Global Thought Leadership Director

How You’ll Make an Impact:

We’re looking for a Global Thought Leadership Director to own the industry narrative that defines how the world thinks about Cloudbeds — and about the future of hospitality itself. This is a senior individual contributor role for someone who has spent years living inside the hotel industry — as a journalist, researcher, or content strategist — and has the instincts to turn complex data, customer proof, and market dynamics into ideas worth reading and repeating. You don’t manage teams. You move markets. You’ll report directly to the VP of Marketing and work in close partnership with the Director of Content Marketing and executive leadership to build the intellectual infrastructure behind Cloudbeds’ brand.

What You Bring to the Team:

As Global Thought Leadership Director, you will:

• Own Cloudbeds’ thought leadership strategy and editorial calendar, defining the ideas, narratives, and industry positions Cloudbeds takes publicly
• Lead original research programs end-to-end — designing studies, running surveys, analyzing platform data, and turning findings into content that earns coverage and builds authority
• Work directly with Cloudbeds’ proprietary platform data to surface insights only we can produce, packaging them into reports, benchmarks, and editorial content competitors can’t replicate
• Develop the executive viewpoints and presentations that drive Cloudbeds’ industry narrative, partnering with the CEO, CGO, and COO to sharpen their public positions across keynotes, media, and LinkedIn
• Own customer story production — commissioning, interviewing, and writing stories that read like journalism and demonstrate real business impact
• Partner closely with the Director of Content Marketing to hand off narratives, findings, and angles across blog, video, social, and the broader content program, building derivative content ecosystems from every major research asset
• Stay genuinely current on hospitality economics, technology shifts, and operator challenges, translating that intelligence into editorial opportunities, and use AI tools fluently across the research and writing workflow

What Success Looks Like:

You write like someone who has actually been inside a hotel. You understand what RevPAR pressure feels like for an independent GM, why fragmented technology is a daily operational problem, and how to write about hotel technology in a way that makes operators feel understood rather than sold to. That hospitality fluency is non-negotiable. Beyond that, you bring:

• Extensive experience in hospitality or hotel technology — as a journalist, trade publication editor, industry analyst, or content strategist embedded in the space
• Exceptional writing: clear, specific, and authoritative at the sentence level — your work doesn’t require heavy editing and your point of view is evident from the first paragraph
• Experience leading original research end-to-end — designing studies, fielding surveys, analyzing data, and translating findings into editorial content with real reach, with a track record of turning a single research asset into a multi-channel content program
• The instinct to identify which ideas are genuinely worth owning and which are noise — and the discipline to build a content program around the former
• Comfort working directly with executives — sharpening their viewpoints, developing their presentations, and serving as a trusted editorial advisor
• Fluency with AI as a daily production and research tool — you use it to move faster, not to replace thinking
• A portfolio that demonstrates the range: research reports, long-form editorial, executive content, and customer stories. When you apply, we’ll want to see your best work

Bonus Skills to Stand Out:

• Comfortable presenting research publicly — this role will have opportunities to represent Cloudbeds at industry events and conferences as a subject matter expert, and candidates who can own a stage as well as a page will have more ways to amplify their impact

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