Director, Commerce Strategy

twentysix; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 75,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

VML in New York seeks a Director, Commerce Strategy to lead client strategic work, translating insights into growth plans across retail and digital channels. You will mentor teams, shape narratives, and drive high-impact commerce strategies with rigorous execution. This role blends strategy leadership with hands-on collaboration across creative, media, and client teams.

The position offers a hybrid work model and a competitive compensation package reflecting US market norms.

Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in advertising, Communications, Marketing or related field.
• Leadership Experience: 2–3+ years managing direct reports.
• Strategy Experience: 7–10 years in omnichannel retail strategy or related field.
• Industry Background: Experience in agency, CPG, research or consulting preferred.
• Retail IQ: Deep understanding of top U.S. retailers and marketing strategies.
• Technical Skills: Experience with database tools and data-driven insights.
• Communication: Exceptional storytelling and client management abilities.

Responsibilities

• Set the strategic agenda for client portfolios and identify growth levers.
• Advise clients with provocative, consultative perspectives on business models.
• Translate insights into narratives and actionable jobs-to-be-done.
• Uphold high standards of strategic rigor across briefs, roadmaps, and narratives.
• Synthesize complex challenges into clear strategic frameworks.
• Conduct market research and competitive audits using MRI Simmons, Mintel, Infegy, and YPulse.
• Leverage data to size opportunities and inform retail engagement strategies.
• Develop omnichannel strategies across in-store, online, social, and email.
• Draft compelling case studies for industry awards to demonstrate impact.
• Partner with Media and Growth Strategy teams for optimization insights.
• Integrate AI tools and prompting into strategic workflows.

Skills

Strategy experience

Retail IQ

Leadership experience

Communication

Storytelling

Technical skills

Industry background

Education

Bachelor’s degree in advertising, Communications, Marketing, or related field

Tools

MRI Simmons

Mintel

Job description

Who We Are

VML is a leading creative company that combines brand experience, customer experience, and commerce, creating connected brands to drive growth. VML is celebrated for its innovative and award-winning human-first work for clients including AstraZeneca, Colgate-Palmolive, Dell, Ford, Microsoft, Nestlé, The Coca-Cola Company, and Wendy's. In 2026, VML was named Campaign’s Global Network of the Year and ranked #2 Creative Network of the Year at Cannes Lions. VML’s global network spans 55+ markets with principal offices in Buenos Aires, Kansas City, London, New York, São Paulo, Shanghai and Singapore.

VML is part of WPP, the trusted growth partner for the world's leading brands. Powered by exceptional talent and our agentic marketing platform WPP Open, WPP unites cutting-edge media intelligence and data solutions, creativity, production, enterprise solutions and expert strategic counsel.

For more information, please visit www.vml.com and follow along on LinkedIn #WeAreVML.

Who we are looking for:

VML is seeking a Director, Commerce Strategy to be the primary strategic lead and consultant for our client partners. You are a master practitioner and people leader who defines the standard of strategic excellence for your clients. You bridge the gap between high-level business transformation and rigorous execution, owning the total integrity of the strategic output while actively mentoring the next generation of strategic talent to ensure every provocation is both bold and commercially grounded.

Key Responsibilities:

