Director, Strategy

Responsibilities

• We’re looking for someone whose favorite questions are “Why?” and “What if?”. Someone who has a passion for understanding human behavior and employs empathy at all stages of the process.
• Someone who is comfortable getting outside their comfort zones and who approaches every project with the goal of learning something new.
• Employ a resourceful and curious approach to brand, fan, category and cultural research in building briefs, business cases and strategic recommendations for clients.
• Prepare insightful, inspiring creative briefs and concise strategy documents that clearly guide the ideation and planning processes.
• Lead the creation and stewardship of sports strategies for client business, collaborating internally with account teams to identify brand goals and explore the art of the possible.
• Develop and champion insight-led platform and activation ideas that transform partnership rights into culturally resonant moments – both proactive ideation as well as ideas based on specific client briefs.
• Develop and deliver high-quality presentations that masterfully communicate complex topics into terms that can be easily understood by various audiences.
• Build case studies that showcase the agency’s impact on client business and how those experiences can help influence prospective clients.
• Keep a strong pulse on fan engagement, media, and innovation trends across the sports landscape that can help inform strategic planning.
• Work closely with our Data & Analytics team to ensure recommended plans are measurable, and creatively uncover data-driven insights that lead to effective solutions.

Qualifications

• 8–12 years of experience
• Natural curiosity and a determined ability to turn observed data into a compelling story about what behavior is driving it.
• Effective use of superior writing skills to influence and persuade others to take action, with the keen ability to shape a document elegantly using all available tools and tricks.
• Comfort level authoring client-facing materials, including strategic frameworks and recommendations, channel & communication strategies, creative ideas, process documents, etc. (with or without existing examples to guide the work, and with extreme attention to detail).
• Strong presentation skills with a demonstrated ability to communicate clearly and with confidence in any setting.
• Desire to champion a culture of accountability with a proactive, solutions-oriented approach that thrives in a fast-paced, highly collaborative agency environment.
• Experience with and understanding of partnership deal structures and asset mixes, and ability to identify opportunities to elevate or optimize assets to maximize business impact.
• Client-focused experience with ability to establish and maintain senior-level relationships on both the client and property sides.
• Entrepreneurial spirit and strong time management skills in order to effectively prioritize and juggle multiple, often accelerated work streams, including comfort level adapting to change.
• Proven leadership skills with a track record of inspiring and influencing colleagues, clients, and partners at all levels to achieve strategic excellence.
• (Plus) familiarity with prediction markets, fintech, crypto or emerging platforms.