Director, Strategy Planning

At SimpsonScarborough, we spend our days building brands that endure, inspire, and elevate the all-important work of colleges and universities in shaping our future. Recognized as a leader in the higher education marketing industry, we are a fully remote team of approximately 70 employees working coast to coast.

We’re looking for a Director, Strategy Planning to lead the development of integrated brand, marketing, content, and media strategies that help colleges and universities navigate complexity, clarify positioning, and move audiences to action. This role requires a balance of strategic thinking, analytical rigor, and strong facilitation skills—connecting research, insight, storytelling, and institutional priorities into strategies that are clear, actionable, and built to drive results.

The Director, Strategy Planning partners closely with clients and cross-functional teams to define problems, uncover opportunities, and shape the strategic direction of high-impact initiatives. This role leads the development of audience-informed strategies, synthesizes complex information into meaningful insight, and ensures recommendations are grounded in both data and real-world application.

What You’ll Do

• Lead integrated brand, marketing, content, and paid media strategy development for large-scale and high-impact client engagements.
• Collaborate with internal and client teams at project launch to establish goals, priorities, timelines, milestones, and opportunities for cross-functional integration and long-term growth.
• Collect, analyze, and synthesize primary and secondary research to uncover actionable insights that inform positioning, messaging, campaign strategy, and audience engagement.
• Develop and present strategy deliverables that are clear, compelling, and actionable—helping clients align around priorities, opportunities, and paths forward.
• Partner closely with Creative, Media, Digital, Analytics, Accounts, and PMO teams to ensure strategies are integrated, insight-driven, and effectively executed across channels.
• Identify opportunities to improve workflows, deliverable integration, and strategic continuity across projects and teams.
• Build and maintain project documentation, strategic frameworks, and planning materials that keep stakeholders informed and aligned throughout engagements.

What We’re Looking For

• 6–8 years of experience in marketing, advertising, branding, digital, media, or strategy-related roles.
• Experience working within a marketing, branding, or creative agency environment.
• Proven experience developing integrated marketing, content, and brand strategies across digital, social, web, print, and paid channels.
• Strong understanding of audience research, messaging strategy, marketing planning, and campaign development.
• Ability to articulate media strategy concepts and connect paid, owned, and earned channels into cohesive strategic approaches.
• Excellent verbal, written, and presentation skills with the ability to communicate complex ideas clearly and persuasively.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to translate data into insight and direction.
• Exceptional organizational and project management skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
• Proficiency with research tools, project management platforms, collaboration software, social media management tools, and Microsoft Office Suite.
• Comfortable collaborating with remote, cross-functional teams nationwide.
• Bachelor’s degree and/or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.

Salary, Benefits & Perks

• Salary starts at $105,000 and will be commensurate with experience
• Comprehensive benefits package including nationwide health, dental, and vision coverage, 401(k) with employer contribution, employer-paid life insurance and short-term disability
• Flexible time off (FTO) with additional time-off options, including sick, volunteer & bereavement leave, paid parental leave, a day off on your birthday PLUS two agency-wide closures in the summer and winter
• Monthly lifestyle stipend to supplement your routine wellness costs like streaming subscriptions, gym, or phone/internet costs.

Our Commitment to Inclusion

At SimpsonScarborough, we believe diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging are central to our core values and critical to our long-term success. This work requires consistency, intentionality, vulnerability, and accountability. Through our efforts, we strive to make meaningful impact in our work, our workplace, and our industry.

SimpsonScarborough is an equal opportunity employer. We have a strict anti-harassment policy and a zero-tolerance non-discrimination policy. We welcome applicants of all backgrounds regardless of nationality, race, religion, gender identity, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Questions?

For all recruitment-related inquiries, please email PeopleAndCulture@simpsonscarborough.com.