Director, Brand & Experience Strategy

Dentsu International Americas, LLC; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 119,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, vision, and dental insurance

Life insurance

Disability insurance

401k

Flexible paid time off

15 paid holidays per year

Paid sick and safe leave

Paid parental leave

Job summary

Dentsu Creative in Chicago is seeking a Director of Brand Strategy to lead multi-discipline teams across brand, media and creative. You will translate data into clear client recommendations and drive smarter decisions across portfolios.

You will connect strategy, creativity, and analytics to improve performance and grow the business. The role emphasizes hands-on development of briefs, test plans, content frameworks, and learning agendas while staying current with evolving tools and technologies

Qualifications

• At least 3 years as a creative performance strategist across digital media.
• At least 5 years of total experience in performance marketing with demonstrated impact.
• Experience creating strategic deliverables: briefs, test strategies, content frameworks, etc.
• Strong analytical thinking to organize data from multiple sources and translate findings into recommendations.
• Proven collaboration with account, creative and media teams.
• Excellent client and internal communication; able to lead discussions and present recommendations.
• Comfortable managing across multiple accounts and client challenges.
• Some familiarity with DCO platforms; deep expertise not required.
• Enthusiasm for latest tools and technologies in performance marketing.
• Bachelor's degree in business-related field; B2B2C experience is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Develop creative test strategies and roadmaps, coordinating with creative and media teams to ensure sound execution and measurement of recommendations.
• Author creative briefs that bring together audience insight, channel context, and message direction and working alongside creative teams through to execution.
• Build strategic deliverables beyond the brief, including learning agendas, content frameworks, messaging hierarchies, competitive analysis.
• Establish always-on campaign listening practices: tracking creative assets in market, identifying what's working, and translating performance into clear optimization recommendations to guide decisioning.
• Organize and analyze data from multiple sources, surfacing actionable insights and communicating next steps clearly to clients and internal teams.
• Partner with brand and media strategy teams to ensure creative is built with distribution logic and audience segmentation in mind from the start.
• Operate as connective tissue across strategy, creative, media, analytics, and technology.
• Maintain a working understanding of DCO platforms and apply that knowledge where appropriate for client needs.
• Stay current on emerging tools and technologies shaping performance marketing, bringing that knowledge into strategic recommendations proactively.

Skills

Creative performance strategist

Analytical thinking

Cross-functional collaboration

Client and internal communication

Data-driven decision making

Lead discussions with teams

Education

Bachelor's degree in business-related field

Tools

DCO platforms

Job description

Job Description: The Director, Brand Strategy is a multi-discipline operator: equal parts analyst, strategic thinker, and connective force across brand, media, and creative teams inside and outside the agency. They move fluidly across client portfolios, embedding themselves wherever performance creative strategy is needed, and they leave every engagement sharper than they found it. They are integral connective tissue between teams, fluent in media, and skilled at developing the strategic briefs, test approaches, content and messaging frameworks, or plans needed to keep work moving with clarity and purpose. They work closely with creative and media teams to ensure accurate, high-quality execution, and they stay close enough to the work to know when something needs to shift. This person has a strong command of data — knowing how to organize it, pull meaningful insight from it, and translate those insights into clear recommendations for clients and internal teams on what to do next, regardless of where that data originates. They take an always listening and learning mindset to everything they do, from tracking creative assets in market to reading trends or interpreting performance signals. Strong communicators and critical thinkers, they lead client and internal discussions with confidence, always guiding smarter decisions, and always looking for opportunities to improve marketing efforts and grow the business. This is an opportunity for someone who wants to sit at the intersection of creativity, data, and modern performance marketing.

Responsibilities

• Develop creative test strategies and roadmaps, coordinating with creative and media teams to ensure sound execution and measurement of recommendations.
• Author creative briefs that bring together audience insight, channel context, and message direction and working alongside creative teams through to execution.
• Build strategic deliverables beyond the brief, including things like learning agendas, content frameworks, messaging hierarchies, competitive analysis.
• Establish always-on campaign listening practices: tracking creative assets in market, identifying what's working, and translating performance into clear optimization recommendations to guide decisioning.
• Organize and analyze data from multiple sources, surfacing actionable insights and communicating next steps clearly to clients and internal teams.
• Partner with brand and media strategy teams to ensure creative is built with distribution logic and audience segmentation in mind from the start.
• Operate as connective tissue across strategy, creative, media, analytics, and technology.
• Maintain a working understanding of DCO platforms and apply that knowledge where appropriate for client needs.
• Stay current on emerging tools and technologies shaping performance marketing, bringing that knowledge into strategic recommendations proactively.

Qualifications

• At least 3 years of experience as a creative performance strategist working in digital, ideally across programmatic video, display, and multiple social platforms, or with significant depth in at least one of these areas.
• At least 5 years of total experience in performance marketing, with a demonstrated ability to connect creative decisions to measurable performance outcomes.
• Experience developing a range of strategic deliverables: creative briefs, test strategies, content frameworks, etc, as well as the judgment to know what the moment calls for.
• Strong analytical thinking with the ability to organize data from multiple sources, pull meaningful insight, and translate findings into clear, confident recommendations for clients and internal teams.
• A track record of collaboration with account, creative and media teams.
• Strong client and internal communication skills, with experience leading discussions, presenting recommendations, and identifying opportunities.
• Comfortable managing across multiple accounts and client challenges simultaneously.
• Some experience with DCO platforms; deep expertise not required, but familiarity with how and when to apply them is expected.
• Genuine enthusiasm for the latest tools, platforms, and technologies shaping performance marketing.
• Bachelor's degree in a business-related or equivalent field.
• B2B2C experience and fluency in marketing research methodologies are a plus.

The annual salary range for this position is $119,000-$150,000 annually.

Location: Chicago

Brand: Dentsu Creative

Time Type: Full time

Contract Type: Permanent

Benefits

• Medical, vision, and dental insurance
• Life insurance
• Short-term and long-term disability insurance
• 401k
• Flexible paid time off
• At least 15 paid holidays per year
• Paid sick and safe leave
• Paid parental leave

Dentsu also complies with applicable state and local laws regarding employee leave benefits, including providing time off according to the Colorado Healthy Families and Workplaces Act, following its plans and policies.

For further details regarding Dentsu benefits, please visit www.dentsubenefitsplus.com.

Dentsu Commitment to Equality and Inclusion

Dentsu is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees. We do this without regard to race, color, national origin, sex , sexual orientation, gender identity, age, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, ancestry, physical or mental disability, marital status, political affiliation, religious practices and observances, citizenship status, genetic information, veteran status, or any other basis protected under applicable federal, state, or local law.

Dentsu is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to, among others, individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans. If you need an accommodation because of a disability to search and apply for a career opportunity with us, please send an e-mail to [e-mail] by clicking on the link to let usknow the nature of your accommodation request and your contact information. We are here to support you.

About dentsu

For over 120 years, innovation has been a core tenet of our offering – exploring new ways to reach, engage and nurture relationships with audiences. Together we drive a multiplier effect for clients at a global scale, through the development of Integrated Growth Solutions that are underpinned by our promise to clients: innovating to impact. Be a force for good. Sustainability is a vital part of our business and an important area of focus for our clients. We’re leading the way – helping to build a more sustainable planet. Dream loud. In this moment of transformation, we need our people to be fearless, embracing change and ambiguity, driven by the love for their work and excitement for the future. Team without limits. We create opportunities for connection and collaboration between our colleagues and clients, building a sense of belonging and having some fun along the way. Find out more about us.

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