Head of Brand and Editorial

Arc Institute • Palo Alto, CA

1d

About The Position

Arc Institute is an independent nonprofit research organization at the interface of artificial intelligence and biology. The Head of Brand and Editorial will lead Arc’s storytelling for its next stage, unifying brand, communications, and editorial work. The role sets the creative and strategic vision for how Arc communicates with the world, partners with founders and other leaders on communications strategy, and leads the teams responsible for execution. It is a player-coach position involving both strategic leadership and hands-on work.

The role owns Arc’s story as a new model for scientific institutions and as a producer of meaningful research, ensuring it is expressed consistently across media, web, brand, publications, and internal communications. The leader will integrate and develop the Communications and Scientific Publications teams, raise the standard of their work, and communicate scientific discoveries accurately and effectively. The position also develops Arc’s brand in scientific and AI talent markets, supports proactive media relations and internal communications, and establishes ways to measure the effectiveness of brand, communications, and editorial efforts.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree or advanced degree in a field applied to marketing and communications.
• At least 15 years of experience in communications, brand, marketing, and/or editorial roles.
• Significant experience leading and developing teams and managing other managers.
• Track record of setting communications or brand strategy for a technically sophisticated organization in areas such as AI, computing, biotechnology, life sciences, or other deep technical domains, and translating complex work for various audiences.
• Demonstrated success partnering with founders, executives, and/or researchers.
• Exceptional writing and editorial judgment, including the ability to elevate others’ writing.
• Ability to operate strategically while remaining hands-on.
• Comfort working in a fast-paced, rapidly scaling organization.

Nice To Haves

• Previous work at frontier AI labs, technology startups, biotech, life sciences, or academic/research institutions.
• Experience managing relationships with national and trade media.
• Familiarity with scientific publishing and the norms of academic communication.

Responsibilities

• Own and articulate Arc’s story as a new model for scientific institutions and as a producer of meaningful research, and ensure consistent expression across media, web, brand, publications, and internal communications.
• Partner with Arc’s founders and scientific leaders, translating their expertise into clear creative direction and actionable plans for the team.
• Lead, integrate, and develop the Communications and Scientific Publications teams as a unified storytelling and editorial function; set priorities, raise the standard of craft, and support team members and leaders in their growth and success.
• Lead the communication of Arc’s scientific discoveries, working closely with researchers to communicate their work accurately, clearly, and effectively.
• Set a high standard of taste and sophistication across Arc’s output and build systems and review practices to sustain that standard as the Institute scales.
• Develop Arc’s brand in scientific and AI talent markets, partnering with People, University Relations, and other colleagues on integrated internal and external communications.
• Build productive relationships with reporters to support a proactive media strategy and respond to coverage as needed.
• Define a framework to measure the effectiveness of Arc’s brand, communications, and editorial efforts.
• Collaborate with multiple Arc teams on internal communications.

Benefits

• Eligible for an annual discretionary bonus, with the amount dependent on individual and Institute performance factors.
• Eligible to participate in the Institute’s Compound Cash Grant Program, which provides multi-year cash grants paid in semi-annual installments.

What This Job Offers

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