Job Details

Instawork's vision is to create economic opportunities for local businesses and skilled hourly workers in communities around the world. With an AI-first approach, we're supercharging the leading online labor marketplace and looking for exceptional talent to help us build the future of hourly work. Backed by world-class investors like Benchmark, Spark Capital, Craft Ventures, Greylock, Y Combinator, and more, we want you to help us continue to scale quickly and make an even greater impact.

The Head of Strategic Communications is a key leadership role that will shape and amplify Instawork's external narrative by demonstrating how AI, technology, and our growing community of Professionals and Partners are transforming hourly work. This leader will ensure Instawork's distinct voice is represented across media, policy, and industry forums, working closely with the CEO, VP of Marketing, and Chief Legal Officer.

This position blends thought leadership, strategic media relations, and both human and AI-powered storytelling to position Instawork as the authority on flexible work, labor economics, and workforce technology. The role requires a hands-on, ownership mindset: being highly engaged, present with the team in our San Francisco office five days a week, and focused on delivering results that advance our vision.

Who You Are:

• A proven leader with a strategic mindset, willing to roll up sleeves to execute.
• Deep experience leveraging AI tools for content creation, media monitoring, and data storytelling.
• 6-12+ years in progressive roles in strategic communications, corporate PR, or journalism, ideally with a tech or data-driven focus.
• Proven ability to translate complex AI and workforce trends into clear, impactful stories for press, customers, and policy stakeholders.
• Experience serving as chief spokesperson with strong relationships with tech, business, and labor/economics media outlets (preferred).
• Exceptional writing and editing skills.
• Experience handling crisis and/or complex situations with speed and sound judgment.
• Executive presence and confidence representing the company with media, policy leaders, the board, and investors.
• Ability to work from our San Francisco office five days per week.

What You'll Do:

• Communications Strategy
  • Develop and execute Instawork's comprehensive communications strategy to influence multiple internal and external stakeholders and drive business results.
  • Shape narratives around Instawork's vision, product innovation, and labor economics research.
• Media & AI Thought Leadership
  • Build and expand relationships with top-tier media, policy makers, and industry influencers.
  • Translate AI advancements and workforce data into engaging, human-centered stories.
  • Partner with leadership to secure high-profile speaking opportunities, awards, and recognitions.
  • Collaborate with Product and Marketing to highlight AI capabilities in product launches, research, and brand campaigns, positioning Instawork as a leader in applying AI to hiring, workforce optimization, robotics, and economic insights.
• Data & AI Storytelling
  • Collaborate with marketing to showcase how Instawork is driving economic opportunity and revitalizing local economies, positioning these community-level impacts as compelling stories for media coverage and to promote on owned channels.
  • Leverage Instawork's Economic Research program to turn raw data and AI-driven insights (e.g., Pay Signal Index, Flexible Workforce Reports) into compelling communications.
  • Package proprietary "data exhaust", including dashboards, reports, and AI-powered forecasts, into media-ready content.
  • Collaborate with internal teams and Instawork Partners and Professionals, to mine the real human-centric stories that Instawork enables by helping people thrive at work and helping businesses grow more efficiently.
• Internal Communications
  • Work closely with CEO, HR and other executives to build programs and communications to ensure employees are informed and engaged.
• Issue Management
  • Serve as senior advisor to the executive team, overseeing communications planning and execution during sensitive or high-stake situations.

For CA based applicants:

• The base salary for this position is $250,000 - $325,000
• This position is eligible for equity in the form of stock options.
• This position is eligible for Instawork benefits, including:
• A variety of medical, dental, and vision plans with coverage beginning on the date of hire
• Flexible paid time off
• At least 8 paid company holidays annually
• Phone stipend
• Commuter stipend
• Supplemental pay on qualified leaves
• Employee health savings accounts (HSA) contribution
• Flexible spending plans
• 401K plan
• Perkspot - discount program through Lumity

A variety of factors are considered when determining someone's compensation including a candidate's professional background, experience, and location. Final offer amounts may vary from the amounts listed above.

LI-Onsite

Our Values

Empathy, Trust & Candor
We put ourselves in the shoes of our colleagues and customers and don't shy away from uncomfortable conversations, instead building trust through honest and direct feedback.

Bias for Action
We practice high-velocity decision-making, clear-eyed that we often operate with incomplete information. Growing quickly means it's OK to be wrong, so long as we learn from our mistakes and course correct!

Always Be Learning
We're a curious bunch, and with AI transforming our workplace we encourage everyone to learn from each other, compounding our knowledge and experience to help us change an entire industry.

