Senior Strategic Planner

We Are Saatchi; El Segundo, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 81,000 - 124,000; Full time

Job summary

We Are Saatchi in El Segundo, CA, is seeking a Senior Strategic Planner to lead synthesis of complex data and cultural truths, owning the creation of inspiring briefs and driving overarching strategy POVs.

The candidate should have 5+ years in strategic/account planning, strong presentation skills, and a proven ability to partner with creative, account, and data teams to deliver ideas that resonate across media and culture.

Qualifications

• Minimum of a Bachelor’s Degree
• 5+ years of strategic/account planning experience
• Have a strong opinion and be willing to listen to others’ opinions
• Must have experience leading the development of strategy and acting as a trusted partner to creative, account, and data teams
• Must have strong presentation skills, be able to develop presentation materials that are clear and concise, and confidently sell a strategic point of view to senior leadership and clients
• Must be a self-starter, demonstrate strong attention to detail, and actively guide the growth of junior planners
• Innate curiosity to want to understand culture, people, and the enduring logic behind what makes them tick
• Highly tuned creative instinct – ability to identify a great idea, protect it, and translate hard data into briefs that inspire work that actually impacts culture
• Ability to bring audiences and strategies to life in compelling ways
• Must have excellent verbal and written communication skills and be a confident writer
• Must have deep expertise designing, analyzing, and interpreting quantitative and qualitative research

Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership: you ll take complex data, deep research, and cultural observations and distill them into clear insights the team can actually use.
• Creative Inspiration: you ll take business data and real cultural insights, translating them into clear, inspiring briefs that give our creative teams exactly what they need to make work that actually impacts culture.
• Cultural Authority: you ll spot emerging trends and consumer behaviors before they peak, turning cultural moments into business opportunities.
• Cross-Functional Partnership: you ll act as a trusted partner to the creative, account, media and data teams, working closely to turn strategy into reality.
• Research Mastery: you bring deep expertise in designing, analyzing, and interpreting both quantitative and qualitative research, with synthesis of key insights.
• Presentation & Selling: you know how to build a compelling presentation and confidently sell your strategic point of view to senior leadership and clients.
• Mentorship: you ll look out for the junior planners, guiding their growth and shaping the everyday culture of the department.
• Travel: you are ready and willing to travel whenever the project requires it.

Skills

Presentation skills

Self-starter

Attention to detail

Verbal & written communication

Curiosity about culture

Creative instinct

Cross-functional collaboration

Research proficiency

Travel readiness

Education

Bachelor's Degree

Job description

At Saatchi we believe in creating ideas that can live anywhere. And we believe that when we work as a team, nothing is impossible. We strive to bring out the best in each other and in ourselves and expect applicants to understand the value of close collaboration. We also believe that creating transformational work requires initiative, an entrepreneurial spirit and a bold commitment to achieving measurable results and business success for the Clients we service.

Job Description

Big picture, you will work with teams in developing and implementing strategies that solve clients’ problems and inspire new ideas and work that gets people excited. You will be asked to think like a marker, not an advertiser.

Success for this position is measured in the ability to partner with teams within the agency to develop strategies that inspire ideas and work that is contextually relevant across all media, from mobile, to social, to broadcast, as well as highly targeted, data-informed content. And, you must bring our clients along on this ride.

The candidate must be a change agent who is excited to contribute to the culture in our planning department…

Agents of culture. We are curious about all of the beliefs, passions, activities and places where people and our clients’ brands live and intersect. We work to discover the challenges we need to solve and the human truths that will help us do that. We interrogate the data and listen to our own hearts. We are audacious enough to be original. Then we turn all of that into something so simple, so true and so clear that it will inspire teams to be even more audacious.

A Senior Strategic Planner will take the lead in synthesizing complex data and cultural truths, owning the creation of inspiring briefs, and driving the development of overarching strategy POVs. The candidate ideally has 5+ years of strategic/account planning experience.

Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership: You ll take complex data, deep research, and cultural observations and distill them into clear insights the team can actually use.

Creative Inspiration: You ll take business data and real cultural insights, translating them into clear, inspiring briefs that give our creative teams exactly what they need to make work that actually impacts culture.

Cultural Authority: You ll spot emerging trends and consumer behaviors before they peak, figuring out how to turn those cultural moments into business opportunities.

Cross-Functional Partnership: You ll act as a trusted partner to the creative, account, media and data teams, working closely together to turn strategy into reality.

Research Mastery: You bring deep expertise in designing, analyzing, and interpreting both quantitative and qualitative research, combined with a natural ability to synthesize the details and identify the most interesting insights and takeaways.

Presentation & Selling: You know how to build a compelling presentation and confidently sell your strategic point of view to senior leadership and clients.

Mentorship: You ll look out for the junior planners, guiding their growth and actively shaping the everyday culture of the department.

Travel: You are ready and willing to travel whenever the project requires it.

Qualifications

Minimum of a Bachelor’s Degree

5+ years of strategic/account planning experience

Have a strong opinion and be willing to listen to others’ opinions

Must have experience leading the development of strategy and acting as a trusted partner to creative, account, and data teams

Must have strong presentation skills, be able to develop presentation materials that are clear and concise, and confidently sell a strategic point of view to senior leadership and clients

Must be a self-starter, demonstrate strong attention to detail, and actively guide the growth of junior planners

Innate curiosity to want to understand culture, people, and the enduring logic behind what makes them tick

Highly tuned creative instinct – ability to identify a great idea, protect it, and translate hard data into briefs that inspire work that actually impacts culture

Ability to bring audiences and strategies to life in compelling ways

Must have excellent verbal and written communication skills and be a confident writer

Must have deep expertise designing, analyzing, and interpreting quantitative and qualitative research

Compensation Range

Compensation Range: USD $81,225.00 – USD $124,432.00/Annually. This is the pay range the Company believes it will pay for this position at the time of this posting. Consistent with applicable law, compensation will be determined based on the skills, qualifications, and experience of the applicant along with the requirements of the position, and the Company reserves the right to modify this pay range at any time. Temporary roles may be eligible to participate in our freelancer/temporary employee medical plan through a third-party benefits administration system once certain criteria have been met. For regular roles, the Company will offer medical coverage, dental, vision, disability, 401k, and paid time off. The Company anticipates the application deadline for this job posting will be 11/2/2026.

Additional Information

Our Publicis Groupe motto “Viva La Différence” means we’re better together, and we believe that our differences make us stronger. It means we honor and celebrate all identities, across all facets of intersectionality, and it underpins all that we do as an organization. We are focused on fostering belonging and creating equitable & inclusive experiences for all talent.

Publicis Groupe provides robust and inclusive benefit programs and policies to support the evolving and diverse needs of our talent and enable every person to grow and thrive. Our benefits package includes medical coverage, dental, vision, disability, 401K, as well as parental and family care leave, family forming assistance, tuition reimbursement, and flexible time off.

If you require accommodation or assistance with the application or onboarding process specifically, please contact [e-mail].

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.