Strategist

An award-winning retail design agency who partners with leading retailers and consumer brands across brand design, strategy and interiors are looking for a Strategist to join their talented team. You will be working with a diverse range of exciting brands across culture, fashion, sports, and technology. This busy studio is looking for someone who can effectively work across the creative solutions for retail, brand experience and brand communications projects, working with the internal and external team to realize work from pitch to creative concept.

About Us

We are a growing team that is both strategic and multidimensional in our designs that specialise in live brand environments and retail design. Our clients value our insight led approach to develop environments that blur the lines between the physical and digital across all our creative proposals from experiential activations to interior retail design.

Your Role

Our London studio is seeking an exceptionally talented Strategist to join our team of design thinkers and doers who specialise in connecting brands with communities and creating brand environments with purpose. We believea powerful strategy as the foundation of a finely crafted experience. Our approach involves seamlessly incorporating strategy and design into the wide range of creative brand experiences.

You excel in creating user-focused strategies and designs based on deep insights.

• You are a passionate user advocate with a strong understanding of the entire customer journey, driven by empathy and curiosity.

• You simplify complex concepts into innovative solutions, creating opportunities for strong product and service experiences.

• You seamlessly blend data, technology, service, and creativity, balancing detailed and big-picture views.

• Your problem-solving skills are evident in your ability to analyze, deconstruct, and improve situations.

• As a forward-thinking futurist, you focus on brand innovation and emerging technologies while addressing current brand needs.

• You use analytical and technical skills to balance logic, data, and patterns, enhancing human experiences in both digital and physical spaces.

• You enjoy pushing and realizing visionary ideas.

• Your strategic and deliverable creations inspire innovation, inform decisions, and drive success.

• You excel at breaking down, synthesizing, and clearly communicating complex ideas.

• You are passionate about creating top-notch, omnichannel experiences that advance clients' businesses.

• You thrive on collaboration, partnering with diverse groups to design, deliver, and optimize solutions for clients and users.

• You promote cross-disciplinary collaboration, inspiring innovation, encouraging talent, and supporting design experimentation within your organization.

What you will do

• Engage directly with clients, building relationships to align their goals with our strategies and solutions.

• Provide insights to shape top-tier strategies and contribute to key deliverables like research plans, analyses, experience briefs, customer journeys, roadmaps, workshops, and retail strategies.

• Offer strategic input throughout the project lifecycle, from conceptualization and vision to launch and optimization.

• Encourage clients and colleagues to explore opportunities that address business challenges while aligning with brand and customer needs.

• Collaborate with Strategists, Analysts and Designers to create compelling solutions, showcasing your expertise and inspiring both clients and the team.

Your Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in human-centered design or retail experience strategies, preferably for lifestyle and luxury sector clients (retail and entertainment).

• Succeeded in a creative environment that integrates strategy into the design process.

• Proven track record in developing strategies, including customer journeys, archetypes, experience briefs, strategic POVs, and workshops, bridging digital and physical realms.

• Adapted to dynamic conditions, managing multiple workstreams with quick iterations, and balancing collaborative and individual work.

• Skilled in executing research initiatives to gather content-focused requirements.

• Experienced in designing and facilitating engaging workshops with internal teams, clients, and stakeholders.

• Adept at creating communications that help clients visualize and understand strategies and recommendations.

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills for seamless collaboration with teams, clients, and partners.

• Self-motivated and entrepreneurial.

• Comfortable with ambiguity in uncharted spaces.

• Competent in presentations and proposal development.

• Thoughtful and responsive in handling design critique and feedback from clients and colleagues.

• Capable of infusing empathy and behavioral analysis into your work.

• Familiar with design research methodologies and processes.

Technical Requirements

• Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite (InDesign required), and Microsoft Office (PowerPoint, Word, Excel, Outlook), and other visual communication tools

• Fluency with digital collaboration tools such as Miro, Microsoft Teams etc.

• Familiar with social listening tools (Brandwatch) audience building tools (GWI) a bonus