Overview
Upwork ($UPWK) is the world’s work marketplace. We serve everyone from one-person startups to large, Fortune 100 enterprises with a powerful, trust-driven platform that enables companies and talent to work together in new ways that unlock their potential.
Last year, more than $3.8 billion of work was done through Upwork by skilled professionals who are gaining more control by finding work they are passionate about and innovating their careers.
Great campaigns start with great strategy and that great strategy starts with you.
As a strategy-first organization, the creative team thrives on concise and clever insights. The Strategy Director will be the critical bridge between the creative team and our internal partners to identify creative opportunities and craft compelling briefs.
You will not only be in charge of the team’s creative strategy, you will be in charge of a team of strategists who will work alongside you on everything from product and feature launches to creative campaign work including TV, activations, and brand content. Additionally, you will be responsible for a small but mighty team of Partner Leads who are the primary partners to our XF colleagues. Together with the strategists, you will be responsible for creating strategic and operational cohesion between the creative team and key marketing stakeholders.
This position reports to the VP, Creative.
Your Responsibilities:
- Partner with creative leadership and cross-functional partners to identify key opportunities and drive incredible creative work.
- Scope programs of work with partners to provide strategic insight and direction.
- Partner with brand, paid, and research teams to develop new research/methodologies/products to generate original insights.
- Provide strategic direction on product and experience initiatives which includes identifying the key value proposition, consumer needs, and value to the business.
- Translate strategic recommendations into impactful experiences, products, and services.
- Proactively identify new product and campaign opportunities within the business.
- Build, lead, and mentor a team of strategists and partner leads to be the first point of contact for all work coming through the creative team.
What it takes to catch our eye:
- A portfolio of breakthrough strategic direction and creative output for major brands and agencies.
- An integrated problem solver who can sync up brand strategy, communications, content, product, and user experience.
- An experienced presenter who is as comfortable directing their team as they are presenting to the CEO.
- A people manager who can inspire and nurture talent.
- A natural collaborator, comfortable working iteratively within different subject areas.
- Thrives in finding order in the chaos and loves creating process from scratch.
- Fluent in today’s world, including social platforms, mobile, tech, and social change.
