Senior Strategist; Team Lead

link; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

LINK in Washington, DC, is seeking a Senior Strategist and Team Lead to guide a cross-functional team of strategists, design strategists, and designers in delivering high-quality, on-time products aligned with program objectives.

You will partner with clients to understand challenges, co-create strategic solutions, and lead workshops, research, and storytelling efforts. This role demands extensive experience in strategic communications and leadership in fast-paced environments.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Journalism, Communication, Business, Public Policy, English, or related field.
• 10+ years in strategic communications, consulting, public affairs, organizational transformation, program management, or related fields.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance.
• Ability to build trusted client relationships and influence stakeholders at multiple levels.
• Strong strategic thinking, analytical problem-solving, and decision-making capabilities.
• Experience facilitating executive-level discussions, workshops, and strategic planning.
• Synthesis of complex information into clear insights, recommendations, and actionable plans.
• Interest in visual storytelling, data visualization, and communicating abstract concepts.
• Excellent organizational skills with multi-priority management.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication, including executive-level presentations.
• Ability to navigate ambiguity and lead in fast-paced environments.
• Extensive experience in ambiguous environments with incomplete information.
• U.S. Navy experience demonstrating leadership in high-pressure, structured settings; Navy Surface Warfare or Engineering preferred.

Responsibilities

• Partner with clients to understand challenges, capture requirements, and define missions, visions, goals, and KPIs/OKRs.
• Collaborate with clients through meetings and workshops to co-create solutions.
• Perform high-quality primary and secondary research to inform strategic direction.
• Apply human-centered design and design-thinking to complex problem sets.
• Gather feedback from clients and internal partners to refine solutions.
• Identify opportunities to create tangible business value through assessments and requirements.
• Develop and maintain strong client relationships and manage external stakeholders.
• Oversee multiple client engagements ensuring alignment, clarity, and impact.
• Elevate content quality and thought leadership with the Strategy Competency Manager.
• Translate ideas into compelling strategic narratives, campaigns, and visual stories.
• Lead project execution across multiple workstreams with milestones and timelines.
• Directly engage with clients to translate ideas into campaigns, strategies, and visual storytelling.
• Design and facilitate workshops, meetings, and research activities with clients.
• Support Agile operations, including planning sessions and stand-ups.

Skills

Strategic thinking

Analytical problem-solving

Executive facilitation

Client relationship building

Leadership

Visual storytelling

Data visualization

Communication with executives

Education

Bachelor's degree in Journalism, Communication, Business, Public Policy, English, or related field

Job description

Who We Are:

LINK is a fast-growing Woman Owned Small Business (WOSB) that leverages human-centered design to support strategy, innovation, communication, change, and branding within the federal government and adjacent industry partners. At LINK, we partner with engineers, futurists, and thought leaders to untangle complexity, discover opportunity, and communicate clearly with visual stories.

Let us be your partners in change.

Location: We are actively hiring in the Washington, D.C. area.

About the Opportunity:

The Senior Strategist; Team Lead oversees a cross-functional team of strategists, design strategists, and designers to ensure the delivery of high-quality, on-time products that meet program objectives. This role partners directly with clients to understand their unique challenges, then guides the team in co-creating strategic, impactful, and innovative solutions. All efforts are aligned to the program's scope of work and are coordinated closely with the Program Manager to support program goals, priorities and requirements.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Journalism, Communication, Business, Public Policy, English, or a related field.
• 10+ years of experience in strategic communications, consulting, public affairs, organizational transformation, program management, strategy, or a related field.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance.
• Demonstrated ability to build trusted relationships with clients and influence stakeholders at multiple levels of an organization.
• Strong strategic thinking, analytical problem-solving, and decision-making capabilities.
• Experience facilitating executive-level discussions, workshops, and strategic planning efforts.
• Ability to synthesize complex information into clear insights, recommendations, and actionable plans.
• Interest in visual storytelling, data visualization, and communicating abstract concepts through compelling narratives.
• Excellent organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities while maintaining quality and attention to detail.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including experience developing executive-level presentations and strategic deliverables.
• Demonstrated ability to navigate ambiguity, exercise sound judgment, and lead work in complex, fast-paced environments.
• Extensive experience operating in ambiguous environments and exercising sound judgment with incomplete information.
• U.S. Navy experience, demonstrating strong leadership, accountability, and the ability to perform effectively in high-pressure, structured settings
• Navy (military or civilian) experience in Surface Warfare or Engineering preferred

Responsibilities:

Client Partnership & Strategic Leadership

Partner directly with clients to understand challenges, capture requirements, and define missions, visions, goals, and KPIs/OKRs.

Collaborate with clients through well-designed meetings and workshops to co-create solutions and gather critical inputs.

Perform high-quality primary and secondary research to inform strategic direction.

Apply human-centered design and design-thinking principles to complex problem sets.

Work iteratively by proactively gathering feedback from clients and internal partners to refine solutions.

Identify opportunities to create tangible business value through current-state assessments and high-level requirement definition.

Develop and maintain strong client relationships, including managing external stakeholders and converting new requests into business opportunities.

Oversee multiple client engagements, ensuring alignment, clarity, and strategic impact across projects.

Content, Storytelling & Project Execution

Elevate content quality and thought leadership in partnership with the Strategy Competency Manager, ensuring strong standards for deliverables.

Translate ideas into compelling strategic narratives, campaigns, and solutions.

Identify content structures, hierarchies, and visual concepts for storytelling products, including content maps and wireframes.

Collaborate with design teams to develop infographics, charts, diagrams, presentations, and other visual products that convey complex information clearly.

Manage multiple internal project teams, organizing assignments and tracking progress, deadlines, and deliverables from both operational and financial perspectives.

cross internal teams and ensure consistent delivery quality.

Team Lead responsibilities include:

Project Leadership and Client Delivery

Lead project execution across multiple workstreams, ensuring milestones, timelines, and deliverables are met.

Directly engage with clients to understand challenges, co-create solutions, and translate ideas into campaigns, strategies, and visual stories.

Design and facilitate workshops, meetings, and research activities to gather content and co-create solutions with clients.

Support Agile operations, including planning sessions, stand-up