Role Description At MAS, strategy is not created in isolation. It moves in close collaboration with the other departments, often at an incredibly fast pace. We are seeking a Director of Strategy with deep experience in experiential strategy, someone who understands how live, immersive, and temporary brand experiences are shaped from the inside out. This is a senior leadership role for someone who knows how to listen first, read the room quickly, and strengthen the work in a streamlined way. You will guide the strategic foundation of pitches and projects across a range of experiential work, including RFPs, conferences, pop-ups, event programs, and brand activations. You will also mentor and support the strategy team, and help MAS articulate the value of experiential work with greater clarity and confidence. The right person will bring structure without rigidity, advocacy without defensiveness, and leadership without creating silos. You should be able to move fluidly between big-picture thinking and live project realities, understanding that strategy at MAS is not a handoff. It is a collaborative, evolving part of the work. Essential Responsibilities - Strategic Leadership - You will anchor the thinking that drives our work. - Lead and mentor a team of Creative Strategists, supporting both day-to-day work and long-term growth. - Confidently guide strategy across all types of experiential work, including RFPs, conferences, pop-ups, event programs, brand activations, and projects being built from scratch. - Develop clear strategic direction that is tailored to the specific ask, audience, brand, scope, timeline, and experience format. - Translate business goals, cultural context, audience behavior, and brand challenges into focused, actionable direction. - Help shape strategic narratives that make ideas easier to understand, easier to sell, and harder to dismiss. - Know when to push, when to adapt, and which strategic hills are worth defending. - Strategy Department Ops & Resourcing - You will help the strategy team operate with clarity and the right support. - Own strategy staffing across projects, accurately allocating resources based on team availability, strengths, project scope, and timing. - Vet, onboard, and manage freelance strategists as needed, assessing project-by-project needs for additional strategic support. - Help define the strategy deliverable based on the project type. - Identify workflow gaps, resource pressure points, and opportunities to create greater efficiency. - Help the department balance speed, rigor, and project demands. - Cross-Departmental Collaboration - You will help strategy work better within the larger agency ecosystem. - Partner closely with Creative, Production, Accounts, New Business, and agency leadership to integrate thoughtful and bold strategy into our work. - Build strong, trusted relationships with fellow Directors and department leads. - Advocate for strategy in a way that strengthens collaboration rather than creating silos. - Identify gaps, friction points, and opportunities for greater efficiency across teams. - Help the strategy team operate as a connective force within the agency. - Team Leadership & Mentorship - You will support the strategy team with clarity, care, and useful guidance. - Serve as a steady senior resource for strategists, helping them sharpen thinking, polish work, and navigate ambiguity. - Listen closely to the team before implementing new systems or changes. - Check in often, identify where support is needed, and help remove obstacles before they become larger issues. - Mentor emerging strategists through feedback, coaching, and exposure to stronger strategic practices. - Act as a bridge between the strategy team and agency leadership, ensuring needs, challenges, and opportunities are understood clearly. - Client & Storytelling Excellence - You will help sell the story with clarity, confidence, and presence. - Serve as a senior strategic voice in client conversations, pitches, and presentations. - Build compelling strategic narratives that help clients understand not just what we are recommending, but why it matters. - Present with confidence, precision, and emotional intelligence. - Bring an excellent client touch, knowing how to build trust, guide alignment, and adjust based on the room. - Help teams make complex thinking feel clear, compelling, and actionable. - Support new business efforts by strengthening the strategic foundation and narrative of MAS proposals. - Measurement & Impact - You will help define and communicate the value of experiential work. - Develop measurement approaches that fit the realities of experiential programs, including pre-event, live, and post-event phases. - Establish practical systems for capturing meaningful data. - Translate performance metrics into insights that inform future strategy and strengthen client relationships. - Help MAS articulate ROI in a way that feels clear, credible, and connected to the work. Qualifications - 8+ years in Experiential, strategy, brand strategy, creative strategy, experience strategy, or within an agency or brand environment. - Strong experience in experiential marketing, brand activation, live events, conferences, pop-ups, event programming, immersive environments, or integrated experience campaigns. - Experience developing strategy for both B2B and B2C audiences. - Proven ability to translate cultural shifts, audience behavior, brand goals, and business needs into clear experiential strategy. - Experience working within fast-moving, cross-functional experiential teams where strategy, creative, production, account, and client needs evolve in parallel. - Strong client-facing experience with the ability to influence senior stakeholders. - Experience shaping strategic deliverables for different types of work, from RFP responses to full event programs. - Familiarity with measurement frameworks, experiential ROI, data capture, and post-event reporting. Requirements - Excellent strategic judgment, including the ability to know when to push, when to listen, and when to adapt. - Strong storytelling skills, with the ability to synthesize complex information into clear, persuasive narratives. - High emotional intelligence and the ability to navigate different personalities, working styles, and stakeholder dynamics. - Strong visual and verbal communication skills, especially in presentation development and client-facing storytelling. - Ability to work within ambiguity and remain calm, focused, and useful when timelines are tight or inputs are imperfect. - Ability to identify workflow efficiencies without over-engineering process. - Strong understanding of how experiential projects move from strategy to creative development to production and execution and ability to properly staff projects based on unique strategy needs, setting up project for success. - Fluency with AI tools for research, synthesis, and creative development. - Deep curiosity about culture, consumer behavior, emerging platforms, and the future of experience. Benefits - Full-time position - Opportunities for growth and development - Health & Dental Insurance (choice of plans) - 100% Employer-paid short-term disability and life insurance - Opportunity to elect additional life insurance and LTD insurance at employee expense - Paid parental leave - Opportunity to contribute pre-tax dollars to flexible spending accounts - 401(K) with employer match - Flexibility in work schedules - Generous time off