Senior Strategist - Havas Helia

Role - Senior Strategist

Reporting Into - Strategy Director / Strategy Partner

Reports - Junior Strategist / Strategist (tbc)

Senior Strategist Responsibilities

The Role

Were looking for a Senior Strategist to help transform brands through the powerful combination of creative thinking and customer experience expertise. Youll be the strategic bridge between customer insight and understanding and breakthrough creative work - finding the cultural insights and customer truths that inspire truly meaningful communications and experiences.

As we evolve into an ever-more creative-focused agency youll play a pivotal role in developing the big ideas strategic narratives and CX CRM and loyalty expertise that connect brands with their customers in more engaging emotionally resonant ways that make the brand promises I clients make real across their entire customer journey.

The Difference Youll Make

Youll be critical in our evolving our agency and the work we do for clients towards more creative culturally relevant place while maintaining our customer-first and strategically driven heritage. Your energy and strategic thinking will unlock new creative territories your insights will inspire breakthrough ideas and your customer expertise will ensure everything we create truly connects with real peoples lives on our biggest and most exciting accounts.

This isnt about strategy for strategys sake - its about using strategic thinking to create communications and experiences that customers genuinely value and that drive meaningful business results for our clients.

Core Responsibilities

Strategic Insight & Creative Direction

Finding the powerful customer and cultural insights

• Uncover the cultural tensions customer truths and behavioural insights that unlock creative opportunities

• Synthesize customer data cultural trends and brand positioning to identify the most compelling strategic territories

• Transform complex customer understanding into simple powerful insights that inspire creative teams

Inspiring creative thought and direction (matching customer to brand)

• Develop strategic territories that authentically connect brand purpose and promises with customer needs and cultural moments

• Partner with creative teams to translate insights into breakthrough creative concepts

• Champion bold culturally relevant ideas that create genuine emotional connection between brands and customers

Identifying and telling customer-relatable stories and experiences

• Craft compelling narratives that resonate with real customer lives and aspirations

• Shape strategic and creative storytelling that feels authentic and relevant to the client and the target audiences

Creative Partnership & Development

Creative brief briefing

• Write inspiring insight-driven creative briefs that inspire and guide the best possible creative work

• Lead creative briefings that energize and align creative teams around the strategic vision

• Work collaboratively throughout the creative development process as the strategic expert but focused on high quality creative output from the whole team.

Storytelling set-up and bridge to creative work

• Establish the strategic narrative foundation that connects customer insight to creative expression

• Ensure seamless translation from strategic thinking to creative execution

• Maintain strategic integrity while allowing creative teams freedom to explore and innovate

Performance & Optimization

Analysing the results to recommend improvements

• Develop measurement frameworks that capture both performance metrics and brand impact

• Interpret campaign results to identify opportunities for optimization and future strategic development

• Use data and insights to continuously refine strategic approach and creative effectiveness

Maximising the use of technology and data abilities in our communications and experiences

• Identify opportunities to enhance creative work through smart use of technology and data capabilities

• Ensure strategies leverage our full range of CX CRM and data capabilities to create more personalized relevant experiences

• Stay ahead of emerging technologies and data applications that can amplify creative impact

What Were Looking For

Strategic Excellence

• Ability to make complex information into simple compelling actions and insights

• Strong cultural intelligence and understanding of contemporary consumer behaviour

• Experience developing strategies that drive both brand building and business results

• Proven track record of inspiring breakthrough creative work through strategic thinking

Creative Collaboration

• Natural creative instincts with ability to spot and develop big ideas

• Strong partnership skills with creative teams - you make the work better not more constrained

• Excellent creative brief writing that inspires rather than limits

• Understanding of how great creative work gets made and what strategists can do to enable it

CX & Customer Journey Expertise

• Experience with CRM loyalty programs and customer engagement strategies

• Ability to think across the full customer lifecycle not just individual campaigns

• Knowledge of how to use customer data and technology to enhance creative work

Communication & Leadership

• Exceptional storytelling and presentation skills - you bring strategies to life

• Ability to build confidence with senior clients and internal stakeholders

• Natural curiosity and point of view on culture brands and customer behaviour

• Collaborative leadership style that elevates the thinking of those around you

Technical Foundation

• Analytical ability to work with data and research

• Understanding of measurement frameworks and how to prove strategic impact

• Knowledge of digital channels emerging technologies and their creative applications

• Project management skills to scope and deliver strategic work effectively

Category experience

• Automotive travel and financial services are beneficial but not essential.

• Integrated and more creative CRM and Loyalty experience a benefit alongside the foundational communication planning elements of CX CRM and Loyalty