Senior Manager - Communications and Media Relations

About the job

Over the next ten years, our mission is to take Blackbird from the best venture firm in Australia and New Zealand to one of the best in the world. Your mission is to use communications and media to get us there.

The role

You will help Blackbird set its own media and communications agenda. To determine when we speak, how we're framed, and even whether we speak at all. This is an individual contributor role, so you will be driving the outputs, with additional budget to accelerate outcomes where required.

Some examples of the work you'll do :

• Set our media posture. Decide how Blackbird shows up in the press, and how it doesn't. When we respond, when we stay quiet, and on whose terms. You will help us see the whole board, hold a clear position under pressure, and bring the team with you when the pressure is on. This is where Blackbird takes control of its own voice.
• Decide what's worth saying. Volume of coverage is not necessarily the goal. The right coverage is. You will have a strong instinct for the difference between a story that builds the firm and a headline that simply fills a clipping file, and the discipline to chase the former and let the latter go. You’ll collaborate closely with Investor Relations, Brand and Community teams to ensure fewer, better, more deliberate headlines, lined up against what matters most to Blackbird commercially.
• Earn the right kind of attention. Build a distinctive and credible presence in the markets that decide our future, Australasia and North America, across the media that founders, operators and investors actually pay attention to. In practice, this means building our voice in new channels and platforms that reach our ecosystem and founders wherever they sit.
• Build the relationships that make it possible. Know the journalists and the voices who cover our world, and be known by them, so that when we have something to say, the people we want already trust us enough to amplify our story. This is a relationship-led craft, not a churn factory.
• Grow the firm's reputation. You know how to use reputation as a tool to accelerate Blackbird and our portfolio companies’ success. You will build our reputation outward-in by communicating what matters most to founders and investors.
• Defend it when it's tested. When Blackbird's reputation is under threat, you are on the front line. You manage our external crisis advisors and make the call on how and when we respond. The job is to protect what we have built.

We know that candidates, especially women and people from underrepresented backgrounds, often hesitate to apply unless they meet 100% of the qualifications. If this role excites you and you meet most of the requirements, we encourage you to apply. We value potential and are committed to supporting growth in this role.

Key skills we’re looking for in this position:

• An understanding of our operating context. You will have sound working knowledge of investment management preferably in venture capital or private equity. This may come from experience at a fund, a portfolio company, or as an astute observer of the sector.
• Judgment about what matters. You can tell the difference between attention that builds a firm and attention that flatters it, and you would rather have less of the right kind than more of the wrong kind.
• Media instinct, and the relationships to act on it. You understand how the press works from the inside, you have the relationships that prove it, and you have the credibility and the appetite to extend them internationally and through emerging platforms.
• The nerve to hold a position. You can advise senior people, push back when the approach doesn't fit the goal, and hold your ground under pressure without becoming rigid. A fund announcement, a sensitive story and a deadline can land in the same week, and you keep your composure and your standards through all three.
• Range across the people in the room. You hold your own with founders, operators, journalists and partners, and you read each room for what it is.
• Comfort with how we actually work. We are a small team, and you will be getting your hands dirty every day. You will work in close proximity to Blackbird’s partners. You use AI to think faster and work sharper, and you know where it helps and where human judgment is non-negotiable. You’ll experiment with new formats and then rely on audience and engagement data to aid in decisions about where we double down.

What you'll get:

Direct access to the people who matter. You will work alongside Blackbird's partners and GPs. You will help shape how one of the most consequential firms in this part of the world is understood, with a direct line to the people making the decisions you are helping to tell the world about.

You’ll never have a slow news day. Our portfolio includes more than 125 companies from pre-seed to publicly listed, and ambitious founders who are solving hard problems in energy, space, biology, quantum computing, artificial intelligence and more. Beyond our current portfolio, you’ll find inspiration in the stories that emerge from our community and programmes.

What success looks like:‍

Within your first three months you will have built on our trust with key voices, applied a discerning lens to media opportunities, and reached new, valuable audiences.

Across the first 12 months, media and communications become a powerful tool for the things that matter to Blackbird: attracting capital, talent, and ideas. A key focus for the business will be aligning our media presence with our fundraise strategy, to increase brand recognition and drive inbound enquiries from the right type of investor globally.

Crucially, within 12 months, we are understood beyond our home region. The people we care about offshore, in the markets that decide our future, understand who Blackbird is. We are part of the conversations we want to be in, not observing from Australia.

Working at Blackbird

We believe that building a diverse and inclusive team is critical to Blackbird’s success. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, national origin, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, or marital, veteran, or disability status.

We offer:

• Flexible working: Whether it’s working from home, leaving early to pick up the kids or fitting in your favorite exercise class. We encourage you to explore when you're most productive and work in that style.
• Generous parental leave: We know family comes first, and we are proud to offer 20 weeks of parental leave for all parents (an additional 4 weeks for the birth parent), with no minimum tenure. In addition, we offer IVF, adoption and surrogacy leave. We also continue to pay superannuation and vest carried interest for up to 12 months of parental leave, and offer a supportive return-to-work policy to help with the ramp back.
• Learning & Development Budget: Our team is hungry to continuously learn and you’ll receive a budget to spend on books, conferences, training, coaching and courses relating to your profession.
• Wellbeing: We think in decades not days. To support our Blackbirds over the long haul we offer a range of holistic wellbeing benefits including a monthly healthy living allowance, 24/7 access to wellbeing support, a home office allowance, personal kit-kat days, and more!
• Unplugged weekends: We work hard without letting work get in the way of life. We’ve implemented no Slack or emails on weekends, so you can switch off and enjoy yourself.
• Connection: While being big fans of a fully distributed workforce, we value our vibe and time to connect online and IRL through team and company offsites, monthly social activities, weekly lunches and our many social clubs (#fun-manis, #fun-fantasybookclub, #bb-craft just to name a few!).

Blackbird is a Pledge 1% member — we pledge 1% of our time, equity and profits to help not-for-profit causes in our community. Through Pledge 1%, we established the Blackbird Foundation to supercharge the creative capabilities of young people.

We are also very proud to have won the 2023 AFR Best Place to Work award in three categories including Overall winner. In 2022, we became certified as one of Australia’s Great Places to Work. Additionally, you can find us on the 2024 Hatch hotlist!

About Blackbird

Blackbird is Australia's biggest venture capital fund whose mission is to supercharge Australia and New Zealand’s most ambitious founders. We do this by raising venture capital funds, investing into the best startup companies and helping them succeed. Our portfolio is worth over $9B, and includes more than 150 companies across Australia and New Zealand, from Canva and CultureAmp to rising stars like Halter, Partly, Gilmour Space, Eucalyptus, Fleet and Tracksuit.

We are inspired by investment firms such as Berkshire Hathaway and Bridgewater Associates. Like the companies we back, we want to build a business that lasts for decades and produces excellent returns for our investors. Most of all, we want to support our region’s most talented founders build category-defining technology companies.

We’ve written a lot about what we love at Blackbird, so check out our blog if you want some more information about us. In particular, you should read about our mission and values, our Blackbird’s Operating Principles (BOPs) and what we look for in founders.

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