Lead Brand Strategist

About the Role

Interactive Strategies is seeking a seasoned Lead Brand Strategist to spearhead strategic research and foundational work for brand projects. As a core member of the Strategy team, you will dive deep into audience insights and translate them into compelling brand positioning, messaging, and strategic guidance across brand and digital platforms. This role involves close collaboration with creative directors to transform strategy into effective visual and verbal communications while ensuring digital execution aligns with strategic intent. Our clients include mission-driven organizations such as the American Kidney Fund and Rainforest Trust.

Key Responsibilities

• Conduct brand discovery using stakeholder interviews, workshops, and comprehensive brand research.
• Design and implement qualitative and quantitative user and market research to understand audience motivations and unmet needs.
• Synthesize research data into actionable strategic assets such as audience personas, brand narratives, and messaging hierarchies rooted in evidence.
• Develop brand platforms detailing mission, vision, values, personality, and messaging framework, collaborating with creative directors on expression.
• Extend brand strategies into digital realms, partnering with UX, content, and creative teams to ensure cohesive web and marketing experiences.
• Maintain strategic consistency throughout projects by anchoring creative and digital initiatives to researched positioning.
• Innovate research and strategy approaches with emerging tools such as AI and data-driven techniques to enhance insights.
• Build and nurture client relationships, facilitate workshops, present strategies confidently, and guide decision-making.
• Support business development via strategic contributions to proposals and offerings.
• Continuously refine internal research and strategy methodologies.

Required Qualifications

• Over 10 years of direct experience leading brand strategy engagements with hands-on research leadership.
• Expertise in creating and administering research tools like surveys, interviews, and focus groups, followed by strategic synthesis.
• Proven ability to develop detailed strategic documentation including personas, segmentation, competitive analysis, and messaging frameworks.
• Strong collaboration skills with creative direction to clearly communicate strategic goals for design execution.
• Understanding of the intersection between brand and digital strategy, including web and marketing channel tactics.
• Outstanding verbal and written communication abilities.
• Experience cultivating client partnerships and contributing to account growth.
• Agency background is advantageous.

Personal Attributes

• Exceptional rigor in research design, prioritizing evidence over intuition.
• Strong strategic vision connecting insights to clear positioning and messaging.
• Disciplined approach to synthesizing complex inputs into precise strategy.
• Collaborative mindset, especially in working closely with creative leadership while respecting role boundaries.
• Confident in facilitating discussions and presenting strategic insights to clients.
• Empathetic leadership with emotional intelligence and active listening skills.
• Innate curiosity, continually driven to explore data and human insight.

Benefits and Culture

• Comprehensive company-sponsored health, vision, and dental insurance.
• Pre-tax Flexible Spending Account (FSA).
• Profit-sharing opportunities.
• Generous paid time off: 4 weeks initially, increasing to 5 weeks after three years.
• Company-covered short-term and long-term disability insurance.
• Life and Accidental Death & Dismemberment (AD&D) insurance paid by the company.
• 11 paid holidays annually.
• 401(k) plan with company matching contributions.
• Referral bonus incentives for new business development.
• Opportunities for professional development.
• Flexible scheduling options.
• Pre-tax benefits for DC Metro SmartBenefits.

Salary

Compensation ranges from $110,000 to $130,000 per year, based on experience.

About Interactive Strategies

Based in Washington, DC, Interactive Strategies is a digital agency that embraces a strategy-first approach. We partner with nonprofits, associations, and mission-led companies nationwide to build meaningful audience connections. Proudly certified as an LGBTBE business, we uphold equal opportunity employment and foster a culture that values diversity as a driver for stronger, more impactful work.