Strategy Director (Temporary)

Strategy Director (Temporary)
Term: March 2026 - August 2026 (Approximately 6 months) 
Location: Atlanta, GA or New York, NY
Hybrid: 3 days in-office per week (Tues-Thurs)
Compensation: $145,000-$170,000 annual

About the Opportunity

The Strategy Director (Temporary) is a senior-level role responsible for leading integrated brand and communications strategy across priority client work during a defined period of agency momentum. This role acts as a strategic anchor, bringing clarity, point of view, and cultural intelligence to brand, social, and communications efforts. 

Ideal candidates are experienced, hands-on strategists with a strong communications and earned-first lens, able to quickly step in, guide teams, and elevate thinking across channels. You’ll partner closely with creative, account, and social leadership to ensure work is insight-led, cohesive, and built to perform in the real world. 

Responsibilities: 

Strategic Direction 

• Lead integrated brand and communications strategy across assigned client accounts
• Set clear strategic direction from brief through execution 
• Develop concise POVs, frameworks, and narratives that guide creative and channel decisions 
• Ensure brand, social, and communications efforts work together as a cohesive system 
• Translate research, data, and cultural signals into actionable strategic insight 
• Guide audience definition, messaging architecture, and communications planning 
• Bring a strong comms-led perspective to campaign development, including earned and social considerations

Client + Team Leadership 

• Serve as senior strategic lead in key client conversations and presentations 
• Partner with account and creative leadership to shape strategic approaches and deliverables 
• Provide clear direction, feedback, and mentorship to strategists and cross-functional teams 
• Facilitate strategic working sessions, brainstorms, and workshops as needed 
• Collaborate closely with creative, social, and media teams to move work forward 
• Contribute to agency culture through POV development and cultural fluency

Professional Skills and Knowledge 

• Senior-level experience in integrated brand and communications strategy 
• Strong understanding of social, earned, and culturally driven marketing
• Confident strategic storyteller with a clear point of view

Competencies 

• Integrated thinker. You connect brand, comms, social, and culture instinctively. 
• Clear decision-maker. You bring focus and direction in fast-moving environments. 
• Culturally fluent. You understand what matters now—and why. 
• Collaborative leader. You elevate the work and the people around you. 
• Creative partner. You push ideas forward without over-owning them. 

Experience  

• 8–12+ years of experience in brand, communications, or integrated strategy 
• Advertising or integrated agency experience strongly preferred

Education 

Bachelor’s Degree preferred 

About Iris

Participate or perish. It’s not just our rallying cry – it’s a creative imperative. Iris is the global creative micro-network built for brands that refuse to blend in. With 650 people across 11 offices, we help clients like Samsung, adidas, Barclays, Bentley, California Pizza Kitchen, Beiersdorf and Samsonite show up in culture with work that stands apart. Powered by Participation, and brought to life across paid, earned and owned media, our agency model is big enough to be dangerous, small enough to stay agile. Founded outside the ad establishment in 1999, Iris has always been defined by its outsider mindset – one that still drives our mission today.

We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and recruit on talent alone, regardless of age, gender identity, ethnicity, religion, education, class, sexual orientation or disability. We champion diversity and believe it not only benefits, but enhances our creativity, our company and the wider society at large.