Individual

Strategic Product

• Strategic Contribution: Set the strategic agenda for your client portfolio, identifying the long-term levers for brand growth and business transformation.
• Act as the senior strategic advisor to clients, providing a provocative and consultative perspective that challenges their business models and identifies untapped commerce opportunities.
• Storytelling & Narrative: Translate complex insights into compelling strategic narratives and actionable "jobs to be done" for brands, retailers and key channels that inspire both clients and creative teams.
• Strategic Craft: Set and uphold the standard for strategic rigor, ensuring that every brief, roadmap, and narrative produced by the team is of the highest quality and driven by a clear, defensible point of view.
• Direct the synthesis of complex business challenges into elegant strategic frameworks that provide clarity for both internal teams and senior client stakeholders.
• Research Tools & Strategic Intelligence: Conduct thorough market research and competitive audits using database tools such as MRI Simmons, Mintel, Infegy, and YPulse to identify trends, potential threats and white-space opportunities.
• Leverage sales and shopper panel data to uncover core business problems and size market opportunities.
• Strategic Activation & Omnichannel Planning Support: Develop comprehensive retail and engagement strategies that translate brand objectives into actionable plans across in-store, online, social, and email platforms.
• Awards & Recognition: Identify and draft compelling case studies for industry awards (e.g., Effies, WARC, Cannes Lions) to showcase the agency’s best-in-class commerce work and the impact and effectiveness for our clients.
• Measurement & Optimization: Partner with Media and Growth Strategy teams to review performance reports and translate analytical findings into insights that drive strategic and actionable recommendations.
• AI Engineering & Prompting: Integrate VML and WPP Open’s proprietary AI tools and emerging technologies into the strategic workflow to increase speed-to-insight and creative innovation.

Strategic Process

• Business Development Contribution: Identify and communication opportunities to grow client business, contributing to the overall success of the agency. Supports new business pitches by developing strategic insights, contributing to pitch presentations, and providing strategic inputs for RFIs/RFPs.
• Briefing & Ideation: Own the briefing process for major workstreams, bridging the gap between strategy and creative to ensure ideas are grounded in shopper reality.
• Knowledge Sharing & Thought Leadership: Contribute to the agency’s collective "Retail IQ" by developing and sharing points of view on emerging commerce trends and retailer innovations.
• Time Management Support: Oversee and effectively manage timelines and deliverables for multiple projects simultaneously, following up on outstanding issues to remove blockers and obstacles to move work forward.

Management

People Management

• Client Engagement: Serve as a key strategic point of contact for clients, managing expectations and providing a consultative perspective to ensure strategic alignment and that work aligns with broader business goals.
• Lead the presentation of strategic work to senior stakeholders, focusing on the "So What" of the data to drive confident business decisions.
• Navigate complex client feedback with a solutions-oriented mindset, defending strategic integrity while remaining flexible to business realities.
• Internal Collaboration: Act as a strategic voice within the agency, collaborating closely with Client Engagement, Creative, Strategy, and Media teams.
• Work closely with Creative and Media teams to provide the strategic "proof points" and retailer insights needed to bridge the gap between creative ideas and commerce results.
• Mentorship & Guidance: Accountable for the health and long-term career development of the team, fostering a culture of curiosity, provocation, and commercial accountability.
• Review and refine the work of the broader strategy team, ensuring that every deliverable is elevated beyond the table stakes to provide true competitive advantage and differentiation for our clients.

Qualifications:

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in advertising, Communications, Marketing, or a related field.
• Leadership Experience: 2-3+ years of formal experience managing direct reports, with a proven track record of coaching team members through performance management and career pathing.
• Strategy Experience: 7-10 years of experience in omnichannel retail strategy, engagement marketing, or a related field. Proven experience with channel and communications planning, including developing and executing integrated marketing campaigns across physical and digital/ecommerce channels and touchpoints. Demonstrated ability to apply structured strategic frameworks to solve business challenges and a track record of identifying data-driven growth opportunities.
• Industry Background: Experience within an agency, CPG company, research company, or consulting firm is preferred.
• Retail IQ: Demonstrated experience working on top U.S. retailers with a strong understanding of their business models and marketing strategies.
• Technical Skills: Applied experience with database tools (MRI Simmons, Mintel) and sales/panel data platforms.
• Communication: Exceptional storytelling skills; ability to command a room, handle difficult client questions, and translate complex strategy into clear business logic for senior audiences.

The base salary range for this position at the time of this posting is indicated below. Individual compensation varies based on job-related factors, including location, business needs, level of responsibility, experience, and qualifications. We offer a competitive benefits package.

$75,000—$180,000 USDWe believe the best work happens when we're together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection. That's why we’ve adopted a hybrid approach, with teams in the office an average of four days a week. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process.

WPP (VML) is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers.