Director, Thought Leadership and Newsroom

About this role

Why UKG:
At UKG, the work you do matters. The code you ship, the decisions you make, and the care you show a customer all add up to real impact. Today, tens of millions of workers start and end their days with our workforce operating platform. Helping people get paid, grow in their careers, and shape the future of their industries. That's what we do.

We never stop learning. We never stop challenging the norm. We push for better, and we celebrate the wins along the way. Here, you'll get flexibility that's real, benefits you can count on, and a team that succeeds together. Because at UKG, your work matters-and so do you.

About the Role:UKG is seeking a Director of Thought Leadership & Newsroom to define the industry conversations UKG will lead and build the editorial engine that enables us to own them over time. This leader will shape distinctive, market-facing points of view on the forces transforming work, workforce operations, and business performance-creating sustained authority around the ideas where UKG has the expertise, data, customer proof, and ambition to lead. Operating at the intersection of thought leadership, market intelligence, editorial strategy, research, executive positioning, and customer storytelling, the Director will turn UKG's unique intelligence into compelling narratives for C-suite and enterprise audiences.

The ambition: move UKG from participating in important conversations to helping define them.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Define the Conversations UKG Will Own

• Lead UKG's enterprise thought leadership strategy, identifying the industry conversations where we can build sustained authority and differentiation.

• Develop distinctive points of view informed by customer needs, market dynamics, competitive whitespace, workforce trends, UKG intelligence, and emerging technology.

• Build narratives from the outside in-starting with the issues occupying senior business leaders.

• Create signature thought leadership platforms and intellectual property that strengthen UKG's position in Workforce Operations and other strategic areas.

Build a Modern B2B Newsroom

• Build and lead an always-on newsroom that connects planned thought leadership with emerging news, business trends, customer conversations, workforce dynamics, and technology developments.

• Establish the newsroom as a trusted industry resource and destination-helping leaders make sense of the forces shaping work and workforce operations, strengthening the broader community, and creating value beyond UKG's own news and perspectives.

• Tap the breadth of expertise across UKG, building strong partnerships with teams across the business to surface timely insights, proprietary data, research, customer perspectives, subject-matter expertise, and other resources that make the newsroom more useful and authoritative.

• Establish the intelligence, editorial agenda, operating rhythm, and governance needed to identify opportunities early and respond with speed and authority.

• Develop a portfolio spanning proprietary research, data-driven storytelling, executive perspectives, customer-led narratives, rapid-response commentary, and other high-impact formats.

• Serve as a visible editorial voice for the newsroom when appropriate-hosting or moderating podcasts, interviews, digital programming, and industry conversations that bring together UKG experts, customers, and external voices.

• Shift UKG from a launch-led to a conversation-led communications model, using product innovation and company moments as proof of broader narratives we are already building in the market.

Turn UKG Intelligence Into Influence

• Mine UKG's proprietary data, research, customer base, workforce expertise, and product intelligence for insights the market cannot get elsewhere.

• Translate complex workforce, AI, technology, economic, and business issues into clear, compelling narratives for senior enterprise audiences.

• Partner across the business to develop original research, data stories, customer proof, and evidence-backed perspectives that can generate market conversation.

• Create ideas designed to travel across earned media, executive platforms, owned and social channels, search and AI discovery, events, analysts, customers, and sales.

Elevate Executive and Customer Voices

• Serve as a strategic thought leadership advisor to senior UKG executives, helping build distinctive external platforms aligned to the conversations UKG seeks to own.

• Identify influential opportunities across media, executive forums, industry events, customer convenings, and digital channels.

• Partner across the business to identify customer executives who can credibly join UKG in shaping conversations around business transformation, AI, productivity, frontline work, and workforce operations.

• Move beyond traditional product stories to executive-level narratives supported by meaningful outcomes and proof.

Connect Reputation to Growth

• Partner across Communications, Marketing, Product, Sales, Customer Experience, Research, and other teams to connect UKG's thought leadership agenda to company strategy and the customer journey.

• Build intellectual territory that Communications can use to create authority, Marketing can activate, Product can substantiate, customers can validate, and Sales can use to advance strategic conversations.

• Ensure major product and company moments reinforce broader conversations UKG is already leading.

• Advance strategic priorities including Workforce Operations category leadership, customer-led growth, AI-powered innovation, and UKG's visibility across media, search, AI, and key influencers.

Build and Lead the Capability

• Build the team, operating model, editorial standards, governance, agency ecosystem, and measurement framework for a world-class B2B thought leadership and newsroom function.

• Develop high-performing talent and a broader network of executives, researchers, customer voices, subject-matter…