The SouthState story is one of steady growth, deep community roots, and an unwavering commitment to helping our customers move forward. Since our beginnings in the 1930s to becoming a trusted financial partner across the South and beyond - we are known for combining personal relationships with forward-thinking solutions.
We are committed to helping our team members find their success while maintaining the integrity of our values: building trust, fostering lasting relationships and pursuing excellence. At SouthState, individual contributions are recognized, potential is cultivated and team members are inspired to achieve their greater purpose. Your future begins here!
Summary
Provides enterprise leadership for the strategy, governance, and delivery of IT communications, organizational change management, employee engagement, user education, and service experience. This role strengthens trust in IT, accelerates adoption of technology and process change, and establishes measurable standards for clear communications, effective learning, and consistent service quality. Leads a team and influences senior and executive leaders across IT and the business to elevate the IT brand and improve the end-user experience.
Duties & Responsibilities
- Set the enterprise IT experience and engagement strategy, translating technology priorities into a multi-year roadmap for communications, change adoption, education, and trust-building across IT and the business.
- Serve as the executive communications partner to IT leadership; shape narratives, executive messaging, town halls, leader cascades, major announcements, and high-impact presentations with clear business outcomes and audience relevance.
- Establish and govern an organizational change management practice for technology initiatives, including stakeholder analysis, change impact and readiness assessment, sponsorship, resistance management, adoption planning, reinforcement, and benefit realization.
- Lead IT employee engagement strategy using survey insights, listening channels, recognition, leader enablement, and action planning to strengthen connection, candor, accountability, and trust within the IT organization.
- Own the end-user education and digital adoption strategy, including role-based learning, onboarding, release readiness, self-service guidance, knowledge content, office hours, and reinforcement that help employees use technology confidently and securely.
- Create for IT an enterprise editorial, channel, and campaign governance model across email, intranet, ServiceNow, collaboration tools, video, meetings, and other channels; define standards for accessibility, plain language, timing, approvals, and message quality.
- Expand the service delivery framework, enhance the IT quality assurance practice and build a voice-of-the-customer program that evaluates communications, knowledge, training, case interactions, and key service journeys; identify root causes and drive measurable improvements with service owners.
- Define and report an executive scorecard for reach, understanding, sentiment, adoption, proficiency, self-service success, service quality, and stakeholder confidence; use insights to prioritize improvements and demonstrate business value.
- Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing multidisciplinary team; set priorities, operating rhythms, quality controls, capacity plans, vendor expectations, and performance standards while fostering innovation and continuous improvement.
- Build trusted partnerships with Corporate Communications, Human Resources, Learning and Development, Risk, Information Security, business leaders, and technology teams; advise senior leaders during transformation, service disruption, crisis, and other reputation-sensitive moments.
It is the responsibility of this role to take ownership of all tasks and challenges that they encounter in the operation of their assigned position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
Qualifications
Education Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in communications, marketing, public relations, organizational development, business, technology, or a related field required. Master’s degree in business, communications, or a related discipline preferred.
Minimum Experience
- 20+ years of progressively responsible experience in strategic communications, organizational change, employee engagement, learning/adoption, brand, or related leadership disciplines, including 15+ years leading people or enterprise programs.
- Experience advising C-suite or executive leaders and leading communications for complex technology or business transformation required. Financial services or another highly regulated industry is preferred.
Licenses & Certifications
- No license required. Change management certification, professional communications accreditation, learning and development credentials, ITIL certification, or equivalent demonstrated expertise is preferred.
Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities
- Executive presence and judgment, with the ability to advise, challenge, and align senior stakeholders on complex or reputation-sensitive matters.
- Demonstrated ability to develop enterprise communication, engagement, change, adoption, brand, and learning strategies that connect technology investments to employee and business outcomes.
- Exceptional writing, editing, storytelling, facilitation, presentation, and message-design skills; able to translate technical, operational, risk, and regulatory concepts into clear, actionable language.
- Expertise in organizational change management, stakeholder engagement, adult learning, digital adoption, knowledge management, service experience, and continuous improvement.
- Ability to design governance, quality assurance, editorial standards, measurement frameworks, dashboards, and executive reporting using qualitative and quantitative insights.
- Leadership capability to build teams, develop talent, manage vendors and budgets, establish operating models, and influence outcomes through direct authority and matrixed relationships.
- Strong understanding of technology service delivery, product and project lifecycles, cybersecurity awareness, incident and crisis communications, and employee-facing digital channels.
- Commitment to accessible, inclusive, audience-centered communication and learning experiences that improve understanding and reduce friction.
- Proficiency with Microsoft 365, collaboration and intranet platforms, ServiceNow or comparable service-management platforms, analytics tools, survey platforms, and modern communication technologies, including responsible use of AI.
Physical Demands and Work Environment
Physical Demands
- Ability to communicate in person, on the phone, and through electronic channels
- Ability to use a computer on a frequent basis, including typing and sustained attention to a monitor
- Ability to sit, walk, and/or stand for extended periods of time
- Ability to bend and reach
Work Environment
- Office: If the position reports to a physical Company location, the setting will be a typical office environment.
- Remote or hybrid:For remote or hybrid positions, a secure and distraction-free setting is required, with a reliable internet connection (cable or fiber preferred, mobile hotspots not acceptable). Hybrid positions will report to a physical Company location, as directed by the manager, and that setting will be a typical office environment.
Salary Ranges:
$133,533.00 - $213,307.00
Equal Opportunity Employer, including disabled/veterans.
