrated experience communicating through M&A, integration, or large-scale operating model change, including sensitive workforce and organizational messaging.
• Proven ability to advise and write credibly for senior executives and partner audiences.
• Experience operating within an enterprise transformation or PMO governance model and working to shared roadmaps, RAID logs, and reporting standards.
• Track record of building scalable communications infrastructure, including channels, templates, and toolkits.
• Exceptional writing, editing, and stakeholder-management skills, with strong judgment on sensitive matters.
• Experience working across multiple regions, cultures, and languages.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite and relevant communications and intranet platforms.

Nice To Haves

• Advanced degree or relevant certification.
• Experience in professional services or another partnership-led environment.

Responsibilities

• Own the enterprise integration narrative, including the case for change, destination operating model, and value story, ensuring consistency across audiences, regions, and entities.
• Build and maintain an integrated communications strategy and calendar aligned with the GTO’s wave-based integration roadmap, Day 1, Day 100, and steady-state gates, in coordination with Grant Thornton Advisors Communications.
• Translate operating model and functional design decisions into credible, usable language for partners, practitioners, and support professionals.
• Establish audience-specific messaging architecture, key message sets, and approved language libraries.
• Advise GTO leadership, workstream leads, and acquired-entity leadership on sensitive, high-visibility integration messaging.
• Develop executive communications, town hall content, leadership briefing packs, and talking points for firm and entity leaders, including managing partners and regional leaders.
• Equip people leaders with cascade kits, manager guides, and Q&A materials that anticipate integration-related questions.
• Manage communications for sensitive integration events, including brand transitions, systems cutovers, organizational design changes, and location or role impacts, in partnership with People & Culture, Legal, and Risk.
• Serve as the integration communications liaison to Grant Thornton Advisors Communications.
• Design and deliver entity-specific communications journeys from announcement through full integration, tailored to each entity’s size, culture, and integration path.
• Ensure acquired-entity professionals receive timely, accurate information about changes, timing, implications, and support resources.
• Coordinate internal and external message alignment with Grant Thornton Advisors Communications, Brand, Marketing, and Growth.
• Own the integration communications channel ecosystem, including intranet and hub content, email and newsletter programs, and collaboration-platform presence.
• Establish templates, toolkits, brand-compliant assets, and self-service resources that scale delivery across regions.
• Set standards, approval routes, and quality control for integration communications, including communications originating from regional and entity teams.
• Manage agency, contractor, and creative resources supporting integration communications delivery.
• Partner with the Change Management Lead to coordinate communications and change management as a unified people-side integration agenda.
• Sequence communications against change-readiness milestones and maintain a joint calendar, shared stakeholder map, and agreed RACI with relevant teams and regional leads.
• Define and track communications effectiveness measures and use results to adjust channel mix, cadence, and message content.
• Report communications health and sentiment trends into GTO governance and escalate emerging risks early.
• Capture reusable playbooks, templates, and lessons learned after each integration wave.
• Establish the integration communications function with Grant Thornton Advisors Communications, define its operating model, build the case for incremental capacity, and recruit and lead a communications team as integration volume scales.
• Lead and develop communications support resources within the GTO, aligning their work with integration priorities and regional demand.
• Direct partner, agency, or advisory resources supporting delivery, transitioning capability in-house over time.
• Represent the function with executive presence and deliver clear, concise, executive-ready communications and deliverables.
• Build durable communications capability that continues beyond any single integration wave.

Benefits

• Personalized and comprehensive benefits; specific benefit offerings are described on the company’s careers website.
• Employees may be eligible for a discretionary annual bonus based on individual and firm performance.
• Work-life integration options.
• Options related to work location, weekly schedule, and flex time off.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director