Sr. Strategist

George P Johnson Experience Marketing; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 100,000 - 115,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP)

Employer 401(k) with matching

Low-cost healthcare option

Job summary

George P. Johnson Experience Marketing (GPJ) seeks a Senior Strategist to turn data, culture, and human behavior into powerful experiential strategies across physical, digital, and hybrid environments.

You will guide programs from insight to idea to impact, shaping stories and experiences that resonate with audiences and drive business outcomes. You will collaborate with world-class creatives, producers, and technologists, strengthening GPJ’s strategic foundation behind major brand work.

Qualifications

• Translates data, culture, and human behavior into experiential strategies.
• Strong research skills with primary and secondary methods.
• Bachelor’s degree required; graduate degree preferred in business, marketing, or communications.
• Ability to translate insights into frameworks, stories, and experiences.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain trusted client and internal relationships to ensure strategy guides creative and business outcomes.
• Apply strategy best practices to experience-led programs and unify brand storytelling across channels.
• Inspire creative teams with briefs translating audience insights and goals into clear direction.
• Lead workshops and stakeholder exploration to uncover audience needs and opportunities for innovation.
• Design holistic audience-centered strategies across physical, digital, social, and mobile touchpoints.
• Explore new experience strategies and emerging industry trends.
• Partner with Strategy and Planning to develop research approaches and measurement systems.
• Mentor junior strategists and contribute to GPJ’s strategic evolution.

Skills

Data translation

Storytelling

Facilitation

Research skills

Analytics

Audience insights

Strategic thinking

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Graduate degree preferred

Tools

Primary research

Secondary research

Job description

The Opportunity

At GPJ, we believe that every brand experience should connect people through meaning, emotion, and insight. We are looking for a Senior Strategist, a curious and creative thinker who can translate data, culture, and human behavior into powerful experiential strategies.

This is a chance to shape how global brands engage audiences across physical, digital, and hybrid environments. You will guide programs that move seamlessly from insight to idea to impact, helping to design stories and experiences that truly make a difference. Working with world-class creatives, producers, and technologists, you will strengthen the strategic foundation behind GPJ’s most visible and effective work.

If you are both analytical and imaginative, and understand the reasons behind human behavior as well as the methods that create meaningful experiences, this role is the next step in your journey.

What You’ll Do

• Build and maintain trusted relationships with clients and internal teams to ensure strategy drives both creative development and business outcomes.
• Apply strategy best practices that support experience-led marketing programs and unify brand storytelling across multiple channels.
• Inspire creative teams through well-crafted briefs that translate audience insights, business goals, and success measures into clear direction.
• Lead workshops, brainstorming, and stakeholder exploration that uncover audience needs, brand truths, and opportunities for innovation.
• Design holistic, audience-centered strategies that connect physical, digital, social, and mobile touchpoints into cohesive experiences.
• Explore new experience strategies, technology-enabled engagement, and emerging industry trends.
• Partner with the wider Strategy and Planning team to develop research approaches, frameworks, and measurement systems that link insight to action.
• Mentor junior strategists and contribute to the continued growth and evolution of GPJ’s strategic approach.

What You Bring

• 5 to 7 years of experience in strategy, experiential marketing, planning, marketing, digital strategy, or advertising strategy, preferably in an agency environment.
• Strong understanding of digital, social, and mobile ecosystems and how they integrate with live experiences. Likewise, a recognition of and intent to revel in experiential’s role in a brand’s content narrative.
• Bachelor’s degree required; graduate degree in business, marketing, or communications preferred.
• A strategic mindset that balances big-picture thinking with measurable outcomes.
• Proven ability to translate data and insights into frameworks, stories, and experiences that connect with audiences.
• Strong research skills, with experience in both primary and secondary research methods.
• Data literacy and the ability to organize and analyze information to identify insights that guide creative and business decisions.
• Excellent storytelling and facilitation skills, with the ability to align diverse stakeholders around shared objectives.
• Versatile and adaptable collaborator who can take on supporting, contributing, or leading roles as needed.
• Excellent communication skills, empathy, and respect for diverse perspectives.
• Passion for the craft of strategy and for continuous learning.

Why GPJ / Why Now

For more than a century, GPJ has been creating moments that move people and brands forward. Today, we are shaping the next era of experiential marketing, combining strategy, creativity, and data to deliver meaningful experiences that inspire action.

This is a pivotal moment to be a strategist. Culture is shifting, values are evolving, and expectations for live and digital experiences are higher than ever. At GPJ, we have the opportunity to shape strategies and craft narratives that inspire connection and action across every touchpoint - before, during, and after events.

Here, your ideas will not just guide experiences. They will help define how the world experiences brands.

Salary Range: $100k - $115k (dependent on experience and location)

Who We Are

GPJ is the world leader in experiential marketing. Our 29 global offices are filled with fearless people dreaming up ideas that are transforming industries and bringing the most respected brands to life in powerfully, exciting ways. We are a part of the Project Worldwide family. An independent, employee-owned global network of complementary, wholly owned agencies.

You read that "employee-owned" part, right? You heard us correctly. You work hard, she works hard, we all work hard... we all succeed and reap the rewards. We have an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) - providing our employees with an ownership interest. We thought you would want to know that. In fact, there is a lot more you would want to know about us, like our FTO policy (no more "accruing" time off), our employer matching 401(k) plan (no vesting period), and our low contribution healthcare option. But we are getting ahead of ourselves here, let’s talk about this exciting opportunity first and we can fill you in on our perks & benefits later.

GPJ is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation and gender identity), national origin, citizenship, disability, protected veteran status, or any other protected class. In addition to federal law requirements, GPJ complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training. GPJ expressly prohibits any form of workplace harassment based on any protected class.