Strategy Lead / Associate Strategy Director

Job Description

Are you passionate about problems and strategically-savvy, with the people skills of The Pied Piper and the hunger to challenge the ordinary in the world of brands and campaigns? A champion of clarity and creativity, with an eye for detail and thirst for impact?

We’re looking for a super-sharp, experienced strategist to join the Mr B & Friends team.

(No agencies, please)

Required skills

You might be excelling as a Senior Strategist, ready to step up and lead on key accounts. You could be a Strategy Lead who’s mastered their craft in tackling complexity. Or perhaps an Associate Strategy Director setting the standard for ideas, effectiveness and relationships in your current position. Whatever your current title is, we’re more interested in your talent.

Here’s what we’re looking for:

• A solid all-rounder – you’re a well-seasoned expert with the ability, adaptability and experience necessary to consult across the full spectrum of brand, campaign and communication challenges. You have a proven capability in transforming branded businesses into brand-led organisations and are sector agnostic – relishing the opportunity to lead on strategy for clients of all shapes and sizes.
• A master of their craft – you deliver consistently brilliant strategic outputs that are loved by clients and creatives alike. Holding yourself to the highest standards across each of the areas you’d expect, including; workshop design and facilitation; company, category and customer research; brand strategy and positioning; proposition, messaging and naming development; campaign and channel planning. Knowledge in employee experience and internal communications would be a bonus.
• A natural problem solver – you’re a deeply curious, multi-dimensional thinker that thrives on exploring and unravelling the most complex of problems. You refuse to take things at face value, always digging deeper to find the real problem at play. Never afraid to ask the stupid question or call out the elephant in the room. Always pushing hard to find the truth and clarity that leads to truly game-changing solutions.
• A champion of creativity – you consider yourself a true partner to creative teams, adept at building strong and collaborative relationships with your peers. Fuelling their ideas with solid insight and strategic direction, supporting their ideas with compelling
  strategic arguments, and challenging their ideas when necessary to protect and elevate the quality of our combined creative product.
• An expert persuader – you excel in communication and storytelling. A confident and compelling presenter who understands that when it comes to selling in ideas, simple beats smart. Your knack for weaving exciting narratives captivates exec-level audiences, moves projects forward at pace, and delivers pitch-winning influence.
• A relationship-builder – you understand the crucial role strategy plays in establishing and growing strong and lasting client relationships. A quick and confident thinker, you’re able to position yourself as a trusted consultant and thought partner to senior executives from day one. Crucially, you believe that a critical factor in the success of any brief, and your relationship with any business, is to ‘act like it’s yours’.
• An ambitious self-starter – you thrive under autonomy. Proactive, driven and ambitious – with an eye for detail and a hunger to progress. You’re confident leading your own strategic accounts, accomplished at managing your own time and are always seeking to push yourself and those around you to deliver the best outcomes.

Benefits

The ‘Friends’ in our name isn’t spin; we look after our people and have a great employee benefits scheme called The Friends Pact. It includes flexible hours, a hybrid work policy and a 4.5-day week, with half-day Fridays.

A bit about us…

Mr B & Friends is a transformation partner to bold businesses seeking change across brand, campaigns and employee experience.

We believe that to succeed in today’s world you need to be anything but ordinary. Following the crowd just adds to the uninspiring average. So we make work that stands out and truly stands for something. Building brands that customers crave, competitors envy and talent is hungry to join.

Based in Bristol but with a global perspective, our clients range from entrepreneurial start-ups to worldwide brands and we are sector agnostic (with particular strength in tech, hospitality, financial services, manufacturing and sport.)

And our people are equally diverse. This is a place where sharp thinkers and world-class creatives come to play. Bringing confidence without arrogance. No egos. Just problem solvers with a unifying purpose – to create
work that challenges the ordinary.

To understand our culture, just look to our values:

• We believe curiosity gets you where you want to go:
  Relentless in the pursuit of standout work, our culture is built on never settling. We’re for the curious. Those who look beyond their four walls and feel their best work can always be bettered.
• We believe no one should shy away from ambition:
  We want people who think bigger. This is an agency for hungry people and hungry brands who want to push themselves and push beyond others. Eager to make change. Eager to keep moving forward.
• We believe the best results spring from good energy:
  Good energy and a can-do attitude go a long way. Better yet, they’re infectious. Good attracts good. We team up with people who are accepting, collaborative and up for each and every challenge.