Sr Dir, Communications, Greater China

Date Posted:
2026-09-23
Country:
China
Location:
LOC3347:9-10/F, Building N1, Fusion New Bund, No. 8, Lane 131, New Bund Avenue, Pudong, Shanghai, China
Job context and responsibilities
S/he needs to be a collaborative and influential team leader and effective people manager. This role requires the proven ability to work across borders and teams, build consensus and balance time, resources and priorities.
This leader is the main point of contact between the Otis Chief Communications Officer, the global Communications Centers of Expertise (CoEs): External, Internal, Brand & MarComm, Strategy & Operations and Social Impact, and the three Operating Units and their local communicators. It is essential that this leader focuses on two-way communications – raising up stories, angles, challenges, etc. and also cascading strategy, content and programming into the operating units to be effectively customized.
This leader is also the first point of contact for the regional president of China and must help guide communicators across the region to maintain focus on key business priorities while maintaining consistent promotion of the global brand, telling cohesive stories that resonate, streamlining content and messaging and working within our organizational model with defined roles/responsibilities.
The Communications lead China is responsible for overseeing the implementation of a multi-discipline communications strategy across the regional organization. Key audiences for communications include Otis leadership and colleagues, customers, A&D partners, media, gov’t bodies, community/NGOs, and shareholders. Communications work will include, but is not limited to:
Strategy: building plans, leading and liaising with global and OU/country teams
Executive leadership writing and coaching: including, but not limited to, drafting President messages and communications related to business objectives and priorities, advising on competitive issues, external trends and opportunities, media engagement, social media presence and speech/message writing for speaking/event opportunities
Internal communications: culture initiatives, colleague engagement/ communications and transformation/change communications across internal communications platforms (Connect, SharePoint, Viva Engage, other)
Crisis communications: supports crisis communications/reputation management across the region, weighs into OU and country-level issues as needed, partners with global crisis leader to ensure established processes and statements are leveraged, counsels and updates leaders
External communications: PR/media relations and engagement with key journalists and influencers/KOLs. This includes some support of gov’t/public affairs in collaboration with Gov’t Relations leaders and global team (as needed).
Social media: Management of social channel strategy, execution and engagement on China-specific social channels including: WeChat, Tik Tok, Red Book, major search engines and other relevant media platforms.
Creative Content and branding: asset and brand compliance across countries in addition to effective positioning of brands/sub-brands, partnering with internal creative team and external creative agencies to develop content in alignment with strategic programs and needs
Website: some oversight of country sites and site administrators, provides recommendations for changes and refreshed content
Social Impact: helping to oversee and implement programs such as Made to Move Communities, Little Engineers and volunteer activities in alignment with global strategy and direction. Allow for flexibility in the region and countries based on various ways of working; working with the Social Impact CoE to manage reporting of annual contributions for the operating units across the region
MarComm: partnering with Brand & MarComm CoE as well as local product/service Marketing teams to drive awareness, demonstrate industry leadership, and position Otis products/services/technologies across key customer/stakeholder groups
Operations/financial mgmt.: work with Strategy & Operations global CoE to manage regional budgets, identity synergies in resources and costs across the region, support communications resource allocation and cost decisions across markets inclusive of 3rd party agency support and spend
undefinedS/he is comfortable leading and executing within both a top-down and bottom-up environment, ensuring that the global strategy and direction is executed across Greater China.S/he supports strategic corporate communications plans for the global Otis organization, in addition to key business leaders, which reinforce our overarching growth strategy and brand positioning. Must be able to prioritize, synthesize, and coordinate information dissemination to ensure communications are delivered on the most suitable platforms to the right audience at the right time. This includes working with global CoEs and OU communicators to support the organization of content translation into relevant languages as needed.S/he largely defines Otis China’s public profile and manages the brand and reputation (in alignment with global brand guidelines). S/he anticipates issues and develops strategic messaging and positioning (as needed acts as a corporate spokesperson). This includes during times of “crisis” as well as ongoing reputation awareness efforts.S/he collaborates with key internal stakeholders – specifically functional leaders - to support the effective communication and messaging around China’s business strategy and programs (in alignment with global strategy). This includes developing internal communications targeted at leadership and networked and field colleagues.S/he oversees and engages in the preparation and compilation of briefing materials for leaders (President and others) at major industry events including visual and message branding efforts, often times working 1x1 with President to prepare.undefinedS/he needs knowledge of the commercial buildings & industrial manufacturing industries, as this business looks to make a major push for growth and innovation globally and more specifically in the region.undefinedS/he has a strong understanding of geopolitics and the dynamic external environment across China, as well as an understanding and respect for business culture in varying markets. This is a critical component to success in this position.
Qualifications
Minimum 18 years’ experience in a corporate communications or agency environment, with demonstrated experience in understanding corporate issues, media relations for multi-national, publicly traded companies in the regions and globally.
Ability to assess communications talent, identify skills gaps, build teams, and resource appropriately for a modern, enterprise-size, public company.
Mastery of the English language, proven ability to write in English.
Strong executive communications counsel, sound judgement and experience dealing with business-critical and/or sensitive information.
Must have deep or native experience working within China and in tune to the culture and ways of working of the region.
A level of knowledge and expertise across the commercial buildings & industrial manufacturing industries and some prior communications experience across the public sector is preferable.
Bachelors or Master’s Degree in Communications, Journalism, English, Marketing or business-related field is required.
Strong talent/people management skills and experience with ability to recruit future communicators.
Strong project management skills and an ability to lead geographically dispersed and cross discipline teams on an international scale.
Superior organizational skills, and ability to deliver high quality work under pressure.
Adept at balancing the strategic and tactical nature of the role.
Ability to work and manage third party providers/agencies.
Extensive media relations/spokesperson experience.
Ability to lead through consensus building, executive presence and influence persuasively to strong individuals in leadership positions.
If you live in a city, chances are we will give you a lift or play a role in keeping you moving every day.
Otis is the world’s leading elevator and escalator manufacturing, installation, and service company. We move 2.4 billion people every day and maintain approximately 2.4 million customer units worldwide, the industry's largest Service portfolio.
You may recognize our products in some of the world’s most famous landmarks including the Eiffel Tower, Empire State Building, Burj Khalifa and the Petronas Twin Towers! We are 72,000 people strong, including engineers, digital technology experts, sales, and functional specialists, as well as factory and field technicians, all committed to meeting the diverse needs of our customers and passengers in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. We are proud to be a diverse, global team with a proven legacy of innovation that continues to be the bedrock of a fast-moving, high-performance company.
When you join Otis, you become part of an innovative global industry leader with a resilient business model. You’ll belong to a diverse, trusted, and caring community where your contributions, and the skills and capabilities you’ll gain working alongside the best and brightest, keep us connected and on the cutting edge.