The Manager, PR & Partnerships will develop and lead earned and shared media plans for Pizza Hut US and own creator, brand, and licensed/IP partnerships that extend our biggest campaign moments. This role is responsible for building press-worthy narratives, driving media relations, managing our PR agency, and delivering partnerships & activations that improve brand awareness, perception and engagement. This role is the primary day-to-day connector across Brand Strategy, Social, Creative, Media, CRM, and agency partners - ensuring PR and partnerships are integrated early and executed to the highest standard.

This individual is a consumer facing comms, self-starter able to work independently, passionate and has the ability to partner with external agencies and franchisees, possess strong communication and written skills, and has experience in public relations with a publicly traded company.

You will be required to attend the Plano, TX office 3 days a week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

• 6+ years of experience in PR/communications, with national consumer brand experience (QSR/CPG/retail/entertainment a plus).

• Proven ability to drive earned media outcomes across high-profile launches or tentpoles.

• Experience developing partnerships across creators, brands, and/or licensed/IP with clear results.

• Strong writing, narrative-building, and stakeholder management skills; confident in fast-moving environments.

• Experience managing agencies and navigating complex cross-functional partner groups.

Salary Range: $110,500 to $116,910 annually + bonus eligibility. This is the expected salary range for this position. Ultimately, in determining pay, we'll consider the successful candidate’s location, experience, and other job-related factors.

Strategy & Planning:

• Develop and lead the earned + shared media and partnerships approach across the annual marketing calendar, aligned to brand priorities, campaign objectives, and business goals.
• Translate campaign priorities into newsworthy narratives and partnership ideas that build relevance and momentum.
  Provide strategic counsel to cross-functional partners to ensure PR and partnerships are designed to drive cultural impact and campaign performance.

Earned & Shared Media:

• Lead national media relations end-to-end, including management of agency pitching, relationship-building, press outreach, and rapid response to inbound inquiries.

• Create & review all core communications assets (press releases, media alerts, talking points, spokesperson Q&As, briefing docs) to ensure clear, consistent messaging.

• Partner with Social, Media and Creative leads to turn campaign ideas into shareable moments optimized for earned pickup and social velocity, including PR-forward experiential moments when relevant.

Executive & Corporate Comms:

• Partner with the VP and C-suite executives to shape strategic communications plans around earnings, corporate initiatives, and investor relations.

Partnerships: Creators, Brands & Licensed/IP:

• Identify, evaluate, and activate partnerships across creators, brands, and licensed/IP collaborators, ensuring strong brand fit and clear value exchange.

• Lead partnership development from concept through launch: stakeholder alignment, go-to-market planning, integration, deliverables, and execution with internal teams and external partners.

• Partner with Legal and internal stakeholders to navigate contracts, approvals, brand safety, and governance.

Cross-Functional Leadership:

• Serve as the day-to-day PR & Partnerships lead within integrated campaign workstreams, ensuring PR and partnerships are embedded early and integrated across touchpoints.

• Collaborate with operations and franchise stakeholders as applicable to ensure activations are executable in-market and support business priorities.

• Drive alignment across stakeholders by clarifying decisions, roles, timelines, and next steps.

Agency Leadership:

• Lead the PR agency relationship end-to-end: strategy development, scopes/deliverables, timelines, performance expectations, and day-to-day management.

• Ensure agency work is on-brief, on-brand, and high quality through clear direction, feedback, and approvals.

Operational Excellence & Reporting:

• Own launch readiness for PR and partnerships: timelines, workflows, approvals, and escalation paths to deliver disciplined execution and fewer surprises.

• Define and report on performance (e.g., quality of coverage, reach/impressions, share of voice, sentiment, engagement, earned value, partnership KPIs), delivering actionable learnings to improve future work.

• Support issues and crisis communications in partnership with Corporate Comms, Legal, Ops, Food Quality, HR, and Franchisees—helping develop statements, Q&As, and spokesperson guidance as needed.

• Build scalable communication and experiential processes that enable fast, effective, and high-quality execution in a rapidly growing global environment.