Strategy Director

Company description

We’re a creative consultancy. That means we put creativity at the center of all our thinking—be it strategic consulting, design and advertising or product and service design. If you believe in the power of creativity to transform how people think and behave, you’re in the right place.

Overview

Leo Burnett Toronto is looking for a Strategy Director to join our team. Partnering closely with senior business and creative leaders, you will shape strategies that solve complex business challenges, inspire breakthrough creative work, and build enduring brands.

This role is well suited to a design-minded strategic thinker who brings experience from a non-traditional agency. You are naturally collaborative, comfortable sharing ideas early and often, and skilled at turning cultural, consumer, and business insight into clear creative opportunities.

Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership

• Lead the development of brand, communications, and experience strategies that address client objectives and inspire effective creative work, in the financial space.
• Bring together rigorous analysis and creative thinking to offer fresh, meaningful perspectives on complex challenges.
• Define and steward compelling brand ideas, grounded in a deep understanding of the business, its audiences, and the cultural environment in which it operates.
• Simplify strategic complexity and create a clear path forward for clients and internal teams.
• Maintain a long-term perspective while identifying timely opportunities for brands to earn relevance in a rapidly changing cultural and media landscape.
• Deliver consistently thoughtful, high-quality strategic leadership across projects and client relationships.

Creative Partnership

• Build strong, trusted relationships with creative, account, design, and client teams.
• Develop clear, inspiring creative briefs and lead engaging briefings that unlock strong ideas.
• Act as both an idea generator and facilitator, helping teams explore possibilities and strengthen their thinking.
• Foster an environment that supports creative excellence and effective work across channels, platforms, and experiences.
• Communicate strategic logic in a way that leaves room for creative intuition and exploration.

Research, Insights, and Culture

• Apply strong human intuition and curiosity while maintaining an objective, evidence-based point of view.
• Lead the research process, selecting the qualitative and quantitative methods best suited to each assignment.
• Interpret research and data to uncover meaningful insights and fuel imagination, treating research as a starting point rather than an end in itself.
• Stay closely attuned to cultural, consumer, category, and media shifts that affect how brands connect with people.
• Actively share knowledge and emerging perspectives to strengthen the strategic capabilities of the broader team.

Client and Team Leadership

• Serve as a trusted strategic partner whose perspective is valued and sought out by clients.
• Present complex thinking clearly, persuasively, and with confidence to audiences at all levels.
• Collaborate effectively across disciplines, building alignment among clients, strategists, creatives, designers, and account leaders.
• Contribute to a culture of courageous optimism, intellectual generosity, ambition, and continuous learning.
• Support the growth of strategy team members through collaboration, guidance, and constructive feedback.

Core Skills

• Strong strategic thinking, with the ability to translate complex business, brand, and audience challenges into clear opportunities.
• Strong knowledge of research methodologies and the ability to interpret qualitative and quantitative findings.
• Exceptional written, verbal, and presentation skills.
• A collaborative, team-oriented working style and the ability to build trust across disciplines.
• A design-thinking mindset and a commitment to producing meaningful, original, and effective work.
• Intellectual curiosity, sound judgment, and the confidence to challenge conventional thinking constructively.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of relevant experience in an agency, consultancy, design, innovation, or related environment.
• Education in a relevant discipline or an equivalent combination of education and professional experience.
• Demonstrated experience developing brand, communications, or experience strategies.
• Experience partnering directly with senior clients and multidisciplinary teams.

Additional information

Transparency matters to us. The salary range for this position is CAD $125,000-per CAD $135,000 year. Actual compensation within this range will be based on a variety of factors, including relevant experience, knowledge, skills, and applicable certifications. This range reflects what we reasonably expect to offer based on current market data.

We use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of our hiring process, such as reviewing applications or analyzing resumes. These tools assist our recruitment team but never replace human decision-making. We believe in a human-first approach, where your experience and potential are recognized by people.

Leo Burnett Toronto is an equal opportunity employer with a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion. Drawing on valuable perspectives and insights from our unique workforce allows us to continue sharing our best work with the world. We encourage applications from all qualified individuals and will provide appropriate accommodation for candidates with disabilities or accessibility needs throughout the recruitment process, upon request. Please contact our recruiter for any questions, accommodations or specific requests.