Strategy Director, Brand

Instrument

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

Instrument is a design and technology company that builds brands, products, and experiences to move businesses forward by simplifying complexity. For over 20 years, Instrument has partnered with companies like Google, ServiceNow, Uber, Eventbrite, and ÅŒURA to help them navigate change, launch new ideas, and grow with intention. Their work spans Brand, Marketing, and Product, defined by a collaborative approach that integrates strategy, design, and engineering from the outset. They aim to do great work and be great to work with. The company has a collaborative, hands-on team with roots in Portland and New York and a distributed presence across the U.S. and Europe. They build teams around the needs of the work, staying nimble without sacrificing craft. Instrument values curiosity, perspective, and continuous learning, and is committed to building an inclusive environment where people can do their best work. This Strategy Director role is designed for an individual who thinks in markets rather than just methods. The ideal candidate loves solving problems related to business positioning, market selection, future product development, and competitive advantage. This role requires a genuine business strategy lens to be applied to pitches and deliverables, involving market dynamic analysis, identification of client leverage and differentiation opportunities, and challenging problem framing before solutions are developed. While expertise in product design, marketing, and branding is expected, this is not a traditional creative strategy role. The Strategy Director will shape scope, reframe briefs, and bring a business transformation perspective to client conversations, going beyond mere craft. The role involves considering competitive positioning, business model implications, and identifying key drivers of success, translating these insights into actionable plans for clients and executable strategies for teams. This position is ideal for someone energized by upstream strategic thinking, thriving in ambiguous environments, and motivated to build a discipline, practice, and reputation for strategy that drives significant company operational change.

Requirements

Led strategy at a senior level and comfortable operating across multiple projects, teams, or accounts, balancing depth with breadth.
Broad set of strategy skills across brand, digital, product, content, and marketing, with deeper expertise in at least a few of these areas.
Skilled at connecting insights to action, using research, synthesis, and storytelling to shape clear, compelling strategic direction.
Effective facilitator and communicator, able to lead workshops, guide conversations, and influence senior stakeholders with confidence and clarity.
Experience building and leading teams, setting expectations, developing talent, and creating a strong, collaborative culture.
Understand how to balance client needs, business goals, and delivery realities, making decisions that are both ambitious and practical.
Curious about emerging tools and technologies, and apply sound judgment about how they can meaningfully improve the work.

Responsibilities

Shape strategic vision and direction across a portfolio of work, ensuring rigor, clarity, and coherence from early discovery through delivery.
Lead strategy for a complex, high-impact client, holding the thread across multiple workstreams and helping teams navigate ambiguity with strong judgment and clear direction.
Connect brand, product, marketing, and experience thinking, ensuring strategy is integrated and working toward a cohesive whole.
Act as a senior client partner, building trusted relationships, guiding decisions, and helping shape long-term strategy and partnership direction.
Identify opportunities for growth by contributing to new business efforts, shaping pitches, and expanding the scope and impact of the work.
Lead and develop strategy teams, mentoring senior strategists, fostering a culture of excellence, and ensuring teams are supported, challenged, and doing their best work.
Contribute to the evolution of the discipline by defining and scaling strategic frameworks, improving ways of working, and helping raise the bar for quality across the organization.