Associate Director, Creative Strategy

DEPT®

Associate Director of Creative Strategy at DEPT® blending storytelling with strategy in brand performance. Leading a team and managing strategic client relationships for impactful creative outcomes.

Posted 5/4/2026full-timeRemote • California, Illinois, New York • 🇺🇸 United StatesSenior💰 $136,000 - $197,200 per yearWebsite

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Lead creative strategy from insight to brief, translating audience, category, and cultural signals into compelling storytelling opportunities.
Translate data, research, and performance learnings into clear, actionable messaging and creative direction for performance creative.
Own and elevate strategic brief development, setting the narrative, insight, and messaging foundation for all creative work.
Mentor and manage a team of Creative Strategists and Senior Creative Strategists, fostering craft excellence, consistency, and strategic thinking.
Shape team-wide standards and frameworks that scale across global campaigns.
Develop integrated creative platforms and messaging architectures that align to brand objectives while driving measurable performance.
Stay ahead of emerging trends in culture, digital storytelling, and creator-driven content to inform innovation.
Partner with research teams to interpret market, audience, and category insights to uncover the “why” behind consumer behavior for creative application.
Review creative work with a high bar for narrative clarity, craft, and platform resonance.
Contribute to thought leadership through internal frameworks, case studies, POVs, and client presentations.
Represent the Creative Strategy discipline in senior-level client conversations and inter-agency forums.
Serving as the primary strategic point of contact for clients across all creative work.
Anticipate client needs, proactively identifying opportunities, gaps, and next steps in partnership with account and internal leadership.
Partner closely with Analytics, Media, and other Associate Directors to align creative testing roadmaps and ensure strategy is grounded in proof points.
Guide creative teams through ideation, ensuring concepts ladder directly to audience insights and strategic intent.
Partner with Creative Operations to manage resourcing, workflow, and prioritization across workstreams.

Requirements

What you’ll need

7+ years of experience in creative strategy, brand strategy, content/comms strategy, or performance marketing (agency experience preferred).
2-3+ years of experience managing a team
Strong storytelling skills, with the ability to translate insights into sharp, inspiring creative narratives and messaging frameworks.
Exceptional client-facing communication skills—clear, confident, and compelling in both written and verbal presentations.
Deep understanding of paid media platforms, and how creative shapes performance, across Google, Meta, TikTok, Snap, and programmatic environments.
Experience shaping global campaigns and navigating complexity across multiple markets.
Comfort operating in ambiguity and bringing clarity, structure, and POV to incomplete inputs.
A proven track record of cross-functional leadership, team mentorship, and raising the bar for strategic craft.

Benefits

Comp & perks

Healthcare, Dental, and Vision coverage
401k plan, plus matching
PTO
Paid Company Holidays
Parental Leave

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills & Tools

creative strategybrand strategycontent strategyperformance marketingstorytellingnarrative developmentmessaging frameworkscreative directiondata analysiscampaign development

Soft Skills

team managementclient communicationstrategic thinkingmentorshipcross-functional leadershipproblem-solvingadaptabilityclarity in communicationinsight translationinnovation