Senior Retail Strategist

Streetsense; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 110,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental & Vision Insurance

Paid time off

401k match

Wellbeing resources

Job summary

A leading urban design consultancy in Washington, D.C. is seeking a Senior Retail Strategist who excels in transforming data and retail strategies into engaging narratives. The role involves developing impactful strategies, visualizing consumer insights, and collaborating across teams to deliver innovative placemaking solutions. Candidates should have 5-10 years of relevant experience and strong proficiency in Adobe tools. This opportunity combines creativity with strategic thinking to redefine retail spaces across diverse environments.

Qualifications

• 5-10 years of experience in design, real estate fields, development, place branding, planning, brokerage, or consulting.
• Deep intellectual curiosity and creativity.
• Commitment to travel and direct market immersion.
• Excellent communication and storytelling abilities.

Responsibilities

• Develop integrated retail and F&B strategies aligned with client goals.
• Translate consumer behaviors into vivid insights.
• Illustrate user experience journey modeling.
• Establish place pillars and storytelling framework for design and brand positioning.
• Identify local, regional, national and global comparables for inspiration and repositioning.
• Translate complex analytics into compelling visual narratives for client deliverables.
• Develop new business pitches, proposals, RFP responses and marketing materials.
• Partner with colleagues across research, branding, urban planning, and design.

Skills

Communication through narratives and graphics

Data interpretation and analytics

Market intelligence

Collaboration

Spatial visualization

Tools

Adobe Creative Suite

Excel

GIS

Job description

Description

Streetsense is seeking a Senior Retail Strategist who can translate data, merchandising strategies, and retail fundamentals into clear, compelling stories that bring our work to life for our clients. This role goes beyond analysis — it requires crafting deliverables that communicate insight, vision, and value in ways that are engaging, evocative, and thought-provoking. While some assignments demand rigor and precision, the best outcomes inspire imagination and help clients see what their places can become.

Our canvas is the ground plane and public realm — the connective tissue that unites real estate, experience, and people. The ideal candidate is a passionate student of retail and a storyteller at their core, able to transform market intelligence into narratives that shape memorable, enduring places.

Core Responsibilities

• Craft Transformative Strategies: Develop integrated retail, F&B, amenity, and cultural strategies aligned with client goals—moving beyond standard merchandising to redefine the role of place.
• Consumer & User Insights: Translate consumer behaviors and user profiles into vivid insights that help clients clearly visualize the opportunity.
• Experience Journey Modeling: Illustrate the rhythms, touchpoints, and decision moments that shape how people encounter the environment, identifying opportunities to enhance relevance and performance.
• Place DNA & Market Positioning: Establish the guiding place pillars and storytelling framework that inform design, programming, and long-term brand positioning.
• Market Intelligence & Benchmarking: Identify local, regional, national and global comparables and inspiration, extracting lessons and innovations that can reposition client assets.
• Storytelling & Visualization: Translate complex analysis into compelling narratives—elevated reports, graphics, and presentations that inspire action.
• Data Fluency & Interpretation: Comfort synthesizing multi-source datasets (demographic, psychographic, mobility, and retail performance) into clear, actionable insights that inform merchandising, placemaking, and strategic positioning.
• Spatial Visualization & Mapping: Ability to leverage GIS, trade area mapping, and spatial analysis to visually communicate customer patterns, retail voids, and market opportunities in an intuitive, place-based format.
• Data-Driven Storytelling: Translate complex analytics into compelling visual narratives—using charts, maps, and annotated graphics—to support client presentations, strategy documents, and vision-led deliverables.
• Team Collateral: Contribute to Streetsense’s positioning as an industry leader through developing new business pitches, proposals, RFP responses and marketing materials.
• Collaboration: Partner with colleagues across research, branding, urban planning, and design.

Requirements

• Exceptional ability to communicate vision through narrative, graphics, and presentations, with comfort in front of senior audiences.
• Deep intellectual curiosity, creativity, and the ability to synthesize diverse inputs into actionable strategy.
• Commitment to travel and direct market immersion.
• 5-10 years of experience in design, real estate fields, development, place branding, planning, brokerage, or consulting.
• High proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite (InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator).
• Comfort with Excel and familiarity with GIS and Real Estate data sources.

Ideal Candidate

You are a strategic thinker and placemaking visionary with the ability to see connections others miss. You thrive on big ideas yet know how to translate them into executable strategies. You are equally at home in a boardroom with investors, on the street analyzing storefronts, or mentoring the next generation of talent.

Streetsense is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status.

Base salary is just one component of Streetsense's total rewards philosophy. We offer a wide range of benefits and perks that appeal to the variety of needs across our diverse employee base. This may include Medical Dental & Vision Insurance, paid time off, 401k match, wellbeing resources, and more.