Strategy Director

Strategy Director

The aim of this role is to lead the development of insight-driven communications strategies that help clients influence knowledge, attitudes and behaviours across diverse audiences in theAsia-Pacific region. The Strategy Director will combine research, critical thinking and interdisciplinary insight to solve complex client challenges, drive strategic excellence within the agency, and strengthen the agency’s reputation as a leader in behaviour change and strategic communications.

Reports to the Managing Director

Job Description

• To provide strategic leadership within the agency in developing communications solutions to change knowledge, attitudes and behaviours in target audience groups across the Asia-Pacific region.
• To use and champion multiple sources of research, best practices and critical thinking to assist multiple client organisations in the pursuit of achieving their objectives.
• To set an example within the agency as to the value or strategy in answering client problems by developing effective ways of working, tools and techniques and sharing them with the organisation.
• To bring new forms of thinking and insight from adjacent disciplines for example psychology or neuroscience or anthropology or behavioural science and apply them to the day-to-day activities of the agency.
• To build (where appropriate) the profile of the agency externally by, for example, presenting at conferences, building a network of contacts or publishing material.
• To draw on multiple information sources and distil complex problems into simple communications strategies.

Experience & Qualifications

·       10+ years’ experience of creating and ‘bringing to life’ effective communications strategies for a range of problems.

·       Knowledge of fundamental techniques, tools and practices of a brand and communications strategist.

·       Ability to bring new working practices, tools and/or techniques and embed them into the day-to-day operations of the business.

·       Ability to quickly analyse and process large volumes of data and insights from multiple sources. 

·       Ability to craft and present simple solutions to highly complex problems (as oral or written presentations).

·       Ability to work with creative staff/partners to ensure the strategy comes to life in the real world.

·       An ability to understand the culture of/develop strategies for diverse countries, cultures and communities.

·       Excellent oral and written communications skills (English).

·       Proficient in all components of Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word, Powerpoint and Excel).

Desirable:

·       Experience of working with Governments, the international development sector or similar (includes previous or voluntary work).

·       Demonstrable liaison skills across the numerous sectors and disciplines (for example ties to academic practitioners).

·       Asian languages and cultural understanding are a benefit.

·       An understanding of politics/geo-politics, conflict, peace-keeping & emerging issues such as disinformation.  

Essential:

• Excellent communication skills to enable him/her to support work with senior stakeholders and to understand client requirements.
• Understanding of the company’s culture and business area.
• Sense of responsibility to towards the organisation’s reputation.
• Ability to travel and work independently.
• Forward leaning attitude in support of the team.
• Anticipation of challenges and show of initiative across all projects.

The Work:

·       Maintain an in-depth understanding of both the commercial, and development sector strategic and communication best practices. 

·       To maintain a working knowledge of region(s) of interest including social, cultural, political and economic aspects.

·       Keep up-to-date on strategic theory and innovations in target geographical areas as well as emerging platforms and technologies which may be applied.

·       To assist various related activities in the day-to-day running of the business including client RFIs, new business strategies and other ad-hoc activities.

Relationships:

·       To work with creative/production staff and partners to ensure creative products and solutions are strategically correct and achieve or better the client goal. 

·       To work closely with the Management Team to shape the strategic output across the business and to offer training and guidance to other strategists and project staff.

·       To provide support and guidance to other strategists in the team when answering client problems.

·       To partner with the internal research team and external suppliers to build a firm understanding of multiple target audiences’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviours. 

Strategy:

·       To discover and apply research and insight from a range of adjacent disciplines such as psychology, behavioural science, business strategy, social sciences, semiotics and more.

·       Develop a firm understanding of Measures of Performance and Effect in regard to strategy and resultant change in knowledge, attitudes and behaviours. To regularly report on these measures to the agency and clients.

Business Impact:

·       To work closely with the Management Team to shape the strategic output across the business and to offer training and guidance to other strategists and project staff.

·       To share knowledge and experience in a formal and informal way that grows the collective knowledge of the agency.

·       To bring best practices in advertising and communications, behaviour change, brand strategy and to work with the media strategy team to develop dissemination strategies.

·       To look for opportunities that support the success of the contracts and identify any new opportunities for business growth.