Thought Leadership & Newsroom, Lead Communications Specialist

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: 
The Thought Leadership & Newsroom, Lead Communications Specialist is responsible for developing and executing high-impact thought leadership and editorial programs that strengthen UKG's authority around the industry conversations we seek to lead. 

Reporting to the Director of Thought Leadership & Newsroom, this role serves as a key editorial contributor within UKG's Communications organization—turning strategy into compelling, timely, evidence-backed stories for C-suite and enterprise audiences. 

The role combines strong editorial judgment, B2B storytelling, research, and news instincts. It identifies relevant external conversations, mines UKG's proprietary data, research, customer outcomes, and subject-matter expertise for original insights, and develops content that connects UKG's perspective to the business and workforce issues shaping the market. 

Working across Communications and with partners in Marketing, Research, Product, Customer Experience, and other teams, this role will help UKG move from building awareness around individual moments to building sustained authority around ideas. 

Duties and Responsibilities:

Thought Leadership & Editorial Development 

• Support execution of UKG's enterprise thought leadership strategy, developing original, evidence-backed stories around the industry conversations we seek to lead. 
• Translate complex workforce, technology, AI, economic, and business issues into clear, differentiated narratives for C-suite and enterprise audiences. 
• Write, edit, design, and produce content across formats, including articles, reports, data stories, executive perspectives, social content, graphics, video, and multimedia storytelling. 
• Develop editorial briefs and story concepts that connect individual content and moments to UKG's broader thought leadership agenda. 
• Bring strong editorial and visual judgment to every story, maintaining a high bar for originality, accuracy, relevance, and creative execution. 

Newsroom & Market Intelligence 

• Monitor business, workforce, technology, AI, economic, and industry developments to identify timely opportunities for UKG to contribute a meaningful perspective. 
• Bring an outside-in lens to editorial planning by identifying the issues and questions occupying senior business leaders, media, analysts, and other market influencers. 
• Help manage an always-on editorial pipeline that balances long-range thought leadership with fast-moving news and market opportunities. 
• Develop rapid-response content with speed and independence—including the ability to capture, edit, and publish video and other digital content when the moment calls for it. 
• Bring the instincts of a modern publisher to the newsroom, experimenting with formats and storytelling approaches that make complex ideas useful, accessible, and engaging. 

Research, Data & Insight Development 

• Mine UKG's proprietary data, research, workforce expertise, product intelligence, and subject-matter experts for insights and stories the market cannot get elsewhere. 
• Partner with Research and Insights teams to identify opportunities for original studies, data stories, indices, and other thought leadership assets. 
• Synthesize research, data, interviews, market intelligence, and external trends into compelling points of view and storylines. 
• Translate data and evidence into accessible narratives and visual storytelling that help audiences quickly understand why an insight matters. 

Customer & Executive Storytelling 

• Partner with Customer Storytelling and other teams to identify customer experiences, executive perspectives, measurable outcomes, and proof points that strengthen UKG's thought leadership. 
• Elevate customer stories beyond traditional product use cases to broader conversations about business transformation, workforce operations, AI, productivity, frontline work, and the future of work. 
• Interview UKG executives, customers, researchers, and subject-matter experts to uncover original insights and perspectives. 
• Support executive thought leadership by turning expertise into differentiated stories, points of view, and digital content. 

Cross-Functional Activation 

• Partner across External Communications, Executive Communications, Social, Marketing, Research, Product, Customer Experience, and other teams to bring thought leadership to market. 
• Adapt and extend strong ideas across earned media, executive platforms, owned channels, social, events, search and AI discovery, analyst engagement, and customer conversations. 
• Work fluently across modern creation and publishing platforms—including Canva, Adobe Creative Cloud, video editing tools, social publishing platforms, and AI-enabled creative tools—to develop and activate content with speed. 
• Coordinate with internal partners, agencies, writers, researchers, and creative resources when additional expertise or scale is needed, while remaining comfortable creating and publishing content independently. 
• Help connect thought leadership to product and company moments so launches and announcements reinforce broader narratives UKG is already building. 

Measurement & Continuous Improvement 

• Track audience response and market performance to understand which topics, narratives, formats, voices, and channels are gaining traction. 
• Use media, social, search, AI discovery, and content performance insights to improve editorial and creative decisions. 
• Identify opportunities to improve newsroom workflows, content development, intelligence gathering, and activation. 
• Leverage AI and emerging creative technologies responsibly to accelerate research, production, experimentation, publishing, and measurement. 

Basic Qualifications:

• 6–8+ years of experience in corporate communications, journalism, digital publishing, thought leadership, editorial strategy, content creation, or a related field. 
• Exceptional editorial judgment, writing, and editing skills, with demonstrated ability to translate complex topics into clear and compelling stories for business audiences. 
• Strong digital storytelling and visual instincts, with demonstrated experience creating content across written, visual, social, video, and multimedia formats. 
• Hands-on proficiency with modern creation and publishing platforms such as Canva, Adobe Creative Cloud, video editing software, social publishing tools, and comparable platforms. 
• Ability to independently capture, edit, and publish high-quality short-form video and other digital content. 
• Experience developing B2B thought leadership, executive content, journalism, or editorial programs for sophisticated business audiences. 
• Ability to synthesize research, data, interviews, customer evidence, and subject-matter expertise into original narratives and content. 
• Strong news instincts and intellectual curiosity, with an active interest in business, technology, AI, economics, people, and the changing nature of work. 
• Ability to move quickly, manage multiple editorial priorities, and collaborate effectively with senior leaders and partners across a complex organization. 

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in digital publishing, business journalism, B2B SaaS, enterprise technology, or a modern newsroom environment. 
• Experience working with proprietary research, data visualization, or data-driven storytelling. 
• Experience interviewing and developing content with senior executives and customers. 
• Strong understanding of how content is discovered and distributed across social platforms, search, AI, earned media, and emerging digital channels. 
• Experience using generative AI and emerging creative technologies to accelerate research, content creation, and publishing. 

Company Overview:  
UKG is the Workforce Operating Platform that puts workforce understanding to work. With the world's largest collection of workforce insights, and people-first AI, our ability to reveal unseen ways to build trust, amplify productivity, and empower talent, is unmatched. It's this expertise that equips our customers with the intelligence to solve any challenge in any industry — because great organizations know their workforce is their competitive edge. Learn more at ukg.com.  

Equal Opportunity Employer:
UKG is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, disability, religion, sex, age, national origin, veteran status, genetic information, and other legally protected categories.  

View The EEO Know Your Rights poster        
UKG participates in E-Verify. View the E-Verify posters here.   

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.  

Disability Accommodation in the Application and Interview Process:
For individuals with disabilities that need additional assistance at any point in the application and interview process, please email UKGCareers@ukg.com  

The pay range for this position is $102,300 to $147,050. The actual base pay offered may vary depending on skills, experience, job-related knowledge and work location. In addition to base pay, employees may be eligible to participate in a performance-based bonus plan and to receive restricted stock unit awards as part of total compensation. Learn more about UKG’s benefits and rewards at https://www.ukg.com/about-us/careers/benefits