Director of Strategy

Horizon Media•New York, NY

1d•$140,000 - $160,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Horizon Sports & Experiences (HS&E) is a full-service sports marketing agency that connects brands and properties with fans through the power of sport, culture, and storytelling. We develop integrated marketing strategies, experiences, and partnerships that drive impact for our clients across the sports and entertainment landscape. We are seeking a dynamic, collaborative, and forward-thinking Strategy Director to lead strategic development across key accounts and new business efforts. This role will be instrumental in shaping insight-driven marketing strategies that connect brands with sports audiences in meaningful, innovative ways. The ideal candidate is equal parts brand strategist, cultural analyst, and storyteller—someone passionate about the fusion of insights and creativity to develop comprehensive and impactful strategies. Reporting to the SVP Strategy, the person in this role will work as part of a highly collaborative team of sports and brand marketing experts based in NYC.

Requirements

Team-spirited and collaborative to achieve client objectives
Ability to work in a dynamic, fast-pace environment, working on multiple partnerships and activations at a time
Proven leader, experience managing a team
Passionate in the live events landscape and a desire to innovate and keep up with trends
Tremendous organizational skills, attention to detail and ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously and competing priorities
An innovative thinker, concepting creative ideas for various activations
A strong writer, listener, communicator and presenter
Solutions oriented and proactive problem solver with foresight and the ability to develop creative solutions
Experience with sponsorship measurement techniques
An advocate for and supporter of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Nice To Haves

Minimum 5+ years of experience in brand/partnership strategy, marketing, or planning—preferably at a creative, media, or sports marketing agency.
Deep understanding of the sports, media, and cultural landscape, with a strong point of view on where things are headed.
Proven experience developing strategies that drive brand relevance and business impact, with a determined ability to turn data, insights, or challenges into a compelling story or strategy
Exceptional communication skills—both written and verbal; able to distill complex ideas into clear, compelling narratives
Strong presentation skills with a demonstrated ability to communicate clearly and with confidence, whether pitching ideas on a white board or presenting recommendations in a boardroom
Strong experience with audience segmentation, consumer journeys, brand positioning, and sponsorship strategies
Experience and comfort with research tools (e.g., GWI, YouGov, MRI Simmons, Nielsen, social listening platforms, etc)
Comfort level taking an independent “first pass” at authoring pitch materials, strategic frameworks, process documents (with or without existing examples)
Desire to champion a culture of accountability with a proactive, solutions-oriented approach that thrives in a fast-paced agency environment
Entrepreneurial spirit and strong time management skills in order to effectively prioritize and juggle multiple workstreams
Proven leadership skills with a track record of inspiring and influencing colleagues, clients, and partners at all levels to achieve strategic excellence
Highly collaborative and confident working across teams and clients

Responsibilities

Lead the creation and stewardship of integrated marketing strategies for clients, collaborating internally with account teams to identify brand goals and explore the art of the possible
Uncover consumer, category, and cultural insights to inform sponsorship strategies, partnership positioning, campaign planning, and activation ideas.
Distill information into informative briefs, compelling narratives, and concise strategy documents that clearly articulate the business challenge and guide the ideation and planning of actionable solutions
Support account teams as partnership strategies are brought to life, to ensure the ongoing development of sponsorship tactics, activations, creative assets, etc continue to ladder back up to strategic framework
Partner with Account, Creative, and Experiential teams to ensure strategies are translated into breakthrough work
Conduct data analysis (or work closely with Data & Analytics resources) to ensure recommended plans are both rooted in data-driven insights and measurable over time
Develop comprehensive measurement frameworks to help clients track and understand the impact of their sports marketing investments across a variety of objectives and KPIs
Contribute to new business development, including supporting on RFP responses, building capability presentations, and helping to evolve agency narrative and go-to-market
Build case studies that showcase the agency’s impact on client business and how those experiences can help influence prospective clients
Develop and deliver high-quality presentations that masterfully communicate complex topics into terms that can be easily understand by various audiences, both internally and externally
Keep a strong pulse on fan engagement, media, and innovation trends across the sports and entertainment landscape that can help inform strategic planning
Contribute to the agency’s thought leadership strategy by leading proprietary research, identifying new topics to be explored, developing trend reports, and crafting new IP strategies for the agency in the marketplace
Mentor and manage junior strategy team members; foster a culture of curiosity and insight