Strategy Director

Director of Strategy

Reports to: President

Overview:

We are conducting an executive search for a Director of Strategy on behalf of a full-service marketing, communications, and branding firm headquartered in Greenville, SC. The agency is known for delivering strategic and creative communications, highly responsive client service, and award-winning results across industries including healthcare, travel and tourism, higher education, financial services, and employee benefits/insurance.

The Director will lead the agency’s strategy function, shaping insight-driven brand, creative, and communications strategies that drive measurable client growth. This high-impact, in-office role will translate business challenges into actionable strategies, create customer journeys and personas, develop insight-led briefs, and uncover cultural and consumer truths to inspire standout work. The Director will also mentor a high-performing strategy team, foster cross-disciplinary collaboration, and play a key role in new business development.

Key Responsibilities:

Strategic Planning, Brand Development, and Client Partnership

• Lead the development of brand, creative, and communications strategies for clients.
• Translate business challenges into strategic plans that drive creative excellence and results.
• Guide the creation of customer journeys, personas, and insight-led briefs.
• Conduct and synthesize research across consumer, market, and cultural trends to uncover actionable insights.
• Identify strategic opportunities to enhance brand positioning, market relevance, and audience engagement.
• Develop and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the effectiveness of strategic initiatives and ensure alignment with client objectives.
• Build and maintain strong client relationships as a trusted strategic partner.

Collaboration, Creative Enablement, and Quality Execution

• Serve as an exceptional storyteller who can distill complex systems and thinking into an inspiring and impactful narrative.
• Ensure strategies provide meaningful guidance and useful constraints to enable high-impact creative work.
• Ensure strategies are cohesive and integrated across all client touchpoints, channels, and audience segments.
• Collaborate with creative and media teams to ensure strategies are translated effectively into executions.
• Uphold high standards for strategic deliverables, ensuring clarity, consistency, and measurable value across all client work.
• Foster a culture of innovation and continuous improvement, applying fresh thinking to enhance strategic approaches and deliver exceptional client outcomes.

New Business Development and Strategic Growth

• Contribute to new business efforts by leading strategic thinking and pitch development.
• Leverage strategic expertise to identify opportunities for agency growth in new markets, categories, or service offerings.

Team Leadership and Development

• Recruit, train, and develop strategy team members.
• Mentor and manage a team of strategists, fostering growth, excellence, and accountability.
• Foster a proactive, collaborative, and positive team culture that reflects the agency’s mission and values.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in marketing, advertising, communications, business, or related field; advanced degree preferred.
• 10 years’ experience in strategic planning
• Experience creating brand strategy.
• A proven track record of successfully leading clients into new strategic areas.
• A broad range of approaches for building brands, including advertising, social media, CRM, search, new technology, innovation, and media/connections planning.
• Deep understanding of the creative process and ability to collaborate effectively with creative teams.
• Exceptional communication and presentation skills.
• Self-motivated and willing to expand knowledge.
• Ability to self-manage while managing assigned teams and projects.
• Data-informed yet insight-driven, with the ability to blend analytics and consumer understanding.
• Strong collaborative mindset with the ability to thrive in an in-office, cross-functional environment.
• Demonstrated “builder” mindset—eager to grow capabilities and shape the future of the strategy function.

Other:

This position description outlines the general scope and responsibilities of the role. All qualified applicants will be considered regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, ancestry, disability, veteran status, gender identity, or sexual orientation.

While we sincerely appreciate all interest, only those selected for interview will be contacted.