Strategy Director
At Sterling, we create brands that make people think, feel and engage. Brands for today. We've done it for super heroes and super causes, organic farmers and information miners, bricks and mortar and digital destinations, cosmetics, condoms, and cornflakes the tried and true and the disruptive trailblazer.
Our obsessively human-centric approach links every inspiration back to the consumer: their lives and passions, their habits and habitats. The result; is beautiful, inclusive, and effective solutions that make brands come alive and thrive.
Our focus is on consumer brands and their identity expressions on-pack, in-store, and online. We love creating the worlds brands live in and inspiring people to be part of them.
Sterling has an amazing culture of appreciation and celebrating team successes.
Onsite / Remote / Hybrid: Hybrid
In this role, you will get to:
- Create meaningful brand expressions
- Offer thought leadership
- Contribute to a culture of growth
- Led research, positioning, and architecture for both established big brands and entrepreneurial thinkers.
- Build meaningful and rewarding relationships with clients
The most effective candidates will be positive, relentlessly curious, multi-disciplinary thinkers with a passion for creativity, design, and innovation.
What You'll Do:
- As a director, you will lead projects from start to finish, working closely with others on strategy, creative, and account teams
- As a leader, you will mentor junior team members to ensure their personal growth and professional development
- Bring relevant consumer and market insights and inspiration to the early process of strategy development via audits, competitive positioning assessment, trends, design assessment, etc.
- Sterling has a robust naming practice led by our Strategy team. As a director, you will participate and/or manage naming strategy, messaging, and copywriting.
- Dive deep into our clients' business to understand the impact our recommendations will have on their business
- Evaluate research, define insights, and create a clear point-of-view with actionable implications
- Be the strategic lead and voice by providing recommendations that are meaningful, actionable, and inspiring
- Relationships are the heart of the agency, so building enduring, trust-based client relationships is key
- New opportunities, projects, and clients help us grow. At Sterling, everyone contributes to our growth. You will help identify new and continuing business opportunities and develop proposals and pitches.
Qualifications:
- A College or Master's degree (preferably in business or the arts)
- A passion for consumer brands
- 10+ years of experience in strategy, consulting, brand consulting, market research, or marketing
- Experience in a client-service based or agency model
- A strategic brain with a proven aptitude and genuine passion for brand strategy, as well as design
- Familiarity with a wide range of research modalities, qualitative and quantitative, and hands-on primary research experience (preferred)
- A positive, team-player attitude
- Outstanding communication and presentation skills in person and writing, through words and visuals
- Fluency in the usual software applications: Keynote, Teams, MS Office
- Open to client-based travel
Compensation:
- Base salary range of $145k to $160k
- This range represents the low and high end of the base salary an individual in this role may earn as an employee of Sterling Brands in the United States. Salaries will vary based on factors including but not limited to: professional and academic experience; training; associated responsibilities; other business and organizational needs; and geographic location (to account for comparative cost of living). The range listed is just one component of our total compensation package for employees. Salary decisions are dependent on the circumstances of each hire.
- Benefits for this role include: Medical/Dental/Vision insurance, Family-forming benefits, Healthcare Flexible Spending Account, Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account, Health Savings Account, 401(k), Employee Stock Purchase Program, vacation, sick, and personal days, paid parental leave and paid medical leave, STD/LTD insurance benefits, Life/AD&D and Disability Insurance, Commuter Benefits, Employee Assistance Program
About Sterling:
We are a brand design consultancy based in NYC, San Francisco, and Cincinnati. For over 25 years, our design, strategy, and innovation teams have been working to bring brands to life across the entire ecosystem of experiences.