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Head of Strategy
The Head of Strategy is a senior leadership role responsible for building and leading OA’s Strategy function from the ground up. You are a trusted advisor to clients and senior stakeholders across the business, shaping strategic direction for new business, existing accounts, and the agency’s own growth.
This position requires a balance of media and digital expertise, commercial acumen, and hands-on strategic craft, combining research-led discovery, sharp analysis, and confident client leadership to deliver work that is insight-led and commercially effective. You’ll directly manage and develop the existing Strategy Manager, with a clear path to build and grow your own team as the function scales.
Media
Salary: Competitive
Trafford Park, Manchester
hybrid
Key Responsibilities:
Strategic Leadership & New Business
Lead strategic development for new business, partnering with Research & Insight and Sales to build the position, narrative, and story for prospective clients.
Own 360 campaign strategy across accounts, defining where and why to invest budget. Digest research and PCA data to shape insight-led, research-backed client proposals.
Discovery & Analysis Interrogate client briefs, performance data, and category/competitor intelligence to diagnose what’s worked and where the opportunity lies.
Build audience personas, segmentation, and competitive positioning in partnership with Research & Insight.
Spot category and channel opportunities on existing accounts.
Strategic Output
Write and build strategy decks for pitches, campaign briefs, and account reviews. Translate strategic recommendations into briefs that Planning/Buying and Creative can work from directly.
Develop positioning statements, messaging frameworks, and campaign platforms. Build measurement frameworks that define success before a campaign launches.
Client & Internal Leadership
Present and workshop strategy directly with client stakeholders, fielding questions and pushback with confidence.
Align Creative, Digital, Events, Media Planning/Buying, and Account Management around a single strategic direction.
Deliver PCAs and QBRs, with regular check-ins with Account Managers on live business
Team & Function Building
Directly manage and develop the Strategy Manager, and build out the wider Strategy team as the agency grows.
Develop and maintain OA’s own strategic methodology and toolkit, the operating framework the function will work to.
Define a clear career path within the function, with progression toward Associate Director and Director-level roles.
What We're Looking For
Strong, demonstrable experience shaping strategy across Above The Line and digital media, ideally with range across creative and events/sponsorship.
A proven track record leading strategic development for new business and building compelling client narratives.
A history of proactively identifying growth within existing client relationships.
Experience managing and developing a strategist or small team, with a genuine appetite to build a function rather than simply operate within one.
Gravitas and confidence presenting, workshopping, and holding your own in senior-level and client-facing conversations.
Cultural fluency, strong brand understanding, and the ability to operate at pace across varied, fast-moving briefs.