Manager, Enterprise Communications

Denny's • Spartanburg, SC

10d • $95,000 - $130,900

About The Position

This role shapes how Denny’s business strategy, priorities, decisions, and performance are communicated across the enterprise. It connects individual departmental updates to the broader direction of the company, translating complex business information into clear communications that explain what is happening, why it matters, and what comes next. The position helps create a consistent enterprise narrative across leadership, departmental, and operational communications. It also involves reviewing and strengthening communications drafted by functional departments, refining message hierarchy, structure, tone, strategic context, timing, and calls to action. The role identifies unclear direction, unsupported claims, missing context, and potential audience concerns before communications are distributed, while preserving the subject-matter intent and ensuring the final communication meets enterprise standards. The Manager, Enterprise Communications tailors communications for various audiences including Team Members, restaurant managers, above-restaurant leaders, multi-unit managers, franchisees, and executive leadership, determining what each audience needs to know, the context required, and the subsequent actions. It recommends appropriate channels, sequencing, and timing for priority communications. The role develops communication briefs based on leadership direction and departmental input, defining objectives, audiences, key messages, business context, timing, risks, and required actions. It also surfaces areas requiring leadership alignment before communications are distributed enterprise-wide and helps leaders prepare for likely questions, concerns, and operational implications. In partnership with the Director of Enterprise Communications, this role supports executive messaging by drafting or refining leadership messages, scripts, presentations, memos, talking points, and enterprise updates, ensuring executive communications reflect the leader’s voice while aligning with company strategy. The position handles sensitive and time-critical information with sound judgment and discretion. It maintains visibility across major enterprise communications and business milestones, identifying competing messages, duplication, content gaps, and sequencing risks, and helps establish editorial priorities based on business importance and audience need, supporting a disciplined enterprise communications calendar. Additionally, the role reviews and strengthens external content such as press releases and media pitches, ensuring internal and external communications are factually consistent and strategically aligned, and develops original external content when required. The position also develops and refines social and editorial content for Denny’s Made, ensuring storytelling is human, distinctive, and connected to the brand narrative, and partners with Communications, Marketing, and other functional teams to identify relevant stories. Finally, it builds strong working relationships across departments, providing constructive guidance to strengthen communications and working with leaders and subject-matter experts to resolve unclear direction, moving work forward with urgency while protecting accuracy, alignment, and audience trust.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in communications, journalism, English, business or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
• Five or more years of experience in corporate communications, business communications, editorial strategy, executive communications or a related discipline.
• Exceptional writing, editing and message-development skills.
• Demonstrated ability to translate complex business strategy into clear, actionable communication.
• Strong business judgment and the ability to understand operational, financial and organizational priorities.
• Experience supporting senior executives and working across multiple functions.
• Ability to manage competing priorities and deliver high-quality work under tight deadlines.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in a franchise, restaurant, retail or multi-unit operating environment is preferred.
• Public relations, media writing or external storytelling experience is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Shapes how Denny’s business strategy, priorities, decisions and performance are communicated across the enterprise.
• Connects individual departmental updates to the broader direction of the company.
• Translates complex business information into communications that clearly explain what is happening, why it matters and what comes next.
• Helps create a consistent enterprise narrative across leadership, departmental and operational communications.
• Reviews and strengthens communications drafted by functional departments.
• Refines message hierarchy, structure, tone, strategic context, timing and calls to action.
• Identifies unclear direction, unsupported claims, missing context and potential audience concerns before communications are distributed.
• Preserves the subject-matter intent while ensuring the final communication meets enterprise standards.
• Maintains clear accountability: departments own their content and accuracy; this role owns strategic and editorial readiness.
• Tailors communications for Team Members, restaurant managers, above-restaurant leaders, multi-unit managers, franchisees and executive leadership.
• Determines what each audience needs to know, how much context is required and what action should follow.
• Ensures messages reflect the business realities and expectations of the audience receiving them.
• Recommends the appropriate channel, sequencing and timing for priority communications.
• Develops communication briefs based on leadership direction and departmental input.
• Defines the communication objective, audience, key messages, business context, timing, risks and required actions.
• Surfaces areas requiring leadership alignment before communications move across the enterprise.
• Helps leaders prepare for likely questions, concerns and operational implications.
• Partners with the Director of Enterprise Communications to support executive messaging.
• Drafts or refines leadership messages, scripts, presentations, memos, talking points and enterprise updates.
• Ensures executive communications reflect the leader’s voice while remaining aligned with company strategy.
• Handles sensitive and time-critical information with sound judgment and discretion.
• Maintains visibility across major enterprise communications and business milestones.
• Identifies competing messages, unnecessary duplication, content gaps and sequencing risks.
• Helps establish editorial priorities based on business importance and audience need.
• Supports a disciplined enterprise communications calendar.
• Reviews and strengthens press releases, media pitches, statements and other external content developed by the PR team.
• Helps ensure internal and external communications are factually consistent and strategically aligned.
• Develops original external content when required for a communications-owned priority or time-sensitive business need.
• Develops and refines social and editorial content for Denny’s Made, a platform that brings forward the people, stories and experiences shaped by America’s Diner.
• Ensures storytelling is human, distinctive and connected to Denny’s broader brand narrative.
• Partners with Communications, Marketing and other functional teams to identify stories with meaningful internal and external relevance.
• Builds strong working relationships across departments while maintaining clear editorial standards.
• Provides direct, constructive guidance that helps functional teams strengthen their communications.
• Works with leaders and subject-matter experts to resolve unclear, conflicting or incomplete direction.
• Moves work forward with urgency while protecting accuracy, alignment and audience trust.

Benefits

• Equal employment opportunity for all persons regardless of age, race, creed, color, national origin, citizenship status, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, genetic information, military or veteran's status, criminal background, or any other characteristic protected by Federal, State, or local law.
• Reasonable accommodation for any part of the application process.

What This Job Offers

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