Director, Internal Communications

We are looking for a Director of Internal Communications to own the strategy and execution of how Five9 communicates with its employees. Reporting to the Senior Director, Corporate Marketing, this leader sets the company’s internal communications approach end to end: the employee communications strategy, change and transformation communications, company-wide meeting content, organizational announcements, manager enablement, and the day-to-day cadence that keeps employees informed and connected to the company’s direction.

This is a function-leader role, not a newsletter-sender role. The Director will personally drive the communication plans for Five9’s highest-stakes internal moments — reorgs, leadership changes, strategic pivots, workforce actions, and sensitive communications to employees — while building the infrastructure, cadence, and standards that make everything else consistent. The role starts as an individual contributor with real ownership: the internal communications budget, the channel and platform stack, and the company-wide processes that govern how significant news moves through Five9. There is room to build a team as the scope of the function grows.

The right candidate is a writer and a strategist with sound judgment. They can manage a sensitive organizational announcement, build the editorial calendar that keeps internal communications disciplined, and develop the all hands content that actually lands with employees — and they know how to make complex change feel human. They operate through influence, partnering with People, Legal, Investor Relations, and the broader Communications team to land on the right message and the right sequence.

Several boundaries are worth naming up front. Corporate Communications is a peer role that owns the external motion — press, media relations, and the corporate narrative to the market. Executive Communications is a separate role that owns executive voice and platform. Investor Relations sits with Finance. This role owns the employee audience — and partners closely with each of those functions rather than absorbing them.

• Own the Five9 internal communications strategy — the approach, calendar, and message architecture that keep employees informed, aligned, and connected to the company’s direction, with clear standards for what gets communicated where and why.
• Own the internal communications channel and platform stack — intranet, email, and messaging channels — including platform decisions, vendor relationships, and the budget behind them.
• Arbitrate sequencing and volume across the company — deciding what earns a company-wide moment, what belongs to a function, and what waits, so the internal channel stays credible rather than crowded.
• Set localization and time-zone standards — so employees across every Five9 location receive the same message with the same clarity, not a delayed translation of a US announcement.

• Own communications for significant organizational change — reorgs, leadership transitions, strategic pivots, and policy changes — partnering with People and Legal so every employee, including distributed and international teams, hears the right message at the right time. Five9 is in a significant transformation, and this will be one of the most consequential parts of the role.
• Lead employee communications for acquisitions and integration — day-one messaging, integration updates, and the sustained communication that helps acquired teams understand where they fit and why it matters.
• Own how AI adoption is communicated internally — helping employees understand what the company’s AI strategy means for their own work, and introducing new tools and workflows in a way that makes adoption stick.
• Coordinate consultation and notification requirements in regulated markets — partnering with People and Legal on works council and local obligations that shape what can be announced, and when.

• Own the content for all hands and company-wide meetings — scripting, narrative, and employee-facing materials — bringing the employee perspective to what gets said, how it lands, and what employees take away from the room.
• Bring the employee lens to executive moments — partnering with Executive Communications on what will land, what needs more context, and what follow-up communication extends the impact past the meeting itself.
• Draft and manage organizational announcements — leadership changes, restructures, key hires, and departures — with the approval workflows, timing standards, and coordination with Corporate Communications that ensure employees hear significant news accurately and first.
• Build the announcement process itself — templates, review paths, and escalation routes — so high-stakes news never depends on improvisation.

• Make manager communications a standing program — cascade materials, talking points, and briefings that reach leaders before their teams do, not just when something goes wrong.
• Equip managers for the questions that actually follow — anticipating what employees will ask and arming leaders with honest answers rather than scripts.
• Establish the leader briefing cadence — a reliable rhythm ahead of major announcements so the manager layer is never surprised alongside the people they lead.

• Own the internal narrative around the earnings cycle — translating quarterly results into what they mean for employees, and giving managers what they need to discuss company performance credibly.
• Own disclosure discipline in internal communications — quiet period protocols, blackout window guidance, and clear standards for what can be said internally and what employees may repeat outside the company.
• Sequence internal and external communications — partnering with Investor Relations, Legal, and Corporate Communications so nothing material reaches employees ahead of the market, and nothing reaches the market ahead of employees who should have heard it first.
• Communicate to a workforce that is also a shareholder base — building the recurring communication that helps employees holding equity understand the rules they operate under.

• Serve as the internal voice in crisis and sensitive situations — partnering closely with Corporate Communications so the employee experience is always part of the response: what employees hear, when they hear it, and how leaders are equipped to talk about it.
• Own workforce action communications — restructures and reductions — handling the sequencing, the manager toolkits, and the messages to both affected and remaining employees with accuracy and care.
• Build the internal crisis communications framework — holding statements, escalation paths, approval routes, and the pre-work that lets Five9 respond quickly without responding carelessly.
• Partner with People, Legal, and Corporate Communications through high-stakes moments — bringing calm, accuracy, and a single clear internal voice when the situation is moving faster than the facts.

• Support the communication of Five9’s culture, values, and strategic priorities — partnering with People and DE&I teams and amplifying employee stories that connect the day-to-day experience to the company’s mission.
• Own the internal communications measurement framework — moving past readership and open rates to reach, comprehension, and whether employees can actually articulate where the company is going.
• Close the loop with employee listening — using engagement survey results, sentiment data, and direct feedback to change what gets communicated and how, not simply to report on it.
• Make internal communications a two-way channel — building the rhythm that surfaces what employees are actually thinking, so leadership is not the last to know.

• 10+ years of professional experience in internal communications, employee communications, or a closely related field, with meaningful time spent leading the function in a fast-growing B2B SaaS or enterprise technology company.
• Public company internal communications experience is required — the earnings cadence, quiet period and blackout discipline, and the judgment to know what can be said internally, to whom, and when.
• Significant change communications experience is essential. Five9 is in a major transformation, and the right candidate has navigated company-wide change at scale before: reorgs, strategic pivots, leadership transitions, acquisitions and integration, and the sustained employee communication that keeps people anchored through them.
• Proven experience as the internal voice of a company — owning the employee communications strategy, the all hands content, and the announcement motion — with demonstrated breadth across all three rather than depth in just one.
• Direct experience with workforce action communications, including restructures and reductions, and the sequencing and care those moments require, is highly recommended.
• Strong writer and editor across formats — all hands content, organizational announcements, manager toolkits, change communications, and employee newsletters — with the judgment to match tone to moment.
• Experience building or running a multi-channel internal communications function, including intranet, email, and messaging platforms, with ownership of the tools and the budget behind them.
• Experience communicating to a globally distributed workforce, including localization and the constraints that regional consultation requirements place on announcement timing, is highly recommended.
• Comfort partnering with and influencing senior leaders, People, Legal, and Investor Relations in fast-moving, high-stakes situations without relying on positional authority.
• Hands-on proficiency with modern AI tools and a clear point of view on their application to communications work — including practical experience using AI to accelerate drafting, message testing, sentiment analysis, and personal productivity.
• Bachelor’s degree required in communications, journalism, organizational development, marketing, or a related discipline; advanced degree a plus.