Act Like an Owner
We work long, hard, and smart, building products that delight our users and drive growth. Your ability to impact Instawork is limited only by your courage and conviction, not your job description.

About Instawork

Founded in 2015,Instawork is the nation's leading online labor marketplace for food services, hospitality, light industry, and logistics, connecting more than 7M skilled workers with local restaurants, hotels, warehouses, stadiums, and more. Our AI-powered platform serves thousands of businesses across more than 50 major markets in the United States and Canada. We're not just helping fill shifts, we're supporting local economies—and we're just getting started!

Instawork has been featured by CBS News, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and the Associated Press. Forbes included us on their Next Billion Dollar Startups list; RetailTech Breakthrough named us Workforce Hiring Solution of the Year for 2025; and Inc. 5000 recognized us as one of the country's top 10% fastest-growing companies two years in a row. But what matters most is our impact. We're solving real problems for real people, and we're doing it at scale.

Join our team to help us build something that matters! We're looking for superstars who want to help us shape the future of work. With hubs in San Francisco, Bangalore, and Chicago, city offices in New York, Phoenix, and Singapore, we're back to working together in-person five days a week because we believe the best ideas happen when great people collaborate face-to-face. We also value diverse perspectives and encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds.

Ready to make an impact? Learn more at www.instawork.com/about .

Interested in building your career at Instawork? Get future opportunities sent straight to your email.

Apply for this job

indicates a required field

First Name *

Last Name *

Preferred First Name

Email *

Phone *

Resume/CV *

Enter manually

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Enter manually

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Are you open to a onsite working model in which you would come into our San Francisco office 5 days a week? * Select...

LinkedIn Profile *

Are you 18 years of age or older? * Select...

Are you authorized to work in the US? * Select...

Will you now or in the future require Visa Sponsorship? * Select...

Website

U.S. Standard Demographic Questions

We invite applicants to share their demographic background. If you choose to complete this survey, your responses may be used to identify areas of improvement in our hiring process.

How would you describe your gender identity? (mark all that apply) Select...

How would you describe your racial/ethnic background? (mark all that apply) Select...

How would you describe your sexual orientation? (mark all that apply) Select...

Do you identify as transgender? Select...

Do you have a disability or chronic condition (physical, visual, auditory, cognitive, mental, emotional, or other) that substantially limits one or more of your major life activities, including mobility, communication (seeing, hearing, speaking), and learning? Select...

Are you a veteran or active member of the United States Armed Forces? Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey.Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiringprocess or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in aconfidential file.

As set forth in Instawork's Equal Employment Opportunity policy,we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection.As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measurethe effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categoriesis as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.

Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability

Form CC-305

Page 1 of 1

OMB Control Number 1250-0005

Expires 04/30/2026

Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability

Form CC-305 Page 1 of 1 OMB Control Number 1250-0005 Expires 04/30/2026

We are a federal contractor or subcontractor. The law requires us to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. We have a goal of having at least 7% of our workers as people with disabilities. The law says we must measure our progress towards this goal. To do this, we must ask applicants and employees if they have a disability or have ever had one. People can become disabled, so we need to ask this question at least every five years.

Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at www.dol.gov/ofccp .

A disability is a condition that substantially limits one or more of your "major life activities." If you have or have ever had such a condition, you are a person with a disability. Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

• Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using drugs illegally)
• Autoimmune disorder, for example, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS
• Blind or low vision
• Cancer (past or present)
• Cardiovascular or heart disease
• Celiac disease
• Cerebral palsy
• Deaf or serious difficulty hearing
• Diabetes
• Disfigurement, for example, disfigurement caused by burns, wounds, accidents, or congenital disorders
• Epilepsy or other seizure disorder
• Gastrointestinal disorders, for example, Crohn's Disease, irritable bowel syndrome
• Intellectual or developmental disability
• Mental health conditions, for example, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD
• Missing limbs or partially missing limbs
• Mobility impairment, benefiting from the use of a wheelchair, scooter, walker, leg brace(s) and/or other supports
• Nervous system condition, for example, migraine headaches, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis (MS)
• Neurodivergence, for example, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, other learning disabilities
• Partial or complete paralysis (any cause)
• Pulmonary or respiratory conditions, for example, tuberculosis, asthma, emphysema
• Short stature (dwarfism)
• Traumatic brain injury

Disability Status Select...

PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENT: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. This survey should take about 5 minutes to complete.

J-18808-Ljbffr