À propos de ce poste Group Strategy Director - Freelance chez AKQA

AKQA · Sur site · New York

At AKQA (part of WPP) we believe in the imaginative application of art and science to create beautiful ideas, products and services. With an entrepreneurial and collaborative approach, we design adaptive digital services and applications that capture the imagination, delivering impressive returns for our clients.

Strategists at AKQA apply curiosity, rigor, and imagination to uncover truths across customer, culture, product, and brand, framing problems in unexpected ways and shaping insight into clear creative direction. Group Strategy Directors are senior strategic leaders who set the agenda across accounts and the agency, relied upon for clarity, leadership, and perspective by internal teams and clients alike. They understand how business, brands, and customers interact, with a deep appreciation for the role technology plays in that relationship.

We are seeking an experienced Freelance Group Strategy Director with deep CX and digital strategy expertise to lead strategic thinking for one of the most established names in financial services, a brand trusted by millions to help them plan for their futures. In this role you will frame problems in unexpected ways, translate data and insight into compelling stories, and provide strategic direction on product and experience initiatives from early opportunity through to actionable, real-world solutions. You will partner closely with account, creative, product, and technology leadership to grow the business, elevate the work, and ensure that strategy ladders all the way through to beautifully delivered digital products, services, and experiences.

ROLE REQUIREMENTS

Serve as the senior strategic lead on the account, relied upon for clarity, leadership, and perspective by internal teams and clients
Provide strategic direction on CX, digital product, and experience initiatives, identifying the key value proposition, consumer needs, and value to the business
Frame problems in unexpected ways, using both qualitative and quantitative research to answer questions, prove or disprove hypotheses, and mine insight
Analyze data and insights to create compelling, persuasive stories that shape and sell the work
Partner with account leadership to grow the business and the strategic acumen of the account
Oversee and elevate the creative process in partnership with creative leadership, honing ideas and ensuring they are on-brief, distinctive, and effective
Translate strategic recommendations into actionable experiences, products, and services
Partner with discipline leads across creative, technology, UX, delivery, and data science to ensure the highest quality of work
Contribute to thought leadership, sharing AKQA's point of view on design and technology trends

QUALITIES AND CHARACTERISTICS

Significant experience in a strategic discipline, with a CX, digital, communications, or consulting background
Deep CX and digital strategy expertise, with product strategy and design thinking experience devoted to digital products and services
Strong understanding of how business, brands, and customers interact, with deep knowledge of the role technology plays in that relationship
Brand and communications planning experience, as well as business strategy experience
Ability to understand and lead a cross-disciplinary team through the dynamics of a client's business and the sector in which it operates
Familiarity with the design, application, and analysis of a wide range of qualitative and quantitative research techniques, including the ability to design and implement measurement plans
Proven ability to judge creative ideas for their distinctiveness, relevance, and effectiveness
Experience in insight and idea generation, with the ability to translate strategy into tangible products, services, and experiences
Exceptional communication skills, with the ability to clearly and persuasively frame recommendations for senior audiences, internally and externally, and to partner with senior clients
A proven track record of leading and growing strategic, creative, and technology-centered work
Strong leadership skills, able to manage people across multiple projects under pressure

Location & Commitment

Remote; must be available to work Eastern Time hours
ASAP through March 31, 2027
40 hours/week
Expected weekly compensation: 5,000 to 6,000 USD

We believe great work happens when we're together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection. That's why we’ve adopted a hybrid approach including required in-office days. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process.

AKQA is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to particular characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers.

About WPP

WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands. We unite cutting-edge media intelligence and data solutions, world-class creativity, next-generation production, transformative enterprise solutions and expert strategic counsel in a single company – powered by exceptional talent and our agentic marketing platform, WPP Open, to help our clients navigate change, capture opportunity and deliver transformational growth. For more information, visit WPP.com.

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À propos de AKQA

CORE VALUES

Our founding values guide our work and the philosophy of our firm:

Innovation – pioneering ideas combined with the application of technology, to achieve lasting improvements in performance for our clients.

Service – outstanding service to our clients and colleagues, so we retain exceptional people and create trust-based relationships with clients.

Quality – adhere to the highest professional standards and superior quality.

Thought – recommending the best solutions through the most rigorous thinking process.

TEAMWORK

AKQA provides the highest quality ideas and innovation services to clients around the world. Our consistent track-record of results achieved for clients have set our firm apart. Through our focus on our core values, thought-leadership, rigorous delivery, and industry initiatives, AKQA is today one of the world’s most influential companies. Our goal is to become a high-performance environment where the most talented people flourish. With our perfectionist approach, people join AKQA for the opportunity to do the best work of their careers.

We create digital products, services and immersive experiences that are useful, usable, delightful and enjoyed by millions. We employ a rapid ideation and prototyping process that focuses on getting pilots into market quickly, helping clients make a sustained impact, increase their relevance and expand their connection. By embracing a pioneering approach that continues to lead and define the industry, we deliver cohesive blueprints that fulfil audience needs and surpass business goals.

LONG-TERM COMMITMENT

AKQA is committed to helping our team develop into the best possible practitioners and to providing them with an unparalleled foundation for their career. We help develop well-rounded professionals acquire leadership skills more quickly than at other organisations. Our employees benefit from the trusted long-term nature of our client relationships as well as the cultural alignment between the client and our own organisation, creating an optimum environment to deliver the work without any compromises.

ORGANISED TO SUCCEED

The core motivation at AKQA is product excellence. Although we are part of WPP, AKQA operates as an independent firm. Organically grown, our team works as a single firm, without geographic division. This means we can bring the best resources from our network to provide solutions for our clients.

In addition to our own Future Lions initiative, we have formed partnerships with many of the world’s leading universities so we can hire their best graduates. We combine youth and energy with maturity and experience to form a community that has a unique diversity of knowledge and exceptional professional judgement.

DEVELOPMENT

In addition to on-the-job training, AKQA offers a menu of training through the AKQA Academy and WPP Professional Development. This comprehensive curriculum of formal training is designed to equip our team with the substantive creative, engineering, business acumen, communications, management and analytical skills required to have professionally rewarding careers. AKQA Academy and WPP Professional Development courses are taught by leaders in their fields including AKQA’s own senior team and respected external experts.

To maintain the continuous focus on our core values, and provide a clear career path for our team, all of our Managing Directors and Executive Partners are promoted from within AKQA.

All AKQA employees and clients are invited to participate in the AKQA Insight and AKQA Tech.Insight thought leadership programmes. These comprise a series of informative lectures and Q&A sessions with authors, artists, athletes, scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs who are recognised leaders in their respective disciplines.

DIVERSITY

We believe that diversity is vital to AKQA’s ability to provide our clients with the best recommendations and are committed to fostering a varied and inclusive work environment. We provide our employees with the canvas, tools and confidence to help them advance their careers in a way that best suits them.

SUSTAINABILITY

At AKQA we believe everything a company does should be about taking the responsibility to be respectful towards the community and the environment. We consider community and pro-bono work to be an important commitment of our employees. We encourage our team to devote their skills to a broad range of pro-bono and community activities, working with myriad charitable and not-for-profit organisations. AKQA is part of WPP’s Sustainability initiatives. WPP is ranked no. 49 in an annual round-up of the World’s Greenest Companies.