Chief Communications & Public Affairs Officer

🚀 The Context: Why This Role Matters

Divar is entering its next chapter.

As the platform scales, its role is no longer limited to connecting buyers and sellers. Divar is becoming a critical infrastructure for professional sellers — real estate agents, car dealers, and high-volume merchants whose livelihoods depend on trust, clarity, and long-term partnership with the platform. 

This role exists to shape the narrative that takes Divar to the next level:

• From Platform → To Institution (Economic Pillar)

• From Growth-driven brand → To Legitimacy-driven ecosystem leader
• From Transaction Enabler → To Trusted Professional Partner

🎯 Role Purpose

The Chief Communications & Public Affairs Officer (CCPAO) is responsible for owning Divar’s institutional narrative — externally and internally — with a particular focus on:

• Public trust and legitimacy
• Regulatory and policy-facing communications
• Professional sellers’ perception of Divar as a fair, intelligent, long-term partner. 

Note: This is not a marketing role. This is a strategic governance, judgment, and risk-management role.

🔑 Core Responsibilities

1. Institutional and Brand Narrative

• Long-term Narrative Definition: Define and steward what Divar stands for, why it must exist, how it creates value beyond transactions.
• Narrative Consistency: Ensure Divar’s narrative is consistent across Media, Executives, Public Discourse, and Strategic Moments.

2. The Professional Narrative (Critical Focus)

• Partner vs. Toll Booth: Build a clear, credible, and respectful narrative for Real Estate Agents, Car Dealers, and High-volume Sellers. Ensure they view Divar as a fair, intelligent long-term partner, not an extractive short-term toll booth.
• Economic Translation: Translate platform strategy, pricing logic, and product evolution into understandable, defensible stories for professional sellers.

3. Public Affairs & Regulatory Foresight

• License to Operate: Shape Divar’s positioning with Policymakers, Regulators, Judiciary-adjacent Stakeholders, and Industry Bodies.
• Proactive Communication: Anticipate regulatory pressure and proactively frame Divar’s role. Reduce friction by explaining the company before it is questioned.

4. Crisis & High-Stakes Communications

• Leadership: Lead all crisis communication strategy and execution.
• Authority: Act as the final authority on tone, timing, and channel during crises.
• Execution: Coordinate closely with Legal and the ExCo to ensure responses are institutional, calm, and factual—never reactive or emotional.

5. Executive & Founder Communications

• Senior Advisory: Enable thought leadership without institutional risk and advise senior leadership on when to speak, when not to speak, and how to frame sensitive topics.
• Narrative Integrity: Maintain clear separation between personal opinion, executive commentary, and official company positioning.

⛔ What This Role Is NOT

• Not Marketing or Growth: You define the frame; they execute the campaigns.
• Not Social Media Management: You set the strategy; the team handles the posts.
• Not "Just PR": If you wait for the press release to fix a broken product decision, you are too late.

Experience

• 5+ Years in Corporate Communications, Public Affairs, Institutional Brand Strategy, or Policy-facing or regulated environments, OR fewer years with exceptional, proven achievements in Narrative Transformation, Crisis Leadership, or Reputation or Trust Recovery.
• We are effectively filtering out pure journalism backgrounds that lack operational/business experience.

Skills & Traits

• 🧠 I. Intellectual & Strategic Acumen
• Exceptional Judgment: Possesses keen intellectual sharpness and the independent judgment required to challenge senior leadership constructively.
• Strategic Narrative Thinking: A long-term reputation steward who thinks beyond press and media execution, prioritizing long-term trust over short-term visibility.
• Complexity Simplification: Ability to simplify complex issues without "dumbing them down," focusing on smartness over noise.
• System Thinking: Treats reputation as a system issue, not just a communication issue.
• 🛡️ II. Leadership & Governance (Moral Courage)
• Moral Courage: The confidence and comfort to push back against senior stakeholders (CEO/Founder) when institutional risk is high.
• Composure & Discipline: Calm, structured, deliberate, and non-reactive, especially in crises.
• Executive Temperament: Cool Under Pressure; able to maintain discipline and clarity when advising senior leadership.
• 💻 III. Domain Knowledge
• Tech Fluency: Strong understanding of platform dynamics, network effects, and how algorithms impact user sentiment.
• Data Literacy: Comfortable using data to build a narrative, valuing accuracy over adjectives.
• Platform Understanding: Strong understanding of platform dynamics and societal responsibility inherent in digital infrastructure.
• 🗣️ IV. Communications & Cultural Mastery
• Narrative Instincts: Possesses strong narrative instincts; able to craft aligned narratives for diverse stakeholders (regulators, media, professionals).
• Cultural Sensitivity: High cultural and social sensitivity, specifically within the Iranian context.
• Language Fluency: Fluent in Persian (English proficiency strongly preferred).

⚡ Success Looks Like This

• Regulators understand Divar’s value to the national economy.
• Professional Sellers may disagree with pricing, but they understand the logic and trust the partnership.
• Leadership speaks with a unified, disciplined voice.
• Crises are contained, not amplified.

You will not just be writing press releases; you will be shaping the governance and narrative of a platform that affects millions of Iranians. You will have a seat at the decision-making table, helping to steer the product toward long-term legitimacy.

📝 Final Line

"This role is for someone who understands that great platforms don’t just grow—they earn the right to exist through trust, legitimacy, and partnership."