Associate Director- Brand Strategy

About the job

GALE is the world’s first and only Business Agency. We bring business strategy to brand storytelling to drive enterprise value. With expertise in strategy, media, CRM, creative, performance marketing, and technology, GALE creates integrated marketing systems and campaigns that grow businesses in significant ways. Founded in 2014, the agency has since been named AdAge’s Business Transformation Agency of the Year and Adweek’s U.S. Media Agency of the Year and has been recognized for its innovative creative at the Cannes Lions.

We work with brands such as Delta, Uber, Starbucks, Chili’s, Hard Rock, MilkPEP, Diageo, Cotton, IHG and more. If you’re driven by a passion to build something great, a desire to innovate, and a commitment to achieve excellence in your craft, GALE is a great place for you!

GALE has eight offices around the world, including New York, Toronto, Los Angeles, Austin, Denver, Kansas City, London, and Bengaluru. GALE embraces a hybrid, flexible workplace.

The opportunity:

We're looking for a Brand Strategist who thinks at the intersection of culture, creativity, and experience design with a specific ability to operate across Latin American markets.

As an Associate Director, you'll lead brand strategy for integrated campaigns spanning North American clients, owning the insight-to-idea arc across channels, guiding creative teams with a clear point of view, and acting as a trusted cultural bridge between our clients and their audiences. You understand that Latin America isn't a monolith — and your strategy reflects that.

What you'll own

• Lead brand strategy from discovery through execution on integrated accounts — spanning brand positioning, campaign strategy, content ecosystems, and experience design
• Develop audience insight frameworks that inform not just advertising but how a brand shows up across every touchpoint -digital, retail, OOH, social, experiential
• Develop culturally grounded audience insight frameworks for NA markets that go beyond demographics to capture values, social dynamics, and cultural tension points
• Translate business problems into clear creative briefs that give creative teams a provocative, singular strategic direction
• Present strategic recommendations to senior clients (VP/CMO level) with confidence and conviction — you don't just hand off work, you land it
• Collaborate across experience design, data/analytics, media, and local market teams, agency partners — to ensure brand strategy is a connective thread
• Act as a cultural intelligence lead — tracking shifts in consumer behavior, category dynamics, and cultural moments relevant to your client portfolio
• Collaborate cross-functionally with experience design, data/analytics, and media strategy teams to ensure brand strategy is a connective thread across channels
• Mentor junior strategists (Strategists and Senior Strategists) and contribute to how the strategy practice evolves internally

What we're looking for

• 6–9 years of brand strategy experience, with the majority in an integrated creative or experience agency
• Demonstrated range across brand positioning, comms strategy, and experience/digital — not siloed in one channel
• Strong qual and quant research instincts — you know how to get to insight, not just information
• Experience in multicultural or Hispanic marketing within the US market, with an understanding of cultural nuance in brand storytelling is a strong plus
• A sharp creative instinct: you write briefs that writers and art directors actually want to work from
• Experience leading strategy on complex, multi-stakeholder accounts independently
• Comfort presenting and building trust with senior-level clients
• Familiarity with brand architecture, purpose frameworks, and how brand strategy translates into design systems and experience principles

In order to comply with equal pay and salary transparency laws in various locations, we believe the target compensation for this role is USD 160,000 to $180,000 per year. Actual compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, qualifications, job performance, level of experience, location, and business needs. For more information on other benefits we offer, please visit https://www.gale.agency/careers

AI Disclosure: As part of our recruitment process, we may use technology assisted tools, including automated systems, to support the review and assessment of applications. These tools do not make the final decisions. All decisions related to screening, interviewing and selection are made by our Talent Acquisition and hiring teams.

Note: Hybrid work in office is an essential function of the job.

Our Commitment to Inclusion: We believe in inclusivity and do our best work when people with diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and skills are brought together. Our Core Values are at the root of GALE’s collaborative environment and help to foster a strong community. Our Code of Conduct, Human Resources policies, and executive investment in inclusion further support and protect GALE’s inclusive workplace. GALE is an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran, or disability status.

Our Hiring Process: We want you to be just as discerning in making your next career move as we are finding great talent to join our team. Our interview process will allow you to meet a range of people from various disciplines and domains both virtually and in person. Please discuss with our recruiters if you require any accommodations throughout the process to help enable a smooth interview.