Vice President, Strategy Director

We are seeking a Strategy Director for our Corporate + Public Affairs practice in Chicago. With ideas such as trust, purpose, stakeholder capitalism, transparency, and diversity, equity & inclusion driving the business agenda, now is an excellent time to expand the scope of the problems to which we bring strategy to bear. Our Corporate & Public Affairs practice advises a wide range of clients – from Fortune 500s to non-profits and start-ups across industry verticals in tech, energy, healthcare, finance, CPG, and retail. We advise on a range of comms needs from positioning, brand identity, integrated marketing campaigns, thought leadership, employee engagement, PR, influencer, and non-profit partnerships. This fast-growing practice needs a Strategy Director who understands our clients’ businesses—and how to bring their stories to life to show how much humanity companies are capable of. The role of a Strategy Director at Edelman is similar to what you already know, but the days feel different. 

You’ll do things like this:

• Create a purpose platform for a Fortune 500 company and help them roll it out to employees 
• Develop integrated marketing and messaging for a company that has recently merged with or acquired other companies 
• Create a social strategy to power the newsroom for a healthcare services company 
• Work with founders to create a brand identity and integrated campaign and sales kit for a climate tech startup
• Create a thought leadership platform for a digital payments platform
• Work with client C-suite executives to articulate the direction of the business and translate that into a marketing plan
• Work with creatives, producers, and media strategists to turn your client's business goals into creative ideas and executions

You excel at things like this:

• Getting to the root of a business problem 
• Crafting creative approaches to quantitative and qualitative research 
• Quickly diagnosing a situation and formulating a plan of attack 
• Taking complex ideas and making them easy to understand  
• Knowing the difference between data and insights
• Facilitating workshops and meetings with executives on the client and Edelman side 
• Ensuring the work is rooted in audience insight and business relevance
• Leading a research approach and working with creatives to identify a brand’s purpose 
• Avoiding cliché and writing short and sharp roles for clients’ products and services 
• Having a voice but knowing when to listen 
• Taking ideas – but not yourself – seriously 

Basic Qualifications:

• At least 5-10 years of strategic/account planning experience at an advertising, digital or PR agency, consultancy, or on the client side with experience collaborating cross-functionally
• A bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience working with clients across a variety of industry verticals and categories
• Comfort and experience in a client-facing role, experience working closely with C-suite executives preferred
• Must be able to think on your feet, particularly in ambiguous and unpredictable circumstances
• Ability to easily develop an understanding of the client’s business environment and strategy
• Experience performing competitive analysis and identifying gaps and opportunities in the marketplace
• Curiosity about what makes people act and think the way they do; able to find meaningful insights about motivation and craft powerful narratives to tell that story
• Ability to examine a problem from different perspectives (and alternate strategic routes) without losing sight of the big picture
• Logical and analytical mindset, capable of lateral thought
• Ability to artfully map out insights from observations and implications to recommendations and the drive to work through the creative process
• Demonstrated ability to develop, design, and conduct primary and secondary research
• Collaboration, ability to work across creative, account, and client constituents, and alongside fellow strategists and planners
• Excellent presentation and persuasion skills; ability to argue a point-of-view coherently and concisely; comfort engaging with senior-level clients; quick thinker; able to speak authoritatively, without becoming dogmatic or inflexible

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Edelman is a global communications firm that partners with businesses and organizations to evolve, promote and protect their brands and reputations. Our 6,000 people in more than 60 offices deliver communications strategies that give our clients the confidence to lead and act with certainty, earning the trust of their stakeholders. Our honors include the Cannes Lions Grand Prix for PR; Advertising Age’s 2019 A-List; the Holmes Report’s 2018 Global