Associate Director, Strategy & Innovation

About us 

We turn customer challenges into growth opportunities.   

Material is a global strategy partner to the world’s most recognizable brands and innovative companies. Our people around the globe thrive by helping organizations design and deliver rewarding customer experiences.  

We use deep human insights, design innovation and data to create experiences powered by modern technology. Our approaches speed engagement and growth for the companies we work with and transform relationships between businesses and the people they serve.  

About the Associate Director, Strategy & Innovation Role 

Material’s Strategy team is currently seeking an integrated marketing strategist at the Associate Director level. The role is a blend of hands-on integrated marketing planning and delivery, strategic leadership on key client accounts, and collaboration with subject matter leaders across creative, media, social, and communications at Material.

You are the tip of the spear for connecting Material's integrated marketing capabilities to your client-driven strategies. You will work directly with the Director, Strategy and practice leads to ensure each account has a vision and ambition to avoid workflows from falling into predictable, reactive knowledge sharing. We look to you to be a source of energy and insight for the group and the agency as a whole.

As Associate Director, Strategy & Innovation you will 

• Assist and when appropriate, lead, the development of strategic insights, brand platforms, and multi-channel Go-To-Market strategies

• Provide guidance on channel prioritization, messaging, success/KPI definition, testing plans, reporting and optimization recommendations

• Participate in strategy development with a clear vision for each account

• Help ensure the agency has the appropriate strategy resources in place to succeed by coordinating with other internal groups to forecast business growth and business development on accounts which you are assigned

• Be expected to understand and when appropriate, execute key skill areas including research, reporting, presentation, brief development worksession, facilitations, innovation and design thinking, soft-selling skills, technology acumen and others

• Collaborate with peers in other departments and drive the conversation regarding the account's future

• Support the design, coordination and execution of a variety of qualitative and quantitative research studies, often across multiple brands and projects simultaneously. You'll synthesize findings to ensure a better understanding of the customer’s behavior & motivations and help prioritize business and communication recommendations based largely on the primary research findings.

About You 

• 7+ years in digital marketing and brand strategy

• A mix of B2B and B2C agency experience

• Ability to partner, collaborate, and lead a unified vision with multiple SMEs - brand, product design, digital analytics, creative, media, social and PR

• Experience driving engagement and building brands across all channels – digital, traditional, and emerging in partnership with channel experts

• Innovative approaches for quickly identifying, assembling, and analyzing data and producing actionable insights

• Ability to synthesize insights to a meaningful and inspirational creative brief

• A track record of inspiring, recognizing and nurturing bold, leading edge creative ideas

• Must also offer a track record of working directly in business development and face to face with agency principles and clear ability to build strong, succinct presentations.

• Genuine desire to collaborate and work as part of a multi-disciplinary teams

Why work for Material? 

In addition to fulfilling, high-impact work, company culture and benefits are integral to determining if a job is a right fit for you. Here’s a bit about who we are and highlights around what we offer. 

Who We Are & What We Care About 

• Material is a global company and we work with best-of-class brands worldwide.  We also create and launch new brands and products, putting innovation and value creation at the center of our practice. Our clients are in the top of their class, across industry sectors from technology to retail, transportation, finance and healthcare. 

• Material employees join a peer group of exceptionally talented colleagues across the company, the country, and even the world. We develop capabilities, craft and leading-edge market offerings across seven global practices including strategy and insights, design, data & analytics, technology and tracking. Our engagement management team makes it all hum for clients.  

• We prize inclusion and interconnectedness. We amplify our impact through the people, perspectives, and expertise we engage in our work. Our commitment to deep human understanding combined with a science & systems approach uniquely equips us to bring a rich frame of reference to our work. 

• A community focused on learning and making an impact. Material is an outcomes focused company. We create experiences that matter, create new value and make a difference in people's lives.  

What We Offer 

In addition to Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, Disability and FSA, Material offers: 

• A work environment that works best for you. Whether that’s fully remote, in one of our offices, or hybrid. 

• Flexible & synchronous time off. We trust our colleagues to take responsibility for and manage their workloads. That’s why we offer Flexible Time Off along with synchronous companywide closures and 11 company holidays.   

• 12 weeks of paid parental leave. Every parent deserves to spend the first few months of their new child’s life with them. 

• Help planning for your future. We offer 401K match, as well as periodic financial wellness and planning sessions throughout the year.  

Pay Range: $83,000.00 – 136,800.00

The range shown represents a grouping of relevant ranges currently in use at Material. Actual range for this position may differ, depending on location and specific skillset required for the work itself. 

Privacy Statement

Material is committed to protecting privacy in our recruiting processes for all candidates. For more information, please refer to our Privacy Policy. California-resident applicants should also refer to our California-resident Candidate Privacy Statement.

If you need support with a privacy-related matter, please send an email to: privacyrequests@materialplus.io