Responsibilities

• Create sound strategies through research, analysis, creativity, and critical thinking.
• Evaluate brand identities, goals, audiences, competitive landscapes, and industries.
• Deliver the foundational rationale and direction for client brands.
• Work primarily with B2B brands who are at various points in their branding journey, through projects that vary in scope, scale, and timeline.
• Present your recommendations in comprehensive written strategy documents, and use strategy to guide verbal and visual outcomes.
• Drive weekly meetings and conduct workshops with clients during brand strategy.
• Spend a lot of time researching, writing, ideating, and collaborating.
• Deliver and defend your own work directly with clients.
• Actively provide strategic oversight for verbal and visual design outcomes.
• Participate in the betterment and evolution of Focus Lab processes and client experiences.

Requirements

• The background and skills that align with this position (which must include a portfolio of demonstrated strategy work, not just verbal or visual design outcomes).
• A love for all things research and new ideas.
• Initiative, seeing what needs to be done, and making a plan for it.
• Extremely strong communication skills.
• The ability to learn from teammates.
• Know-how on the latest and greatest trends, tools, and technologies in brand strategy.
• Experimented with a variety of strategy frameworks and project scopes.
• Skills around turning information overload into clear, distilled, actionable steps.
• Detail orientation (include the word “Applebees” somewhere in your application for bonus points).
• Alignment with our core values.

Preferred

Benefits

• Unlimited paid time off. You’ll be encouraged to take a minimum of 20 days outside of holidays and sick time.
• Health, dental, and vision insurance plans (medical covered at 100% for you 50% for your family dependents, dental covered at 50% for you and your family dependents) beginning first of the month following hire.
• Life, disability, accident, critical illness, and cancer insurance plans.
• Retirement plan beginning at your one-year anniversary.
• Paid parental, adoption/caregiver leave.
• Two weeks paid holiday rest at the end of the year.
• Note: Independent contractors outside the U.S. are not eligible for traditional employee benefits; they are responsible for taxes, benefits, and insurance, though compensation is competitive.