You will own significant strategy workstreams for client engagements, translating research into strategic recommendations and guiding client conversations.

Own major strategy workstreams and keep engagements organized and moving
Translate research, data, and stakeholder input into actionable recommendations
Develop trusted client relationships and lead strategic discussions

Job Description

Responsibilities

Bring clarity to complex client challenges
Develop a strong understanding of the client’s business, audience, category, culture, and competitive context.
Help translate research, data, stakeholder input, and team discussion into clear strategic implications, choices, and recommendations.
Lead strategy workstreams with increasing independence
Own significant strategy workstreams or smaller engagements, keeping the work organized, focused, and moving.
Anticipate risks, gaps, or open questions early, and manage up when guidance, alignment, or a decision is needed.
Apply core strategy tools and methods
Use foundational strategy tools, research inputs, stakeholder interviews, audits, workshops, frameworks, and synthesis to help structure the work and develop stronger recommendations.
Know when to apply a familiar method, when to adapt the approach, and when to seek guidance from senior strategy leadership.
Build client confidence

Requirements

A Bachelor’s degree, or a more advanced degree, with 6-9 years of experience in brand strategy, marketing strategy, communications strategy, customer/audience strategy, consulting, research, or a related discipline.
Experience developing insights, strategic recommendations, positioning, messaging, creative briefs, experience principles, or other client-ready strategy deliverables.
A working command of foundational strategy tools and methods, including strategic frameworks, stakeholder interviews, workshop support, qualitative and quantitative research inputs, competitive/category analysis, audience insight development, and synthesis.
Strong writing, presentation, facilitation, and communication skills.
Comfort working across different clients, categories, assignment types, and levels of ambiguity.
Ability to lead significant workstreams, collaborate across disciplines, and contribute to healthy engagement delivery.
Ability to manage up, ask for guidance when needed, and continue building strategic range and rigor over time.

Benefits

Total Perks Package
The chance to be a part of a growing company and the next success story
Amazing opportunities for career development
Recognition programs
Employee referral bonus
Fun and collaborative work environment
Casual dress code
Insurance Coverage (medical, dental, vision, life, and disability)
401(k) retirement plan, with employer 4% match
Work/life benefits, including mental health and wellbeing support

VSA Partners

3.1 Glassdoor

VSA’s purpose is to design for a better human experience. As a strategy and creative agency, we blend consumer insights and data with human-centered design to activate meaningful, motivating and measurable experiences in an increasingly noisy world. With offices in Chicago, New York and San Francisco, VSA offers a full range of fully integrated capabilities—branding, advertising, data science and technology—all under one roof. VSA is also a proud member of Meet The People, an international family of unified but independent agencies. For more than 40 years, we have delivered solutions for business and creative leaders at some of the world’s most respected brands and forward-thinking organizations, including Google, Nike and IBM.

Founded in 1982

Chicago, Illinois, USA

125 employees (44 in marketing)

www.vsapartners.com

54% recommend to a friend

85% CEO approval