Communications Director (Contractor)

Project Overview

Known is building the accountability infrastructure for autonomous AI. As AI agents increasingly operate across organizations, platforms, and jurisdictions, Known is advancing DNSid as an open, neutral DNS-based identity standard designed to make accountability interoperable at Internet scale.

Known is an independent company spun out of Identity Digital. While you may see both company names during the hiring process, this position is with Known.

https://knownsystems.ai/

We are creating a category, not entering one. Agentic accountability is a problem the market has not fully named yet, and our job over the next 18 months is to make sure that when the market names it, it names us. We have the raw material: a launched product story, an IETF submission, an Advisory Council of unusually senior people, and coverage in top-tier tech and business press. What we do not have is anyone whose full-time job is turning that into market pull.

This is our first dedicated communications role, we're looking for an independent contractor with consideration to become a fulltime team member. You will set the narrative and you will also be the person on the phone with a reporter at 7am. If you are looking for a role where you direct an agency and review their work, this is not it.

This role reports to the General Manager of Known.

Scope of Services

• Own the category. Make the market understand that autonomous agents create a new accountability gap, and make Known the name people reach for when they think about closing it. This is bigger than messaging
• Live on the front lines. Build and run a rapid-response engine so that when something breaks in AI, security, identity, regulation, or agents, we are in the story that day. Personally build the reporter relationships. Pitch, brief, background, place. Build an influence network, not a media list: the specific reporters, analysts, and independent voices who shape how this market thinks
• Work Washington. Navigate the DC media and policy landscape fluently (Politico, The Hill, trade press, agency and Hill briefings) as our government affairs and standards work accelerates across NIST, IETF and adjacent bodies
• Activate the Councils. Our Advisory Council is one of our biggest assets. Put their names, networks, and expertise to work on reporter conversations, stages, and bylines. Build the executive spokesperson bench alongside them: what each person can credibly own, and where they should show up
• Get us into the answer. Own GEO and AI discoverability. When someone asks an LLM about agent identity, we should be in the response. There is currently zero activity here
• Run launches and moments. Lead planning and execution for product launches, commercial and partnership announcements, standards milestones, and industry events, working with Product, Sales & Marketing
• Build the machine. Manage agency partners, establish the all-hands cadence and leadership messaging discipline we lack today, draft executive communications, and build the team behind you over time. This role is a team of 1 for the next 12 months
• Prove it works. Coverage is not the goal. Draw a straight line from what we publish to customer meetings, partnerships, government attention, standards traction, and developer engagement, and build the reporting that shows it
• Actively models and promotes Identity Digital’s core values through day-to-day interactions, behaviors, and decision-making
• Other duties as assigned

What success looks like

• 90 days: you have a real POV on where the program is working and where it isn't, and you have already placed something we didn't expect
• 6 months: reporters covering AI agents and enterprise security call us. "Agentic accountability" shows up in coverage we did not write. There's a rapid-response motion that runs without anyone asking
• 12 months: we are the reference point for agentic accountability in tech press, in DC, and inside LLM answers, and communications is measurably feeding pipeline and policy traction

Who You Are / What You Bring

• 15+ years leading corporate or external communications in technology, with meaningful B2B and enterprise time
• Category creation experience. You've made a market believe in a problem it didn't know it had, and can point to the language, the coverage, and the outcomes
• Front-line media chops. You have personally pitched, newsjacked, and created opportunities that were not on a calendar. Managing an agency that does this is not a substitute
• Experience building a communications function from zero, at pace, without much cover
• Fluency with policy and standards audiences and the press that covers them
• Exceptional writing. You'll be asked to write, not to brief someone who writes. Expect a writing exercise in the process
• Range across owned and emerging channels: social, Substack, YouTube, podcasts, developer communities
• Comfort using AI to extend the function (research, monitoring, repeatable workflows) while keeping positioning and judgment human
• Experience translating technical work with engineers and product managers without flattening it
• Agency, contractor, and budget management
• Drive, hustle, and an external orientation. Small team, very fast. You need to be energized by that, not managed through it
• Ability to travel as needed
• Ability to work across time zones as part of a global organization as needed

Compliance & Authorization

• Legal: The Contractor must be legally authorized to work in the US and have all permits, licenses, and authorizations necessary to function as a contractor
• Ethics: Services must be performed in alignment with all applicable anti-discrimination and equal opportunity laws, as well as Identity Digital’s Equal Opportunity and non-discrimination policies and training

Location:

• Remote within the US (preference for the following states: AZ, CA, CO, DE, MD, MA, MO, NJ, NV, NY, NC, OR, OK, PA, SC, TX, UT, VA, and WA)

Compensation:

• This role is intended to begin as an independent contractor engagement, compensated through an agreed-upon monthly retainer, with the potential to convert to full-time employment after an initial engagement period. The anticipated annual base salary range upon conversion is $165,000–$185,000

A few things to know about us

Identity Digital is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, veteran status, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or any other category prohibited by local, state or federal law. This policy applies to all aspects of employment, including recruitment, placement, promotion, transfer, demotion, compensation, benefits, social and recreational activities, and termination.