Head of Corporate Narrative & Strategy

AeroVironment•Arlington, VA

13d

About The Position

The Head of Corporate Narrative & Strategy owns AeroVironment’s enterprise narrative architecture, thought leadership program, content strategy, and measurement approach. The role makes the company’s six business units read as one coherent market position by establishing shared message pillars, a predictable editorial system, and evidence of impact with priority audiences. It reports to the VP of Marketing & Communications and leads the narrative function, initially with one direct report and a defined path to a small team. This is a strategy and leadership role, not a content-production or media-relations role. It establishes what AV says and why, working upstream of delivery channels and alongside business unit leadership, Product Marketing, and the executive team. Industry & Media Relations retains media logistics, public affairs coordination, Tier 1 media relationships, release execution, and release authority. The role owns corporate narrative and competitive positioning at the enterprise level; develops and operates a company-wide thought leadership program; advises executives on narrative and messaging; establishes content architecture, governance, and standards; measures content performance, share of voice, and AI visibility; and connects narrative priorities to Sales and Business Development pursuits. It also leads and develops the narrative function and manages a defined budget for thought leadership, content development and distribution, and measurement. The role operates under a single-accountable-owner model with explicit decision rights under DARCIE. It can decide autonomously on framing within the approved architecture, thought leadership topics and voices, editorial sequencing, content standards, and measurement. Changes to core narrative or message pillars, commitments beyond the budget threshold, and matters involving public-release, classification, or disclosure risk escalate to the VP of Marketing & Communications. The position requires access to ITAR- and/or EAR-controlled information; applicants must qualify as a U.S. person or be eligible for an export license. Some positions may require current U.S. citizenship due to contract requirements.

Requirements

12+ years of experience in communications, editorial, or narrative strategy, including meaningful experience in defense, aerospace, government, or another regulated environment where message accuracy carries consequence.
Demonstrated ownership of an enterprise messaging architecture, including authored narrative documents, message frameworks, and positioning systems that other teams used.
Experience building a thought leadership or editorial program from the ground up, including its roster, framework, and operating cadence.
Fluency in defense buyer decision-making, including program-of-record lifecycles, acquisition timelines, the roles of primes and non-traditional entrants, and the difference between capability claims and operational proof.
Ability to translate engineering data, test results, and program details for executives, investors, and the public without losing accuracy.
Measurement literacy, including defining narrative success quantitatively, building tracking, and changing plans based on results.
Ability to work within export control, classification, and public-release constraints without diluting message strength.
Credibility with technical and program stakeholders, who treat the role as a partner to the work.
Applicants must qualify as a U.S. person under ITAR/EAR requirements or be a person eligible for an export license; some positions may require current U.S. citizenship due to contract requirements.

Nice To Haves

People management experience or demonstrated functional leadership with workstream ownership and accountability for others’ output.
Journalism, editorial, or broadcast background with a record of publishing under deadline.
Working knowledge of how AI systems surface and cite company content and what influences their answers.
Active clearance, or eligibility and willingness to obtain one.
Experience building reputation for a company competing against established primes and emerging entrants.

Responsibilities

Own AV’s core corporate narrative, tiered messaging framework, and enterprise positioning connecting company strategy to external communications.
Maintain narrative architecture connecting enterprise strategy to executive messaging, thought leadership, campaigns, corporate storytelling, and talent communications.
Own enterprise-level competitive positioning in external messaging, aligned with Product Marketing’s responsibility for portfolio- and product-level positioning.
Translate mission outcomes, program milestones, and technical capabilities into accurate narratives for government customers, allied partners, investors, and industry audiences.
Own the thought leadership program end to end, including topic strategy, subject-matter expert roster, qualification criteria, editorial framework, development process, distribution, and measurement.
Scale thought leadership across business units and sequence content around buyer questions and corporate campaigns.
Own byline, speaking, award, and platform strategy for AV and its executives, including subject selection, voice assignment, ghostwriting, and venue prioritization.
Advise the VP of Marketing & Communications and selected executive leaders and designated thought leaders on narrative.
Brief executive leadership on messaging priorities, share of voice, external framing, and emerging narrative risks.
Develop framing frameworks for investor, government-facing, and industry engagements jointly with Investor Relations and Washington Operations, consistent with the enterprise narrative.
Own enterprise content architecture, including content types, formats, and editorial systems for reaching audiences and channels.
Conduct narrative review and approval of press releases and major external content for framing, message alignment, positioning, and consistency with enterprise priorities; release authority remains with Industry & Media Relations.
Set standards and operating models that enable other teams to apply the narrative consistently.
Own corporate communications KPIs, content performance, share-of-voice framework, and evidence-based performance decisions.
Own AV’s AI visibility measurement capability, including its baseline, methodology, and recurring tracking of how AI systems represent AV against its peer set.
Identify narrative gaps from performance data and convert them into content priorities with named owners and dates.
Establish a standing connection between enterprise narrative and Sales and Business Development priorities to support strategic pursuits.
Map message pillars to priority pursuits and target audiences, establish a review cadence with Business Development, and assess field use.
Lead the corporate narrative function across narrative architecture, thought leadership, content strategy, executive messaging, and measurement.
Manage and develop a direct report, with a path to a small team as the function scales.
Own and manage a defined corporate narrative budget for thought leadership, content development and distribution, and measurement against named deliverables and an approval threshold.