Director, Public Affairs

We exist to wow our customers. We know we’re doing the right thing when we hear our customers say, “How did we ever live without Coupang?” Born out of an obsession to make shopping, eating, and living easier than ever, we are collectively disrupting the multi-billion-dollar commerce industry from the ground up and establishing an unparalleled reputation for being a leading and reliable force in commerce.

We are proud to have the best of both worlds — a startup culture with the resources of a large global public company. This fuels us to continue our growth and launch new services. We are entrepreneurial, surrounded by opportunities to drive new initiatives and innovations.

Our mission to build the future of commerce is real. We push the boundaries of what’s possible to solve problems and break traditional tradeoffs. At our core, we are bold and ambitious people that like to get our hands dirty and make a direct impact. At Coupang, you will see yourself, your colleagues, your team, and the company grow every day.

The Position:

The successful candidate will play a leading role in the design and execution of our public affairs strategies. That candidate will place a strong emphasis on building Coupang’s reputation among stakeholders and policymakers by leveraging technology to teach about Coupang’s contributions to American exports, economic growth, security, and job creation within the context of its business in the international commerce, digital services, and logistics spaces. The position will report to the vice president of Global Government Affairs and will be based in our Washington DC Office. 

The person in this role will develop digital advocacy campaigns and execute engagement strategies designed to protect Coupang’s business model and enable scaling of our services while remaining focused on our core businesses. The director will leverage paid and owned media expertise. In this role you will have strong digital media and advocacy campaign experience and will identify appropriate digital and environments to educate relevant policymakers and influential stakeholders. 

The person in this role will exhibit excellent interpersonal communication, sound judgment, and the skills required to effectively build and deploy digital thought leadership initiatives, including digital ads, sponsored content, web content, and other forms of engagement that will educate the public and policymakers about Coupang’s business and its value proposition. This work will align with the Global Government Affairs team’s lobbying of Congress and Executive agencies across the continuum of trade, economic, security, and innovation policy. This work will be done in partnership with internal colleagues working on media relations and branding efforts.

This position is responsible for working with colleagues and consultants to plan and implement strategies to build Coupang’s reputation, protect international growth, mitigate risks from regulatory policies, and support advocacy success on a range of complex political and policy issues affecting the company. The work requires effective interaction with platforms that reach policymakers who are influential on matters of interest to Coupang.

What you will do:

• Building initiatives and campaigns to educate key officials.
• Building trusting and sustainable working relationships, internal and external, based on integrity, transparency, and professional excellence.
• Developing awareness of and support for Coupang as a respected company in the minds of key officials and stakeholders; driving digital campaigns and other initiatives designed to align US Government interests with Coupang’s “doing business” needs in other parts of the world.
• Managing outside consultancies to obtain optimal performance in furtherance of Coupang’s public affairs and advocacy objectives.
• Developing and executing strategies to consistently improve knowledge of Coupang as a key American business providing vital leadership in Indo-Pacific and global markets.
• Deploying budget resources to effectively manage priority messaging while utilizing best practices to approach challenges.
• Translating digital advocacy into results through regular measurement of the impact of campaigns with respect to opinions of Coupang and knowledge of its value proposition.

Experience & Expertise:

• Digital campaign experience: 5+ years of successful hands-on public affairs experience within government and/or private sector government affairs operations.
• Reputation: A solid reputation for integrity, trustworthiness and follow-through are vital. An eagerness to execute a committed approach to building a corporation’s thought leadership, credibility, and influence..
• Leadership experience: Proven ability to generate innovative campaigns. The ability to motivate others to advance goals, while effectively managing multiple projects in a rapidly evolving environment. A collaborative style and ability to positively work on and with a team, support alignment on objectives and tactics, and have the courage and conviction to propose, challenge and defend ideas and strategies, as appropriate.
• Wow the customer and company-wide perspective: Coupang’s government affairs professionals take on the company’s mission of “wowing” the customer in the manner in which they work with, develop, and support the success of internal and external customers, including business and functional colleagues, government officials, and third-party stakeholders. While working with this mindset, team members act like an owner of the company.
• Dive deep and simplify: A detail-oriented professional committed to accuracy and substance, with excellent design, written, analytical, and organizational skills. At the same time, the person in this role will boil down challenges, messages and actions to their essence.
• Drives for priority results and moves with urgency: Promotes execution by making appropriate tradeoffs and setting the pace for action. Evokes ownership and accountability, streamlines process/structure, and reallocates resources quickly and flexibly.
• Inspires and influences others: Builds empowering relationships, inspires through engagement and operational excellence. Has a track record of nurturing positive working relationships with partners. Ability to influence people at all levels of the organization, regardless of reporting relationships. The ability to persuasively communicate complex concepts and programs into concise and credible messages that will resonate at the highest levels of government and corporate leadership.
• Entrepreneurial business partner who delivers with grit: The ability to analyze emerging trends and identify efficient approaches to campaigns designed to reach key audiences in the most effective manner. In addition, possesses strong analytical and conceptual reasoning skills, easily handling complexity. Strong business acumen and a roll-up-the-sleeves approach; s/he must be a strategist as well as doer.
• Strong communicator who continues to learn: Executive presence and strong verbal, written and presentation skills, for both internal and external audiences. Outstanding communicator who leans on constant learning to inform public affairs strategies to advance Coupang’s thought leadership and policy objectives.
• Problem-solver who thinks systematically while avoiding waste: While addressing critical challenges and objectives, develops efficient solutions, recommendations and infrastructure that are scalable and lead to repeatable results.
• Integrity and excellence: Clear and understood reputation for ethical conduct while performing at the highest standards of professionalism.

Pay & Benefits:

Our compensation reflects the cost of living across several US geographic markets. At Coupang, your base pay is one part of your total compensation. The base pay for this position ranges from $200,000/year to $250,000/year. Pay is based on several factors including market location and may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. “Other Compensation” includes, but is not limited to, bonuses, equity, or other forms of compensation that would be offered to the hired applicant in addition to their established salary range or wage scale.

General Description of All Benefits:

• Medical/Dental/Vision/Life, AD&D insurance
• Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) & Health Savings Account (HSA)
• Long-term/Short-term Disability
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP) program
• 401K Plan with Company Match
• 18-21 days of the Paid Time Off (PTO) a year based on the tenure
• 12 Paid Holidays
• Paid Parental leave.

Coupang is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to actual or perceived race (including traits historically associated with race, including but not limited to hair texture and protective hair styles), color, religion, religious creed (including religious dress and grooming practices), sex or gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and medical conditions related to pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding), gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, ,ancestry, national origin (including language use restrictions), age (40 and over), physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, HIV/AIDS or Hepatitis C status, family status (including but not limited to marital or domestic partnership status), military or veteran status, use of a trained dog guide or service animal, political activities or affiliations, ancestry, citizenship, family and medical leave status, status as a victim of any violent crime, or any other characteristic or class protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate. Coupang is also committed to providing a safe work environment for its employees and its consumers. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation in the application of recruiting process due to a disability, please contact us at [email protected]