VP, Social Marketing & Strategy

Job Description:

This role requires a strategic thinker who thrives on curiosity, collaboration, and creativity; someone who can turn insights into bold ideas that drive meaningful business impact. As VP, Social Marketing & Strategy, you will raise the bar every day by leading a team of strategists and community engagement professionals, not through management alone, but through mentorship, inspiration, and development. You will foster a culture of learning, effectiveness, and relentless curiosity, with success measured by the growth and performance of the teams you lead. 

What You'll Do 

• Champion dentsu's strategic process by connecting insights, brand platforms, and experience design into cohesive, integrated communication plans. 

• Lead the development of transformative strategies rooted in consumer behavior, cultural movements, competitive dynamics, and industry trends. 

• Translate complex business challenges into clear, actionable solutions and orchestrate integrated go-to-market plans. 

• Develop strategic frameworks that create alignment across disciplines and drive measurable business outcomes. 

• Craft compelling briefs, narratives, and intelligent story systems that inspire teams and influence decision-making. 

• Leverage AI intentionally to streamline workflows, uncover insights, and enhance content development. 

• Foster a culture of curiosity, experimentation, and continuous learning across the strategy team. 

• Identify and translate emerging cultural trends and subcultures into commercially relevant opportunities for clients and brands. 

• Lead teams through ambiguity with confidence, helping stakeholders navigate uncertainty while maintaining focus and momentum. 

• Drive a standard of excellence in strategic thinking, ensuring recommendations are actionable, effective, and grounded in real-world execution. 

Key Accountabilities 

Strategic Leadership 

• Lead and inspire a team of strategists and community engagement professionals, prioritizing growth, development, and team success. 

• Develop strategic frameworks that integrate insights from both human research and algorithmic signal analysis, creating alignment across cultural and commercial audiences. 

• Balance exploration and innovation with decisive action, ensuring initiatives move from ideation to execution. 

• Partner cross-functionally to align strategy with creative, media, influence, analytics, and brand objectives. 

• Drive clarity and alignment across multiple stakeholders, disciplines, and workstreams. 

Insights & Innovation 

• Research and synthesize consumer behaviors, cultural shifts, market dynamics, and competitive landscapes into actionable insights. 

• Identify emerging trends and develop innovative approaches that challenge conventional thinking. 

• Apply analytics and data-driven thinking to strengthen strategic recommendations and evaluate effectiveness. 

• Champion the application of machine perception and signal governance to decode how audiences—both human and algorithmic—discover and validate brand narratives. 

Communication & Influence 

• Create narratives and story systems that resonate across both human and AI audiences, ensuring strategic recommendations are legible to decision-makers and discovery platforms alike. 

• Translate complex ideas into clear, compelling narratives that inspire action. 

• Present recommendations with executive presence, confidence, and credibility. 

• Adapt communication style, tone, and approach to effectively engage audiences at every level. 

• Influence decision-making through persuasive storytelling and strategic rationale. 

Operational Excellence 

• Navigate ambiguity and uncertainty with composure and sound judgment. 

• Drive accountability while maintaining flexibility in rapidly evolving environments. 

• Ensure strategic recommendations are practical, executable, and aligned with available resources and business goals. 

• Maintain a relentless focus on quality, effectiveness, and continuous improvement. 

Qualifications 

• 12+ years of experience in an agency environment or an in-house marketing, strategy, or communications role. 

• Demonstrated expertise across strategy, brand, influence, media, creative, data, and analytics. 

• Proven ability to create and communicate big-picture strategic visions while understanding the operational requirements needed for successful execution. 

• Deep cultural fluency with the ability to identify and translate emerging trends, behaviors, and communities into meaningful business opportunities. 

• Strong emotional intelligence, executive presence, and interpersonal effectiveness. 

• Ability to balance empathy and candor while building trust and driving accountability. 

• Excellent written, verbal, and presentation skills with the ability to influence senior stakeholders. 

• Passion for continuous learning and a demonstrated track record of uncovering new approaches and best practices. 

• Strong critical thinking and problem-solving capabilities with the ability to convert complexity into clear direction. 

• Comfortable operating in ambiguous environments and making informed decisions with incomplete information. 

• Proven ability to explore multiple possibilities while ultimately delivering a clear, defensible strategic recommendation. 

• Commitment to high-quality work, strategic rigor, and measurable effectiveness. 

Additional Information 

At dentsu, we believe great work happens when we’re connected. Our way of working combines flexibility with in-person collaboration to spark ideas and strengthen our teams. Employees who live within a commutable distance of one of our hub offices, currently located in Chicago, metro Detroit, Los Angeles, and New York City, are required and expected to work from the office three days per week (two days per week for employees based in Los Angeles). Dentsu may designate other Hub offices at any time. Those who live outside a commutable range may be designated as remote, depending on the role and business needs. Regardless of your work location, we expect our employees to be flexible to meet the needs of our Company and clients, which may include attendance in an office. 

The annual base salary range for this position is $164,450 - $200,000. Placement within the salary range is based on a variety of factors, including relevant experience, knowledge, skills, and other factors permitted by law.  Additionally, this position is eligible for discretionary incentive compensation.  

Benefits available with this position include:  

• Medical, vision, and dental insurance, 

• Life insurance,  

• Short-term and long-term disability insurance, 

• 401k,  

• Flexible paid time off, 

• At least 15 paid holidays per year, 

• Paid sick and safe leave, and 

• Paid parental leave. 

Dentsu also complies with applicable state and local laws regarding employee leave benefits, including, but not limited to providing time off pursuant to the Colorado Healthy Families and Workplaces Act, in accordance with its plans and policies.  For more information regarding dentsu benefits, please visit www.dentsubenefitsplus.com. 

To begin the application process, please click on the “Apply” button at the top of this job posting. Applications will be reviewed on an ongoing basis, and qualified candidates will be contacted for next steps. 

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Dentsu is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees. We do this without regard to race, color, national origin, sex , sexual orientation, gender identity, age, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, ancestry, physical or mental disability, marital status, political affiliation, religious practices and observances, citizenship status, genetic information, veteran status, or any other basis protected under applicable federal, state, or local law. 

Dentsu is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to, among others, individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans. If you need an accommodation because of a disability to search and apply for a career opportunity with us, please send an e-mail to ApplicantAccommodations@dentsu.com by clicking on the link to let us  know the nature of your accommodation request and your contact information. We are here to support you.