Brand strategist

We’re looking for a digitally-savvy brand strategist who wants to work on projects that make a difference.

Nice to meet you. We’re Soapbox. We’re a creative studio for ideas that matter. We work with forward-thinking organisations to turn knowledge and evidence into social progress. Organisations like the United Nations, the World Health Organisation, Chatham House, the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the British Academy. From artificial intelligence to international development; early childhood to climate change, our clients’ work focuses on some of the most important issues of our time.

If you believe that ideas and evidence have the power to create a better world, we want to hear from you! We’re looking for a digitally-savvy brand strategist who wants to work on projects that make a difference. In this role, you’ll be part of our growing strategy team, doing everything from positioning pioneering initiatives to working on full-scale rebrands for some of the world’s leading mission-driven organisations.

Here are the sort of things you’ll be doing:

• Undertaking research on projects to better understand our clients needs, objectives, audiences and opportunities. This will include things like carrying out workshops, conducting interviews, deep diving into documents and exploring the landscape.
• Synthesising research findings and turning meaningful insights into actionable recommendations.
• Creating, writing and presenting compelling strategies that can stand alone or open up the space for design.
• Collaborating closely with other strategists, designers and client services to develop ideas and approaches that push our clients – and the sector – forward.
• Developing tone of voice materials, key messaging and brand-led campaign ideas.

Below we’ve outlined the sort of person we’re looking for. But this isn’t a checklist. If you think you have an interesting mix of experience and skills that would make you a great brand strategist, we’d still encourage you to apply.

Here’s the sort of skills and experience you’ll have:

• At least two years of experience developing brand, communications, marketing or content strategy in a professional setting.
• A knack for translating big ideas into compelling narratives and an understanding of how strategy links to design.
• The confidence and interpersonal skills to run meetings, facilitate workshops, present thinking and conduct one-on-one interviews with people across a wide range of backgrounds and levels of seniority, including very senior clients.
• Excellent writing, analysis, communication and organisation skills.
• A willingness to grapple with the occasional ambiguous client brief and turn new things into normal things.
• Preparedness to get stuck into whatever is needed with a calm and good-humoured approach.

It would also be nice if you had:

• An interest in current affairs and public policy.
• Some experience of working with charities/NGOs/think tanks/research organisations.
• Experience of and interest in copywriting, for both print and digital.

A bit about us:

We are a flexible and fair employer and our values run through everything we do, from the clients we work with to the way we treat our staff. This has helped us to build a close-knit, hard-working and ambitious team. Many of our colleagues have worked with us for a large part of their career, advancing professionally over their years with us. And our growing roster of clients include many of the world’s leading charities, NGOs and research organisations.

We are committed to equality of opportunity and know that including employees with a diverse range of perspectives and experiences will improve the quality and creativity of the services we provide. We particularly welcome applications from candidates who are members of groups that are currently under-represented at Soapbox, including LGBTQ+ people, people with disabilities, and people from minority ethnic and religious communities.

Our studios:

This role will be based in our Whitechapel studio. When we’re not working from home, that’s where you’ll find most of us. Here we have good views, snacks, barista-quality coffee and space to work, think and collaborate. At the moment, we don’t expect a return to full-time work until well into 2022, but we plan to return on a hybrid basis (probably two or three days per week) later this spring. We’re also happy to consider applicants who want to work from home – at least some of the time – on an ongoing basis.

As well as London, we have a studio in Bath and one across the pond in Washington DC. We’re planning to set-up in Berlin soon too. Although we sit in lots of different places, we work as one global team, collaborating across borders and time zones.

What we offer in return:

We offer a competitive salary and a good benefits package with some great perks, including:

• 25 days paid annual holiday, plus Christmas closure and public holidays. You’ll get your birthday off too.
• Cycle-to-work scheme, tech loans and season ticket loans.
• Flexible working around core hours (10am–4pm).
• Generous parental leave and other family-friendly policies.
• A calendar of regular social events.
• Matched pension contributions.

On the (very) rare occasions we ask you to work overtime, we’ll make sure you get the time back.