Creative & Brand Strategist (On-Call)

ICF Olson; Washington (District of Columbia); Hybrid; USD 119,000 - 202,000; Full time

Job summary

ICF Olson is seeking a senior Creative & Brand Strategist to drive strategic direction across brands, campaigns, and experiences. You will translate data into actionable insights, develop positioning and narratives, and lead cross-functional teams to deliver integrated programs that move people to action.

You will collaborate with researchers, creatives, technologists, and client leaders to shape strategic foundations and ensure alignment with business outcomes.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in marketing, market research, journalism, sociology or related fields. (applicants can substitute one year of related experience for one year of education)
• 10+ years of experience leading brand and communications strategies.
• Must be able to pass a background check and secure public trust clearance.

Responsibilities

• Lead strategic direction across brands, campaigns, experiences, and integrated initiatives.
• Translate research, data, and audience understanding into actionable insights.
• Develop brand positioning, messaging architectures, audience personas, narrative frameworks, campaign strategies, and creative briefs.
• Create clear, inspiring briefs that drive creative and experience design.
• Facilitate stakeholder workshops and executive alignment sessions.
• Identify emerging cultural and market shifts that create opportunities.
• Partner with research, analytics, and account teams to drive program delivery.
• Ensure strategy aligns with creative concepting and delivery.

Skills

Brand strategy

Communications planning

Creative strategy

Customer strategy

Behavioral psychology

Consulting

Stakeholder management

Executive engagement

Positioning

Messaging architectures

Narrative framework

Personas

Campaign strategy

Creative briefs

Facilitation

Data-driven insights

AI in research

Education

Bachelor's degree in marketing or related field

Job description

Organizations have never had more ways to reach people. More channels. More content. More data. More expertise. Yet influence remains scarce. People decide what to trust. What to believe. What to adopt. What to join. What to ignore. The gap between what organizations intend and what people do is where growth is won or lost. That's where strategy matters. We're looking for a Creative & Brand Strategist to help organizations navigate that gap. This is a senior leadership role for a strategist who can transform complexity into clarity, insight into direction, and direction into ideas that create measurable impact. You'll work across brand, marketing, customer experience, communications, digital transformation, and organizational challenges - helping clients identify opportunities, define strategic choices, and create meaningful connections with the people they serve.

The Opportunity As a Creative & Brand Strategist, you will lead strategic development across integrated engagements that span brand, campaign, digital experience, customer engagement, and organizational transformation. You will partner with researchers, behavioral scientists, consultants, creatives, technologists, and client leaders to uncover what drives decisions and define what should happen next. You'll be responsible for shaping the strategic foundation behind the work: identifying opportunities, framing challenges, developing positioning, creating narratives, and inspiring ideas that move people to action. This role requires equal comfort in the boardroom, workshop, research review, and creative briefing. You will influence executive stakeholders, guide multidisciplinary teams, and ensure strategy serves as a catalyst for both creativity and business outcomes.

What You'll Do

• Lead strategic direction across brands, campaigns, experiences, and integrated initiatives.
• Translate research, data, and audience understanding into actionable insights and strategic recommendations.
• Develop brand positioning, value propositions, messaging frameworks, narrative platforms, and campaign strategies.
• Partner with research, analytics and account teams to unlock audience drivers, develop personas and segmentation strategies that drive program development and delivery.
• Contribute to developing key performance indicators and program evaluation approaches.
• Create clear, inspiring briefs that drive exceptional creative and experience design work.
• Facilitate stakeholder workshops, executive alignment sessions, and strategic planning engagements.
• Identify emerging cultural, behavioral, and market shifts that create new opportunities for clients.
• Partner closely with research, customer experience, creative, digital, consulting, and account teams to solve complex business challenges.
• Check for strategy and brand consistency in creative concepting and delivery.

What We're Looking For

You are a strategist first. You know how to uncover meaningful insights, define compelling positions, build persuasive narratives, and create strategic direction that inspires action. You understand that brands are not simply communications systems - they are systems of meaning. You see audiences as people, not segments. You know how to connect human motivations with organizational goals. You can move comfortably between long-term brand building and immediate business priorities. Between analytical rigor and creative imagination. Between evidence, intuition, and judgment. Most importantly, you know that strategy is not about having all the answers. It's about asking the questions that reveal opportunities others miss.

