{"id":593695,"url":"https://alion.io/job/vsa-partners-associate-director-strategy","title":"Associate Director, Strategy","company":{"id":450129,"name":"VSA Partners","domain":"vsapartners.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/vsa-partners","size_band":"51-200","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Greenhouse","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":75,"open_postings":5,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.8,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":62,"computed_at":"2026-11-05T05:54:30Z"}},"role":"Marketing","role_family":"Marketing","seniority":"head","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"hybrid","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"explicit","locations":["Chicago, United States","New York, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":125000,"max":150000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":150000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":6,"visa_sponsorship":true,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-07-01T18:46:05Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-09-09","last_verified_at":"2026-11-05T14:55:47Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":127,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":0,"flags":[],"days_open":126},"description":"VSA’s purpose is to design for a better human experience. As a strategy and design 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 and 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. \nOpen role in VSA Office locations, including New York, and Chicago; Hybrid work schedule \nVisa Sponsorship is not available for this position, now or in the future. Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States on a permanent basis without requiring employer sponsorship.\nRole Summary\nThe Associate Director, Strategy is a senior strategy practitioner who helps turn complex client situations into clear, actionable direction. This role is expected to bring structure to ambiguous problems, build trust with clients and internal teams, and lead significant strategy workstreams with increasing independence.\nAssociate Directors help shape the work by clarifying the problem, organizing the inputs, developing strategic recommendations, and connecting the thinking to creative and design outcomes. That includes understanding how strategy informs brand identity, messaging, campaigns, experiences, content, and other forms of activation.\nThis role is often the connective tissue between senior strategy leadership, client teams, creative and engagement partners, and other collaborators. A strong Associate Director can move between analysis and storytelling, detail and synthesis, confidence and curiosity, while knowing when to take the lead and when to ask for guidance.\nEssential Duties and Responsibilities (Other duties may be assigned)\nBring clarity to complex client challenges\nDevelop a strong understanding of the client’s business, audience, category, culture, and competitive context.\nHelp translate research, data, stakeholder input, and team discussion into clear strategic implications, choices, and recommendations.\nLead strategy workstreams with increasing independence\nOwn significant strategy workstreams or smaller engagements, keeping the work organized, focused, and moving.\nAnticipate risks, gaps, or open questions early, and manage up when guidance, alignment, or a decision is needed.\nApply core strategy tools and methods\nUse foundational strategy tools, research inputs, stakeholder interviews, audits, workshops, frameworks, and synthesis to help structure the work and develop stronger recommendations.\nKnow when to apply a familiar method, when to adapt the approach, and when to seek guidance from senior strategy leadership.\nBuild client confidence\nDevelop trusted working relationships with clients through preparation, responsiveness, judgment, and clear communication.\nLead client conversations and presentations in a way that invites useful dialogue, manages expectations, and helps move the work forward.\nShape clear, useful strategic work\nTurn complex inputs into concise, well-structured deliverables, briefs, narratives, and recommendations.\nConnect strategic thinking to creative and design outcomes, including brand identity, messaging, campaigns, experiences, content, and other forms of activation.\nSupport the work, the relationship, and the Strategy practice\nPartner with Directors, Engagement Leads, and cross-functional partners to keep the work focused, well-organized, and moving against scope, timing, resources, and quality expectations.\nBring forward ideas, tools, examples, and points of view that improve the work while continuing to build strategic range, rigor, and confidence over time.\nQualifications - To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. \nA 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.\nExperience developing insights, strategic recommendations, positioning, messaging, creative briefs, experience principles, or other client-ready strategy deliverables.\nA 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.\nStrong writing, presentation, facilitation, and communication skills.\nComfort working across different clients, categories, assignment types, and levels of ambiguity.\nAbility to lead significant workstreams, collaborate across disciplines, and contribute to healthy engagement delivery.\nAbility to manage up, ask for guidance when needed, and continue building strategic range and rigor over time.\nWhat success looks like:\nA successful Associate Director, Strategy:\nMakes complex situations feel clearer and more manageable.\nBuilds client trust through preparation, judgment, and presence.\nTakes ownership without over-isolating or over-controlling the work.\nBalances rigor with momentum.\nShows curiosity and learning discipline by going beyond the obvious answer, pressure-testing the thinking, and continuing to build fluency across clients, categories, and strategic methods.\nKnows how to simplify a story so others can use it.\nKnows how to manage up and raise their hand when they need help, context, or direction.\nUnderstands that great strategy is not just insight; it is direction people can act on.\nTotal Perks Package\nThe chance to be a part of a growing company and the next success story\nAmazing opportunities for career development\nRecognition programs\nEmployee referral bonus\nFun and collaborative work environment\nCasual dress code\nInsurance Coverage (medical, dental, vision, life, and disability)\n401(k) retirement plan, with employer 4% match\nWork/life benefits, including mental health and wellbeing support\nFlexible Time Off Policy\nPaid holidays, including agency soft closing Christmas Eve-New Year's Day\nPaid leave options, including sick leave, medical leave for self and family, and parental leave\nEstimated Salary Range\n$125,000—$150,000 USD\nVSA Partners is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive, equitable environment for all employees. All employment decisions are made based on qualifications, merit and business need.\nCalifornia Residents - Please review our Privacy Notice here. \nThis employer participates in E-Verify. For more information, see the E-Verify Participation Poster and Right to Work Notice (English and Spanish).\nVSA PARTNERS, LLC\nvsapartners.com","description_format":"text","description_chars":7245,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":6,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Flexible time off","Hybrid work","Insurance coverage","Parental leave","Retirement plans"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Design & Creative","Creative Agencies","Branding"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-09-10T14:20:32Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":17,"band":"cold","label":"Long shot","p_open":1,"p_active":0.599,"p_room":0.28,"age_days":126,"expected_fill_days":62,"reasons":["conf:1","win:tail","crowd:"],"computed_at":"2026-11-05T05:54:30Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":150000,"is_top_pay":false},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/vsa-partners-associate-director-strategy","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/vsa-partners-associate-director-strategy.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-05T19:39:49Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":26385,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-06T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":450129},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=450129"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fvsa-partners-associate-director-strategy"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fvsa-partners-associate-director-strategy"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fvsa-partners-associate-director-strategy"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/vsa-partners-associate-director-strategy\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fvsa-partners-associate-director-strategy"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":593695}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"vsapartners.com","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":593695},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. 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