Strategy Director: Culture-Driven Football Strategy

Rising Ballers; England; On-site; GBP 110,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension scheme

Free Nandos Thursdays in office

Fruits & snacks

Cycle To Work

Off-site / overnight team events

25 days holiday

Learning & development budget

Rapidly growing company

Entrepreneurial environment

Job summary

Rising Ballers in the United Kingdom is seeking a Strategy Director to own insight and creative strategy across our football culture portfolio, from briefs to delivery. You will lead senior clients, shape POVs on audience behavior, and drive pitches that win business and influence culture.

This senior leadership role requires 6–10 years in brand strategy and sports marketing, with a track record of pitching, partnerships, and building strategic capability across fast-growing teams.

Qualifications

• 6–10 years in brand strategy, advertising strategy, or communications planning with proven track record leading strategic workstreams independently.
• Experience in sports marketing, entertainment, or culture-led brand strategy.
• Portfolio demonstrating both insight strategy and creative strategy across multiple campaigns.
• Senior client management and pitch leadership experience.
• Strong research skills (design and synthesize qual/quant research).
• Agency or in-house brand experience with understanding of strategy in commercial environments.

Responsibilities

• Own the audience insights and cultural analysis that informs the strategic direction of both client work and our own brand by spearheading, conducting and synthesizing qual & quant research to uncover human truths driving breakthrough strategies
• Drive creative strategy from brief through campaign, translating insights into compelling narratives; shape creative briefs that inspire exceptional work and align strategic, creative, and commercial objectives
• Establish our POV on sports audiences, fan behavior, and cultural trends; present and defend strategic recommendations to senior clients

Skills

Brand strategy

Advertising strategy

Communications planning

Sports marketing

Culture-led brand strategy

Senior client management

Pitch leadership

Research skills

Cross-agency collaboration

Football culture

Job description

Rising Ballers is hiring a Strategy Director to own and lead our strategic output at a pivotal growth moment. This role is for a cultural strategist fluent in football subcultures, tribal dynamics, and fan behavior, ready to lead strategy at a brand reaching 100M+ people monthly. You’ll own both insight and creative strategy across our full portfolio, from pitch to delivery. From defining our POV on audience behavior to shaping creative strategies that win business and influence culture, this senior role offers the platform to build career-defining work.

About Rising Ballers

Founded in 2017, Rising Ballers Group is a global football media brand and cultural impact studio reaching over 100M accounts monthly. We operate at the intersection of football culture and brand strategy, helping global brands connect authentically with youth audiences. With platforms including Rising Ballers, She’s A Baller, Rising Ballers USA, and Yalla, we create award-winning campaigns embedded in football culture. Our ambition is to be the definitive bridge between youth football culture and brands.

Role Overview

This is not a support role. As Strategy Director, you’ll lead insight and creative strategy end-to-end. You bring 6–10 years’ experience across sports and culture, confidently lead workstreams and senior clients, challenge briefs, and turn audience insight into strategies that win pitches and drive results.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the audience insights and cultural analysis that informs the strategic direction of both client work and our own brand by spearheading, conducting and synthesizing qual & quant research to uncover human truths driving breakthrough strategies
• Drive creative strategy from brief through campaign, translating insights into compelling narratives; shape creative briefs that inspire exceptional work and align strategic, creative, and commercial objectives
• Establish our POV on sports audiences, fan behavior, and cultural trends; present and defend strategic recommendations to senior clients

Own Strategic Output & Business Development

• Take full ownership of strategic workstreams without constant oversight; make strategic decisions confidently, knowing when to push back and when to adapt
• Develop winning pitch strategies demonstrating strategic differentiation and cultural authority; own strategic narrative in new business presentations
• Collaborate with commercial teams to identify and pursue strategic opportunities aligned with business goals

Drive Client Relationships & Collaboration

• Build and maintain relationships with CMOs, Brand Directors, and senior marketing leaders; act as strategic counsel bringing proactive thinking and cultural foresight
• Partner seamlessly with creative, production, and commercial teams to ensure strategic alignment; facilitate workshops bringing teams together around shared objectives
• Navigate complex client dynamics and translate strategic thinking in ways that inspire other disciplines

Develop Strategic Capabilities

• Mentor junior strategists and cultivating strategic thinking across the wider business
• Set quality standards ensuring all outputs reflect strategic rigor and cultural intelligence
• Maintain deep fluency in sports culture, fan dynamics, and youth marketing; position the business as a thought leader at the intersection of youth, sports, culture and brands

Required Experience & Skills

• 6-10 years in brand strategy, advertising strategy, or communications planning with proven track record leading strategic workstreams independently
• Experience in sports marketing, entertainment, or culture-led brand strategy (either sports-focused work or demonstrable passion/fluency in sports culture)
• Portfolio demonstrating both insight strategy and creative strategy across multiple campaigns
• Senior client management (CMO/Brand Director level) and pitch leadership experience
• Strong research skills (design and synthesize qual/quant research)
• Agency or in-house brand experience with understanding of strategy in commercial environments
• Excellent communication/presentation skills with ability to inspire and persuade senior audiences
• Cultural curiosity and anthropological approach to understanding human behavior and audience dynamics
• Direct experience with major endemic sports brands (Nike, adidas, Puma, etc.), brands in the football space (Visa, Heineken, Lucozade) or sports properties (clubs, leagues, federations)
• Familiarity with gaming/entertainment brands (EA Sports FC, PlayStation, Football Manager) or FMCG/CPG brands
• Understanding of fan engagement strategies and audience-first marketing
• Experience in multi-discipline cross-agency team collaboration
• Sponsorship, partnership, or rights holder strategy experience
• In-depth football culture and global football marketing knowledge
• Track record winning pitches and contributing to business growth
• Experience mentoring or managing junior strategists

Salary And Benefits (wider benefits doc available)

• Competitive salary with pension scheme
• Free Nandos Thursdays in office every other week with the whole team
• Weekly office fruits/snacks + Cycle To Work scheme
• Company drinks on alternating weeks, plus summer off-site / overnight stay
• 25 days holiday, rising by 1 day every 2 years you are with us (capped at 28)
• Strong development framework, inclusive of 2 PDP cycles a year
• Annual learning & development budget for courses to support development
• Rapidly growing company with long-term role progression
• Entrepreneurial environment, where each day brings something new

Ideal Candidate Profile

You see strategy as cultural anthropology, driven by curiosity about human behavior, fan passion, and the emotional power of sports culture. You understand tribal dynamics, challenge briefs with confidence, and bring provocative POVs that move conversations forward. Intellectually restless and culturally fluent beyond sports, you connect insights from psychology, sociology, and lived experience. Collaborative but decisive, you turn strategy into inspiration and bold work. This senior leadership role offers a clear path to Global Head of Strategy, with autonomy to build your reputation through high-profile sports and culture work. Reporting to the Rising Ballers Founders, you’ll sit on the leadership team, partner across creative and commercial functions, and build the strategy function as the business scales.

We are strongly committed to an inclusive and diverse Rising Ballers. We are an equal opportunity employer, and we do not discriminate based on race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or any other legally protected status.