You Bring

• Professional Skills Significant experience in brand strategy, communications planning, creative strategy, customer strategy, consumer behavioral psychology, consulting, or a related discipline.
• A strong track record of leading strategic work across complex, multidisciplinary engagements and with cross-functional marketing teams.
• Experience developing positioning, messaging architectures, audience personas, narrative frameworks, campaign strategies, and creative briefs.
• Strong facilitation and stakeholder management skills, including executive-level engagement.
• Exceptional communication, storytelling, and presentation abilities.
• Proven ability to align diverse stakeholders around strategic direction and organizational priorities.
• Curiosity about culture, behavior, technology, and the forces shaping how people make decisions.
• Experience using AI as a tool to make our research and deliverables smarter and more efficient.
• Primary and secondary research experience and demonstrated ability to use the data to unlock insights that drive program design.

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in marketing, market research, journalism, sociology or related fields. (applicants can substitute one year of related experience for one year of education) 10+ years of experience developing and leading brand, communications, customer experience, or business strategies within agencies, consultancies, or client organizations. Must be able to pass a background check and secure public trust clearance.

What Success Looks Like

Success in this role is not measured by the number of strategies created. It's measured by the decisions those strategies enable.

You will

• Help clients see opportunities they couldn't previously see.
• Bring clarity to ambiguity and alignment to complexity.
• Influence critical business, brand, and experience decisions.
• Elevate the quality of creative thinking across teams.
• Strengthen client relationships through trusted strategic leadership.
• Create work that earns attention, builds trust, drives participation, and delivers meaningful outcomes.
• Build a stronger culture of strategic thinking across teams, improving how opportunities are identified, framed, and brought to market.

Applicants needing an accommodation for disability or religious purposes in connection with the application process should contact [e-mail] for assistance.

Working at ICF

ICF is a global advisory and technology services provider, but we’re not your typical consultants. We combine unmatched expertise with cutting-edge technology to help clients solve their most complex challenges, navigate change, and shape the future. We can only solve the world's toughest challenges by building a workplace that allows everyone to thrive.

We are an equal opportunity employer. Together, our employees are empowered to share their expertise and collaborate with others to achieve personal and professional goals. For more information, please read our EEO policy.

We will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Reasonable Accommodations are available, including, but not limited to, for disabled veterans, individuals with disabilities, and individuals with sincerely held religious beliefs, in all phases of the application and employment process.

To request an accommodation, please email [e-mail] and we will be happy to assist.

All information you provide will be kept confidential and will be used only to the extent required to provide needed reasonable accommodations.

Read more about workplace discrimination rights or our benefit offerings which are included in the Transparency in (Benefits) Coverage Act.

Candidate AI Usage Policy

At ICF, we are committed to ensuring a fair interview process for all candidates based on their own skills and knowledge. As part of this commitment, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools to generate or assist with responses during interviews (whether in-person or virtual) is not permitted. This policy is in place to maintain the integrity and authenticity of the interview process. However, we understand that some candidates may require accommodation that involves the use of AI. If such an accommodation is needed, candidates are instructed to contact us in advance at [e-mail]. We are dedicated to providing the necessary support to ensure that all candidates have an equal opportunity to succeed.

Pay Range -

Pay Range - There are multiple factors that are considered in determining final pay for a position, including, but not limited to, relevant work experience, skills, certifications and competencies that align to the specified role, geographic location, education and certifications as well as contract provisions regarding labor categories that are specific to the position. The pay range for this position based on full-time employment is: $118,807.00 - $201,971.00 DC Remote Office (DC99)

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About ICF

ICF is a global consulting and technology services company with approximately 9,000 employees, but we are not your typical consultants. At ICF, business analysts and policy specialists work together with digital strategists, data scientists and creatives. We combine unmatched industry expertise and a platform. Learn more at icf.com.