Senior Strategist

GSD&M•Austin, TX

7h•Onsite

About The Position

At GSD&M, we’re on a mission to build First & Only brands, meaning the first to do it and the only ones who can. We’re able to do this because we set a high bar for ourselves and our work. We care about what we put out in the world. We’re humans who like other humans. Our ideas make a difference. Shift culture. Create a smile. Inspire change. Initiate belly laughs. Deepen our understanding of the world and ourselves. We grow. We learn. We get better. We do it all over again. Because that’s what it takes to build and be First & Only. Endlessly curious, GSD&M Strategy team members focus on bringing insightful context, uncommon sense and clear inspiration to our clients. They rely on a strong understanding of how people think and behave, what’s happening in popular culture, how to build memorable brands, and what’s going on in the business, marketing, communications and experience landscapes. As a Senior Strategist, you’re comfortable being the strategic voice internally and are learning to exercise that in a client-facing capacity. You are responsible for creating strategic artifacts and will play an integral role in the day-to-day strategic operations of your clients. You’re passionate about building your client’s business and help pave the way forward with deep knowledge, fresh perspective and ideas that make a difference.

Requirements

3–8 years of experience in a client-facing brand strategy role or brand management
Proven track record of effective and inventive use of consumer data and research to develop strategic deliverables or creative execution.
A love of advertising, communications, media channels, popular culture, and how people consume and act on all of them
Insatiable curiosity that compels you to keep learning about consumers, clients and your collaborators
Open to giving and receiving feedback without ego
Clear and concise written and verbal communication skills
High emotional intelligence

Responsibilities

Having a finger on the pulse. You’ll stay abreast of emerging consumer trends, technologies and behaviors, and you have a perspective on the opportunities they may present for our clients.
Connecting dots. You are good at connecting the dots between sometimes disparate information (like marrying a media insight with a consumer insight in a way that 1 + 1 = 3), and you can turn them into compelling stories.
Designing and conducting primary research. You love getting to know consumer perspectives and can moderate focus groups and interviews with little oversight. You have a proven ability to not only report research results based on what was learned but also what it means.
Developing actionable strategies. You have a keen understanding of how people make decisions—how they interact with different channels and touchpoints, the brand, the marketplace, the business, and popular culture—and you can frame these developments up in simple frameworks for your clients.
Writing and delivering creative briefs. You love getting a new client brief and digging into the business and communication challenge. You are adept at reframing the ask in new ways, based on consumer and category behavior to inspire creatives, and you can do so with limited oversight.
Collaborating with other agency disciplines. You leave your ego at the door and collaborate closely with creatives, media and account management to make your and their work better. You have strong, yet loosely held convictions.
Supporting new business. You will regularly contribute to new business pitches through research, strategy development and story development.
Thinking on your feet. You should have experience in a client-facing role and are comfortable interacting and collaborating with the agency leadership team.