VP, Strategy Director (Retail)

Edelman•New York, NY

77d•$105,000 - $175,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The VP, Strategy Director will lead strategy for a major retail client, turning business challenges, consumer insights, and cultural trends into clear opportunities that inspire creative work and drive brand growth. The role combines senior client counsel, integrated strategic leadership, cross-functional collaboration, business development, and mentorship. The ideal candidate is an experienced, culturally fluent strategy leader who can simplify complexity, build trusted relationships, inspire teams, and deliver inclusive, high-impact work. We’re looking for a curious, culturally attuned, and collaborative strategy leader to help shape the future of a leading retail brand. As VP, Strategy Director, you’ll be the senior strategic lead for one of the agency’s key client relationships. You’ll partner closely with clients and integrated agency teams to turn complex business challenges into meaningful human opportunities—and those opportunities into ideas that earn attention, inspire action, and drive brand growth. This is a role for someone who loves getting close to the work while also seeing the bigger picture. You’ll set the strategic vision, inspire ambitious creative thinking, build trusted client relationships, and mentor the next generation of strategy talent. You’ll also play an important role in strengthening and growing the business, ensuring our strategic contribution continues to evolve alongside our clients’ needs.

Requirements

8+ years in brand/communications strategy at a health agency or consultancy, with substantial experience in healthcare (e.g., retail health, pharmacy, payer and benefits, care delivery, or consumer health); adjacent wellness experience is a plus, partnering cross-functionally with creative, analytics, and client leadership
Ability to follow our hybrid work policy
Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience
Deep experience leading brand, communications, creative, or integrated strategy within an agency, consultancy, or complex marketing organization.
A strong understanding of how brands build relevance, admiration, and consideration through culture and communications.
The ability to translate research and data into a sharp strategic point of view—and communicate it through compelling storytelling.
A track record of inspiring creative teams and helping ambitious ideas become strategically sound, integrated work.
Confidence building trusted relationships with senior clients and navigating complex stakeholder environments.
A collaborative and generous leadership style, balanced by a commitment to rigor and high standards.
Intellectual curiosity, cultural fluency, and a desire to continually find better ways to solve problems.
The ability to manage multiple priorities without losing sight of the people, purpose, or quality of the work.

Nice To Haves

Adjacent wellness experience is a plus

Responsibilities

Lead integrated strategy across brand, purpose, reputation, and cultural initiatives.
Help clients uncover the human problem behind a business challenge and define how communications can create meaningful change.
Turn research, cultural intelligence, social listening and business data into clear, actionable strategic opportunities.
Develop compelling strategic frameworks, narratives, and creative briefs that inspire breakthrough ideas.
Guide annual planning and goal-setting, helping clients align around a clear vision and roadmap for success.
Identify shifts in consumer behavior, culture, retail, fashion, and lifestyle that can unlock new opportunities for the brand.
Ensure inclusivity is embedded throughout the strategic process and that the work resonates with diverse, intersectional audiences.
Be a close, trusted partner to creative teams from the first spark of an idea through launch and optimization.
Create the strategic conditions for work that is culturally relevant, emotionally resonant, and impossible to ignore.
Keep ideas grounded in the brief while giving teams the space and inspiration to take the work somewhere unexpected.
Ensure audience, channel, measurement, and activation plans connect back to the central strategy.
Interpret campaign results and identify opportunities to optimize the work, extend successful platforms, and build long-term brand equity.
Serve as a trusted strategic advisor to senior clients, bringing clarity, confidence, and a strong point of view to the table.
Develop deep relationships across the client’s marketing organization and broader agency-partner ecosystem.
Lead strategic conversations, workshops, and presentations that create alignment and help clients make confident decisions.
Proactively identify opportunities to expand the agency’s impact and deepen the client relationship.
Partner with account leadership to protect, strengthen, and grow the business.
Collaborate across creative, account, production, earned media, influencer, digital, social, technology, experience, and data and intelligence teams.
Connect different disciplines and perspectives around a shared strategic vision.
Navigate multiple projects, priorities, and stakeholders while maintaining a high bar for the work.
Create an environment where people feel supported, challenged, and empowered to do their best thinking.