Brand Strategy Director

Brooklyn, NY
Full Time
Strategy
Experienced

BRAND STRATEGY DIRECTOR
 

Who You Are
You’re a critical thinker gifted with a healthy dose of curiosity, intellect and vision.You believe that any business problem can be solved with creativity. You’re a strategist because you love solving complex problems and take a ‘can-do’ approach. Your ability to identify and follow macro and micro trends in culture is unmatched. And you love digging into market research data just as much as riffing with a creative team on the next big idea. 

 

What You’ll Do
As a Brand Strategy Director at Madwell, you’ll be responsible for developing creatively-led strategies across all phases of the client relationship including initial brand strategies, ongoing campaigns, one-off activations, or new product launches. You’ll balance your time between rolling up your sleeves to work with your internal colleagues and working directly with the client to sell, promote, and defend our work. You’ll be our in-house expert on everything related to the client’s business, brand, and target audience and you’ll routinely identify new opportunities and cultural insights to inspire our team. You’ll utilize our existing tools and processes while adding your own unique expertise to ours, leading and mentoring others along the way. 

As an experienced strategy leader, you are someone who knows how to play within a structure, but also knows how to break the rules to make things happen. You can inspire teams through a strategic narrative to push creative thinking and ideas to have greater potency. And not only can you inspire the larger teams, you can also inspire a team of strategists, while providing mentorship, training and guidance. More than anything else, you are flexible, quick on your feet and you know a good idea can come from anywhere. 

 

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

  • Developing unmatched insights and larger strategic platforms across multiple clients and industries. Inspires cross-discipline team members by gathering trends and data from multiple sources (news outlets, qual and quant research, subscription tools like Resonate, Mintel, Canvas8, etc) and crafts a story in interesting ways.
  • Effectively communicating, both internally and externally. Writes and speaks clearly and intelligently about complex ideas, frameworks, and strategies.
  • Manages team dynamics, by influences cross-discipline agency teams and is an invaluable resource for the larger strategy department. Mentoring junior strategists by guiding across varied strategic needs. Partnering with creative teams through the briefing, idea development, and evaluation phases, along with setting up the work for success in presenting to clients. Collaborating with the Media and Comms Planning teams on strategic foundations and mapping messaging and creative needs to comms and media plans. Partnering with Account Directors to uncover future opportunities for our clients.
  • Trusted business counsel for our senior clients. Listens to our client’s business needs and works with internal teams to meet and exceed their objectives and KPIs. Able to unearth a valuable new opportunity in the midst of a conversation with clients and develops a thoughtful solution.
  • Leading research efforts. Overseeing, and conducting if necessary, primary field research including interviews, focus groups, or other innovative methodologies. Utilizing data from tools such as Resonate, but also being able to author, execute and analyze quantitative and qualitative research plans.
  • Creating a variety of strategic recommendations and thought leadership for different stages within a client relationship or project workstream. Those recommendations could manifest as brand fundamentals, positioning, consumer profiles + behaviors, creative briefs, interpretation + recommendations of campaign results, etc.    
  • Dynamic presentation skills across different audiences. 
  • Being able to pivot without losing sight of the strategic objective.
 

Our Must-Haves

  • Varied experiences developing strategic approaches across strategy disciplines: brand, comms, digital, etc. 
  • Proven ability to build a strong story within brand and/or marketing strategies. 
  • Strong working knowledge of consumer insight tools and resources.
  • Experience in authoring and conducting qualitative and quantitative research methodologies.
  • Exposure to advising and working with VP and executive level clients.
  • Bonus points for any of the following skills: 
    • Understanding of multicultural consumer insights
    • Previous experience with with start up or technology companies
    • Experience pitching & winning new business
    • Extreme passion for a hobby or interest outside of your career
  • Able to balance a strong point of view with an ability to listen, learn and adapt.
  • Impeccable collaboration and communication skills.
  • Must be located within commuting distance of our Denver or Brooklyn office, and able to come into one of our offices twice a week on Tuesday + Thursday every week. 
  • Commitment to embrace diversity and change, and engage with empathy and an open mind. 
 

