Director, Brand Storytelling

Job description

Location: Hybrid, NYC Reports to: Managing Director, Head of Strategy About the role The Director, Brand Storytelling sets brand narrative, content and messaging strategies for clients, building it on audience research, data analysis and insights, setting a high bar with creative reference and inspiration, and leading this workstream from pitch meeting through the life of the account. Day to day, they guide how that narrative is brought to life across touchpoints, authoring or co-authoring the briefs that carry it into each one and evaluating the resulting agency deliverables, ensuring the whole content ecosystem is magnetic, engaging and supports our clients’ overall business goals. This work is deeply social-first. Ongoing audience insights are fed continuously by social listening, creative performance analysis, and community sentiment, and what's actually landing with creators and audiences. This role will lead a team of full-time creative strategists and freelance subject-matter experts, recruiting and evaluating new talent as needed. It’s also highly collaborative and cross-functional, setting a clear vision and then collaborating to drive execution across creative, social, and media teams – both encouraging their new builds and ideas as well as correcting course when something isn't landing or laddering up to the central vision. What you'll do Vision-setting and strategy Establish brand narratives and develop content strategies for each account as well as new business pitches, grounded in audience research, insight and relevant creative inspiration Build and maintain the throughline for each account as work develops: the central idea, conversation, tone, and integrated architecture for the content ecosystem, so all teams are aligning around the same strategic goals. Based on audience segmentation strategies, develop messaging/social strategy frameworks by persona. Ensure all strategies pass the “will this audience actually pay attention and care?” test. Vision orchestration across departments Author or co-author briefs for creative, media, and social so every department starts from the same throughline. As deliverables are developed, act as orchestrator and curator across strategy, creative, media, social, and community, translating the narrative into direction specific to each department and acting as an arbiter for taste. Provide critical feedback during the development process to ensure the work delivers on or exceeds the strategic promise. Does it cut through the noise and will it engage target audiences? Ensure the overall ecosystem vision is brought to life across paid, organic, earned, and owned with special attention to how audiences respond to channel context. Team Leadership Build and lead a mixed team of full-time staff and freelance subject-matter experts. Recruit, brief, and evaluate freelance SMEs directly: define the expertise a pitch or program needs, source and vet candidates, and assess quality and fit before and during an engagement. Set direction without dictating execution, brief the vision clearly, then give creative, social, and SME collaborators real room to bring their own craft to it, staying a creative collaborator rather than the person handing down finished answers. Modern, channel-fluent marketing Bring a current, practitioner's read on how paid, organic, community, content, creative, and brand each earn attention differently and shape storytelling strategy. Use creative performance analysis and social listening as ongoing inputs, tracking real-time audience feedback on what’s working and what’s not, insights from comments and conversations, brand sentiment, and creator/cultural trends and feeding what's found there back into the throughline. Cultivate and maintain a sophisticated, diverse cultural reference set, supplemented with research capabilities as needed, to help establish and align on a high bar for our work. Partner closely with social and community leads on community growth itself, and stay hands-on enough to guide or brief creator content directly as needed. This job description is not intended to be all inclusive. Duties, responsibilities, and qualifications may be added, deleted, or modified at any time based on business needs. 8+ years in storytelling, content strategy, or social-first brand strategy, including at least [3+] years at a director level or equivalent, managing people and, ideally, freelance talent. Direct experience leading storytelling for new business pitches, comfortable building a story fast and under pressure. A track record of directly turning audience research and insight into brand, social and content strategy. Experience recruiting, briefing, and managing freelance subject-matter experts or contractors, including evaluating their quality and fit for a specific client or category. Personal experience authoring creative, social, and media briefs, not just reviewing them once someone else has written them. A collaborative leadership style, with evidence of bringing out strong work from cross-functional teams. A current, fluent point of view on paid, organic, social, community, content, and brand, and how to use them to capture attention, drive engagement, and build long-term trust and equity. Real social-first instincts: hands-on experience with community growth and creator content, and a habit of working from social listening. BA Nice to have New business or pitch leadership experience at an agency. A career that spans more than one of brand strategy, creative, social, and research/insights. Compensation & Benefits Sia invests in total rewards that support how our people work, live, and grow. Compensation Base Salary: $180,000–$200,000. Actual compensation within this range will be determined based on experience, qualifications, geographic location, and other job-related factors permitted by applicable law. Annual Performance Bonus Benefits Medical, dental, and vision; company-paid life and AD&D; voluntary supplemental insurance and EAP 401(k) with company match and immediate vesting; HSA and FSA options College savings and student loan repayment programs Paid parental leave; generous PTO, nine company holidays, and one floating holiday Cell phone stipend; well-being and professional development programs Benefits are subject to applicable plan terms and eligibility requirements. Workplace Sia values in-person collaboration. When serving clients, consultants may be required to work onsite at a client location based on engagement needs. Between client engagements, consultants are expected to work from a Sia office or approved coworking location at least three days per week. Candidates should reside within a reasonable commuting distance of a Sia office or approved coworking location. Sia maintains offices and coworking arrangements across multiple U.S. markets, including New York City, Charlotte, Greater Seattle, San Francisco Greater Bay Area, Los Angeles, Houston, Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Washington D.C. Work Authorization Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States at the time of application and throughout their employment. This position is not eligible for employment visa sponsorship now or in the future. Our Commitment At Sia, we believe in fostering a diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture where our employees and partners are valued and thrive in a sense of belonging. Ready Set Rocket (A Sia Company), partners with ambitious brands to solve complex business challenges through integrated marketing, digital experience, customer strategy, creative, media, data and technology. We are building on significant momentum and investing in the next stage of our growth. Our clients look to us for strategic partnership that connects business objectives with measurable outcomes across the full customer journey.