Director, Strategy , Citizen Relations

Cossette Media; Cincinnati (OH); Hybrid; USD 115,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Citizen Relations, part of the Plus Company network, seeks a Director, Strategy to lead earned-first strategies across multi-domain teams. You will bring curiosity, data-driven storytelling, and strong client counsel to solve tough problems beyond traditional PR.

This is a unique hybrid role supporting earned strategy clients and a Pod of data scientists, decision engineers, and digital strategists, with active leadership and mentorship responsibilities.

Qualifications

• 7+ years in an agency or brand/comms environment.
• Strong people and team management experience.
• Robust portfolio and earned-first communications understanding.

Responsibilities

• Strategic counsel & design for key clients, guiding strategy development.
• Articulate consumer and cultural insights into creative briefs, collaborating with the creative team.
• Lead and mentor junior talent, nurturing curiosity and high performance.
• Oversee client growth and extend Strategy’s impact upstream.

Skills

Strategic thinking

People management

Data analysis

Earned media knowledge

Digital familiarity

Communication

Tools

Talkwalker

CreatorIQ

Klear

Sprout Influencer

Job description

Director, Strategy

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

With 10 offices across North America and Europe, Citizen’s client roster includes P&G, Nestlé Canada, Duracell, ABInBev, Zoom, and Nespresso. 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 2023 Citizen was named PRovoke Media's Consumer PR Agency of the Year and Best Mid-Size Agency to Work For, in addition to PR Agency of the Year (Gold) from Strategy Magazine, Best Places to Work for PRWeek and Inc. Magazine's \"Best in Business\". In 2025, Citizen was named Campaign’s Global PR Agency of the Year (Bronze).

About the Role

A key member in our global Strategy team, the Director will create strategies that earn attention and impact culture. We’re looking for someone who knows an insight when they see it, whose curiosity is around-the-clock, and believes in the power of bringing data to storytelling to unlock brand results. Equal parts arts and science, logic and imagination, you are confident giving client counsel and persuasive in a room. If you can ask questions that lead to more questions, if you have a commitment to solving tough problems, if you want to do work that goes beyond PR, we want to hear from you.

This is a unique hybrid opportunity. In addition to supporting earned strategy clients and deliverables, this role will provide crucial earned support to our Pod of multi-domain specialists. These include data scientists, decision engineers, and digital strategists. You will receive active support and oversight while working closely with the Pod on some of Citizen's most significant clients.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Counsel & Design: Design and develop communications strategies for key clients, provide strategic counsel, and work within IAT environments to help guide strategy development and tackle briefs together.


• Insights & Creative Integration: Articulate consumer and cultural insights into creative briefs, and work hand-in-hand with Citizen’s creative team to set up earned-centric campaigns. Partner with Citizen’s intelligence team to guide research, simplify complexity, and uncover original insights.


• Leadership & Team Management: Foster excellence and build trust across clients as well as account and creative teams, and nurture a culture of curiosity across Citizen. Manage and mentor junior talent, working closely with the Pod to ensure high performance and continuity.


• Business & Portfolio Growth: Grow and develop existing pieces of business by extending Strategy’s impact and influence further upstream. Oversee vital client growth - with a priority on P&G - while supporting and leading new business mandates.

What You’ll Bring to the Table

• Experience: 7+ years of experience in an agency or brand/comms environment, featuring strong people and team management experience, as well as robust portfolio and understanding of the nuances of earned-first communications.


• Outcome-Focused Mindset: A high level of comfort with measurement and data analysis, alongside the passion for consumer behaviour to translate data into tangible, actionable insights.


• Digital Dexterity: Demonstrated channel familiarity spanning Brand and Digital Ecosystems, Influencers, Search/GEO, and Social Commerce.


• Earned Media Expertise: A nuanced understanding of earned media and its intersection with creativity, trends, and cultural shifts.


• Tool Familiarity: Experience and knowledge of social listening tools (e.g., Talkwalker) and a nuanced POV on the current creator/social media landscape. Familiarity with CreatorIQ, Klear, and Sprout Influencer is desired.


• Intangibles: Natural curiosity, a clear growth mindset, proactive energy, and the confidence to influence, negotiate, and be persuasive with both internal stakeholders and clients.

Transparency matters to us. For this role, you can expect a salary between $115,000-130,000 annually depending on experience.

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.

We thank all applicants. However, only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

Citizen Relations is an equal opportunity employer. It prohibits discrimination based on age, color, disability, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, and any other legally protected class in accordance with applicable federal, provincial and local laws. Citizen Relations is committed to creating and maintaining an inclusive and accessible workplace. If you are contacted for an interview and require accommodation during the interviewing process, please let us know.