Senior Applied Strategist

Citizen Relations; Greater London; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Citizen Relations Inc. is seeking a Senior Applied Strategist to bridge business ambitions with brand, channel, and measurement strategy, delivering real-world impact.

You will lead a cross-functional Pod, collaborating with PR, Creative, and Experiential teams, and oversee strategic planning, AI adoption, and KPI-based measurement for major brands.

Qualifications

• Professional experience in strategic planning, digital consultancy, or agency account strategy.
• Forecasting staffing needs and tracking utilisation/burn rates.
• Advanced AI capabilities including integration and workflow adoption.
• Strategic measurement with KPI models and annual planning.
• Client stewardship across executive relationships and briefs.

Responsibilities

• Lead a portfolio of accounts with a cross-functional Pod.
• Inspire and develop pod members and coordinate with Finance & Operations.
• Design robust measurement frameworks and risk identification.
• Integrate Gemini and Google AI Studio into workflows.
• Monitor utilisations and burn rates to ensure profitability.
• Develop scalable campaigns and integrated channel plans.
• Lead innovative approaches to insight delivery and frameworks.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Digital consultancy

Client counsel

Forecast staffing needs

AI integration

KPI modeling

Cross-functional collaboration

Project management

Tools

Gemini

Google AI Studio

Job description

We're looking for an experienced Senior Applied Strategist to join our team. In this role, you'll help our clients to bridge the gap between their high-level business ambitions, and brand, channel and measurement strategy, creating real-world impact.

To achieve this, you'll partner closely with our VP, Applied Strategy and oversee a dedicated team while working cross-functionally with our PR, Creative, and Experiential departments.

Our work ranges from delivering cultural intelligence and insights, running search (SEO/AEO/GEO) programs, building multi-channel content and narrative ecosystems, delivering integrated communications plans and building applied creative strategies and ideas for major global brands.

Our Applied Strategy & Intelligence team works at the cutting edge of AI transformation, helping Citizen Relations to move beyond the traditional boundaries of PR and Earned Media.

About the role

• Portfolio & Account Leadership: You'll lead a portfolio of accounts, working with a cross-functional team (known internally as a Pod), made up of highly skilled intelligence and strategy specialists. You'll make sure we deliver original work and consistently raise the bar for our clients.
• Team Leadership & Advisory: You'll lead, inspire and nurture pod members, setting clear goals and supporting professional development. You'll quickly become a trusted advisor to internal leadership, coordinating with our Finance & Operations team to monitor revenue and forecast talent needs.
• Strategic & Measurement Planning: You'll take the lead on our annual strategic planning process, designing robust measurement frameworks (KPIs, desired outcomes, data sources), and proactively identifying operational risks.
• AI & Workflow Innovation: You'll integrate Gemini and Google AI Studio tools into daily workflows, finding opportunities for agentic implementation and establishing quality and ethical standards.
• Operational & Financial Excellence: You'll maintain standards for operational excellence by keeping a close eye on team utilisation and burn rates to ensure account profitability and value delivery.
• Integrated MarComms Strategy: You'll develop scalable campaign concepts, deliver integrated channel plans, and growing accounts.
• Innovation, delivered: You'll experiment with decidedly different ways of delivering insight, leading interactive workshops, and evolving tried and tested frameworks to enhance strategic impact.

About you

• Professional Experience: You have demonstrable depth of experience in strategic planning, digital consultancy, or agency account strategy, with a track record of team leadership and expert client counsel.
• Financial & Commercial Acumen: You have hands-on experience forecasting staffing needs, tracking utilisation/burn rates, and driving business growth.
• Advanced AI & Digital Capabilities: You have strong and deeply practical knowledge of AI integration, agentic workflow adoption, and scaling human-AI quality control processes.
• Strategic Measurement & Foresight: You've successfully built KPI models that measure what truly matters and at home conducting annual strategic planning.
• Client stewardship: You’re comfortable across all areas of client management, from converting complex client challenges into clear, actionable briefs and crafting compelling pitches, to onboarding new clients, aligning cross-functional teams and managing executive-level client relationships with care and a sharp focus on delivering impact.

About Citizen

Citizen is a global PR agency built to unleash the potential of ambitious brands. Integrated teams across PR, creative, applied strategy & intelligence,and experiential marketing give the curiosity, confidence, and courage to stay ahead of trends, make bold moves, and maximise measurable success.

With 10 offices across Europe and North America, Citizen’s client roster includes P&G (15 brands across Home, Laundry, Personal Care, Professional), Emmi Foods, VW, Trivium and Valvoline.

The agency's disruptive campaigns have been awarded across the world from such shows as The Clios, Webbys, The One Show, LIAs, PRWeek Global and the Cannes International Festival of Creativity.

In 2024 the agency made the ‘Best in Business’ list from Inc. Magazine and was a Campaign Global PR Agency of the Year. In 2025, Citizen was named to PRNews’ Elite Top 120 Agencies List.

This isn't just a job; it's an opportunity to grow, connect, and belong in a vibrant environment. Beyond global opportunities, and unforgettable team-bonding, we prioritise professional development, committed to developing the potential for our talent across all offices. If you lead with curiosity and are eager to make a lasting impact for the world's biggest brands, you can find out more about us here:

https://www.citizenrelations.com/about

Joining Citizen Relations, you are part of the Plus Company.This network of entrepreneurial agencies is designed to collaborate, not compete. It empowers every agency – and every individual – to bring their own unique capabilities together to make magic happen. You will be empowered to take risks, dream big, develop your skills and grow in your career with the full support of the network and all it has to offer.