Head of Strategy & Planning (Remote US)

Directive • Irvine, CA

1d • $150,000 - $180,000 • Remote

About The Position

Directive Consulting is hiring an Associate Director, Integrated Strategic Planning dedicated to Performance Marketing. The role connects business goals, audience insights, brand positioning, and channel strategy into integrated plans for growth. It combines uncovering insights that give brands a meaningful advantage with translating those insights into measurable plans that teams can execute.

The position leads strategic planning for Performance Marketing engagements, aligning paid media, performance creative, landing-page experiences, analytics, and client business outcomes around a shared understanding of the customer and business opportunity. The role turns complex inputs into focused briefs, connected conversion journeys, and actionable recommendations, ensuring channels and teams work toward shared business outcomes.

The role also owns strategic direction for assigned engagements, partners with clients and internal specialists, develops measurement and test-and-learn plans, and helps establish repeatable research, briefing, and planning standards. It is remote-first and may be performed 100% virtually from a home office in the United States.

Requirements

• Substantial experience in strategic planning, integrated performance marketing, or account planning within an agency or growth-focused business.
• Demonstrated ownership of complex client strategies.
• A portfolio demonstrating strategic leadership, including how audience insights shaped performance marketing briefs, coordinated channel plans, and measurable business outcomes.
• Experience with B2B performance marketing, complex buying journeys, paid media, performance creative, and conversion strategy.
• Ability to independently lead planning engagements, advise senior client stakeholders, and mentor colleagues while remaining hands-on with research and briefing.
• Strong understanding of how brand, demand generation, and customer experience contribute to business growth.
• Ability to connect marketing recommendations to commercial priorities, budgets, and realistic execution plans.
• Confidence interpreting quantitative and qualitative evidence and distinguishing meaningful signals from vanity metrics.
• Ability to think beyond individual channels and make decisions with the full customer journey in mind.
• Hands-on familiarity with research, audience intelligence, analytics, and planning tools.
• Ability to use AI responsibly for research and synthesis, apply independent judgment, and validate sources.
• Comfort interpreting campaign reporting and working with analytics specialists to define measurement and learning plans.
• Strong storytelling skills, including turning complex information into clear insights, strategic narratives, and actionable briefs.
• Skilled facilitation and ability to build alignment across clients, performance creative practitioners, paid media specialists, analytics teams, and senior leadership.
• Confidence asking thoughtful questions, constructively challenging assumptions, and explaining strategic trade-offs.
• Strong organization and prioritization skills, with the ability to manage multiple planning workstreams in a fast-paced environment.
• Ability to operate a laptop computer and office productivity tools; reliable internet access and a professional background.
• Ability to remain stationary for extended periods and observe and interpret written and/or verbal communication. Reasonable accommodations may be made for qualified individuals with disabilities.

Responsibilities

• Lead research into client businesses, ideal customer profiles, buying committees, competitors, and category dynamics.
• Synthesize customer interviews, market research, search behavior, and campaign data into strategic insights.
• Map B2B buying journeys, including decision points, barriers, and opportunities to influence consideration and conversion.
• Develop a clear strategic point of view from research and evidence.
• Lead integrated strategic planning in Performance Marketing, connecting audience insight, messaging, paid media, performance creative, and conversion experiences to client growth objectives.
• Define audiences, positioning, messaging priorities, channel roles, and sequencing to meet client business goals.
• Coordinate plans across paid search, paid social, display, and video with paid media, design, copy, landing-page, and analytics specialists.
• Apply DiscoverabilityOS™ principles to align audience targeting, messaging, and conversion experiences with customer decision points.
• Write strategic and creative briefs that clarify the business challenge, audience insight, value proposition, and desired response.
• Collaborate with performance design, copy, paid media, and landing-page teams to translate strategy into creative and connected conversion experiences.
• Facilitate planning workshops and working sessions to align stakeholders.
• Evaluate concepts and plans against the brief, audience needs, and business outcomes.
• Own strategic planning direction for assigned Performance Marketing engagements, working with client success and channel leads to clarify objectives, challenge assumptions, and prioritize opportunities.
• Present research, recommendations, and integrated plans in actionable language for clients and senior stakeholders.
• Lead the strategic narrative for Performance Marketing pitches and account expansion opportunities, grounding recommendations in audience insight and evidence.
• Build alignment across teams and clients, document decisions, and explain trade-offs.
• Translate business objectives into measurement frameworks with shared goals, channel-specific indicators, and learning priorities.
• Work with analytics and paid media teams to interpret performance across engagement, conversion, lead quality, pipeline, and revenue where data is available.
• Develop test-and-learn plans to validate audience, messaging, creative, and channel assumptions.
• Recommend evidence-based adjustments while acknowledging attribution limits and balancing short-term performance with long-term brand growth.
• Account for budget, scope, and delivery constraints so recommendations are commercially sound and executable.
• Use AI and research tools to support insight synthesis, competitive analysis, and planning efficiency; validate AI outputs against reliable sources and protect confidential client information.
• Establish repeatable research, briefing, and planning standards for Performance Marketing, coach colleagues in their use, and improve strategic quality.
• Build relationships with Performance Marketing colleagues and client stakeholders, develop understanding of assigned clients and audiences, and take ownership of planning priorities.
• Strengthen planning standards, mentor colleagues, and articulate the value of Performance Marketing strategy in client and new-business conversations.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, disability, and life insurance coverage for employees and their families; includes a 100% employer-paid plan for the employee and a 50% employer contribution for dependents in the US, Canada, and Mexico.
• Access to certified therapists through Spring Health and Headspace membership.
• Physical therapy through Omada, Aaptiv virtual workouts, and complimentary One Medical membership for primary and virtual care.
• Unlimited PTO with a two-week minimum, paid company holidays, birthday off, end-of-year recharge from December 24 through January 1, and paid parental leave.
• Traditional and Roth 401(k) with a 3% company match.
• Annual bonus based on tenure, scaling in total amount over time; the role may also be eligible for a bonus.
• Annual company-wide retreat.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed