Senior Consultant, Financial Communications (Media Relations)

We are seeking a Senior Consultant to join APCO's Financial Communications practice and help our clients tell sharp, credible, business-savvy stories in the financial and business media. This is a hands-on role for a strong writer and natural media operator who thinks like a reporter, knows what makes a business story land, and is building (or already maintaining) a real network of relationships across financial media.

You'll work across a portfolio of public companies, private companies, financial services firms, and sponsors on the moments that most materially shape their reputation and value, including IPOs and capital markets transactions, M&A, earnings, executive transitions, activist defense, and reputation work tied to financial performance. The work moves quickly, the stakes are high, and the situations are often material and non-public, so we're looking for candidates with strong advisory instincts and a bias for action.

This position can be based in APCO's New York, Washington D.C., Chicago or Raleigh office.

Responsibilities

• Supports a wide range of fast-moving financial communications mandates for high-profile, globally recognized clients across public companies, private companies, financial services, and sponsors
• Operates with a bias for action in time-pressured, high-stakes situations and brings advisory and consulting instincts to client interactions
• Leads day-to-day media relations: develops pitch angles, builds and works targeted media lists, drafts pitches and reactive statements, and places stories with top-tier financial and business reporters
• Builds and actively maintains relationships with top business and financial reporters and editors.
• Translates complex business, financial, and strategic information into clear, compelling stories for investors, employees, customers, and the broader media
• Drafts and edits press releases, talking points, Q&A documents, executive briefings, bylined thought leadership, social content, shareholder letters, and reactive statements
• Supports clients through earnings cycles, transaction announcements, executive transitions, and special situations, including spokesperson preparation and reactive media management
• Provides on-site support, as appropriate, during transactions, roadshows, contested situations, or other material events
• Collaborates with an APCO team spread across multiple offices, contributing to integrated programs that bring together communications, public affairs, regulatory, crisis, and digital workstreams
• Participates in new business efforts, including RFP responses, across APCO
• Maintains a deep understanding of capital markets dynamics, sector-specific issues, and the policy and regulatory backdrop affecting client accounts
• Supports several client projects at the same time

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree from an accredited college or university in a related field. Graduate degree preferred.
• 4–6 years of relevant experience across financial communications, business journalism, investor relations, or a related capital markets-adjacent role. PR agency, in-house IR/comms, or business journalism transitioning into communications all considered.
• Demonstrated track record of either (a) placing stories with top-tier financial and business media as a communicator, or (b) breaking and owning a beat at a credible business news outlet as a journalist
• Strong news judgment and the ability to think like a reporter, including identifying what's actually a story, where it lives, and who would write it
• A growing rolodex of financial and business media contacts and the discipline to actively maintain it
• Working knowledge of public company disclosure, the earnings cycle, and the basics of M&A and capital markets transactions
• Advisory and consulting instincts; able to give clients clear recommendations, not just options
• Bias for action and composure under time pressure in high-stakes situations
• Sector expertise is a plus, with particular interest in candidates who have worked across defense, technology, financial services, healthcare, industrials, or energy and infrastructure
• Cross-border experience working with clients across U.S., U.K., or EU media markets is a plus
• Comfort contributing to integrated, multi-disciplinary teams that span communications, public affairs, regulatory, and digital
• Willingness to travel as client situations require
• References should be able to speak to your discretion in handling material non-public information
• Exceptional writing skills across press releases, executive communications, bylines, and reactive statements; the ability to translate complex financial information into plain-language storytelling
• Detail-oriented, quick l