Where You’ve Been

  • Bachelor's degree in communications, marketing, or a related field (advanced degree preferred).
  • Proven track record (8+ years) as a Brand Strategist or similar role, preferably in a creative agency or related industry.
  • Demonstrated success in creating and implementing effective communications plans and strategies.
 

Lines of Report
Reporting to: Group Brand Strategy Director

Direct reports may include: Strategist and/or intern management, as it arises

 

Madwell Values

  • Adaptability
  • Experimentation
  • Independence
  • People
  • Diversity
  • Initiative
  • Partnership
  • Safe Space
  • Open Mindset
  • Discipline of Vision

If you’re interested in learning more about our values, check out our website: https://www.madwell.com/values/index.html

Our Diversity Commitment

The stress of job searching can make you wonder if you’re enough. Studies have even shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs when they don’t meet every qualification. We believe that you ARE enough, and that it’s okay not to meet every requirement. 

At Madwell, we are committed to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace. If you’re excited to work with us but not sure you check every box, apply anyway! You may be just right for this role or other roles.

Salary Range: $125,000 - $150,000

* This is a hybrid role based out of our Brooklyn office, you must be located within a reasonable commuting distance of Brooklyn, NY to be considered for this role.*




 
Share

Apply for this position

Required*
Apply with Indeed
We've received your resume. Click here to update it.
Attach resume or Paste resume
Attach resume as .pdf, .doc, .docx, .odt, .txt, or .rtf (limit 5MB) or Paste resume

Paste your resume here or Attach resume file

To comply with government Equal Employment Opportunity and/or Affirmative Action reporting regulations, we are requesting (but NOT requiring) that you enter this personal data. This information will not be used in connection with any employment decisions, and will be used solely as permitted by state and federal law. Your voluntary cooperation would be appreciated. Learn more.
Invitation for Job Applicants to Self-Identify as a U.S. Veteran
  • A “disabled veteran” is one of the following:
    • a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or
    • a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.
  • A “recently separated veteran” means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.
  • An “active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran” means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.
  • An “Armed forces service medal veteran” means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.
Veteran status


Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability
Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability Form CC-305
OMB Control Number 1250-0005
Expires 04/30/2026
Why are you being asked to complete this form?

We are a federal contractor or subcontractor. The law requires us to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. We have a goal of having at least 7% of our workers as people with disabilities. The law says we must measure our progress towards this goal. To do this, we must ask applicants and employees if they have a disability or have ever had one. People can become disabled, so we need to ask this question at least every five years.

Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at www.dol.gov/ofccp.

How do you know if you have a disability?

A disability is a condition that substantially limits one or more of your “major life activities.” If you have or have ever had such a condition, you are a person with a disability. Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

  • Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using drugs illegally)
  • Autoimmune disorder, for example, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS
  • Blind or low vision
  • Cancer (past or present)
  • Cardiovascular or heart disease
  • Celiac disease
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Deaf or serious difficulty hearing
  • Diabetes
  • Disfigurement, for example, disfigurement caused by burns, wounds, accidents, or congenital disorders
  • Epilepsy or other seizure disorder
  • Gastrointestinal disorders, for example, Crohn's Disease, irritable bowel syndrome
  • Intellectual or developmental disability
  • Mental health conditions, for example, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD
  • Missing limbs or partially missing limbs
  • Mobility impairment, benefiting from the use of a wheelchair, scooter, walker, leg brace(s) and/or other supports
  • Nervous system condition, for example, migraine headaches, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • Neurodivergence, for example, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, other learning disabilities
  • Partial or complete paralysis (any cause)
  • Pulmonary or respiratory conditions, for example, tuberculosis, asthma, emphysema
  • Short stature (dwarfism)
  • Traumatic brain injury
Please check one of the boxes below:

PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENT: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. This survey should take about 5 minutes to complete.

You must enter your name and date
Human Check*