Executive Director, Media Relations

Description

The Estée Lauder Companies

The Estée Lauder Companies is seeking a highly strategic, globally minded Executive Director, Global Communications – Media Relations to safeguard and elevate the Company’s corporate reputation through world-class media engagement, thought leadership, and proactive enterprise storytelling. As a senior leader within Global Corporate Affairs, this role drives the Company’s overarching earned media vision, provides strategic counsel to senior executives, and ensures consistent, high-impact communication across global markets.

Reporting to the Vice President, the Executive Director will shape the Company’s external narrative, deepen its influence across global business and industry media, and strengthen alignment across regions, functions, and brand portfolios.

The ideal candidate is a seasoned communications leader with exceptional media acumen, proven experience navigating complex issues, and the ability to translate business strategy into compelling global stories that advance corporate reputation.

Key Responsibilities

70% – Global Media Strategy & Corporate Positioning

• Lead and evolve The Estée Lauder Companies’ global earned media strategy, ensuring alignment with enterprise priorities, transformation initiatives, and corporate reputation objectives.
• Serve as a senior media spokesperson for the Company, representing corporate positions on complex business, economic, and industry topics.
• Cultivate and steward high-level relationships with top-tier global, financial, and trade media, positioning the Company as a trusted, authoritative source.
• Architect and secure high-impact, strategic media opportunities for enterprise leaders and corporate initiatives, driving visibility across priority markets and audiences.
• Oversee the development and continuous optimization of the corporate editorial calendar, partnering with global and regional communications teams to ensure message consistency and amplification.
• Collaborate closely with Investor Relations, Legal, HR, ESG, Global Brands, and Regional Communications to ensure cohesive narratives and alignment on business-critical announcements.
• Provide executive-level oversight for content development, including press releases, executive messaging, media statements, Q&As, op-eds, speeches, and enterprise storytelling.
• Serve as a senior advisor on issues and crisis communications, providing strategic guidance, leading response workflows, and ensuring readiness to mitigate reputational risk.

30% – Organizational Leadership, Operations & Performance Optimization

• Oversee global media monitoring, analytics, and reporting, ensuring insights translate into actionable strategies and improved performance across markets.
• Lead and continuously refine processes for inbound media inquiries, leadership visibility requests, and speaking engagement assessments.
• Manage and enhance relationships with agencies, vendors, and global market partners to ensure efficiency, alignment, and world-class operational execution.
• Champion the integration of AI, digital intelligence, and data analytics tools to strengthen narrative impact, measurement, and foresight across the function.
• Contribute to organizational planning, capability-building initiatives, and process improvements that elevate the Global Communications function globally.

Qualifications

• 15+ years experience working within corporate affairs/corporate communications role, leading, developing and executing end⁃to⁃end external and internal strategies
• Ability to function effectively with rapidly changing priorities and demands and to remain calm under pressure
• Extensive corporate external communications experience with an active network of resources and media relationships
• Strong strategist and self⁃starter who is an innovative, creative⁃thinker with proven ability to create extraordinary strategic plans, communications and campaigns that drive engagement, results, understanding and change where needed
• Demonstrated strong experience proactively mapping, mitigating and leading issues/crises management in a corporate business environment
• Adept at managing relationships at senior leader level, and ability to influence and build strong relationships with direct reports, peers and stakeholders at all levels
• Superb writer, with a demonstrated ability to build strategies and distill complex content into clear, concise and engaging communications, with speed and accuracy
• Experience blending traditional internal communications tactics with new media, including enterprise collaboration and online platforms
• Strong storyteller with the ability to create compelling narratives in support of our business strategies, and excellent presentation skills
• Tenacious and able to see ideas through to execution
• Capable of taking on a varied degree of tasks and responsibilities, from leadership to hands⁃on content creation/editing
• Able to handle highly confidential information with sensitivity, integrity and good judgement
• Bachelor's Degree (Public Relations, Communications, Marketing, or Journalism preferred)