Strategy Director, Media

About the role

DEPT®® is a Growth Invention company built to help the world's most ambitious brands grow faster. Operating at the intersection of technology and marketing, our 4,000+ specialists deliver growth invention services across Brand & Media, Experience, Commerce, CRM, and Technology & Data. We're 50|50 tech and marketing, partner-led, and first to move. Clients include Google, Lufthansa, Meta, eBay, and OpenAI. We have been certified B Corp and Climate Neutral since 2021. This Strategy Director, Media role sits within our Creative & Media team, which blends imaginative storytelling and performance-driven strategies with cutting-edge technology to create engaging digital experiences for clients such as Netflix, Canva, Foot Locker, and Philips & Biscoff. You will be the senior strategic lead and media figurehead for one of our most complex and high-profile accounts, owning the media agenda and acting as the primary point of contact for growth strategy. You will balance long-term strategic direction with hands-on leadership in execution, ensuring that ambition translates into impact across media, content, creative, influencer, and performance disciplines. You will operate confidently within a complex, corporate environment and be trusted by senior client stakeholders as a strategic partner, while internally serving as a connector, motivator, and decision-maker who brings clarity, urgency, and focus to teams during high-pressure, large-scale campaigns.

Key facts

What you'll do

Act as the senior media lead and content figurehead for the client, owning the growth narrative and strategic direction across all media disciplines.

Steer the overall growth strategy agenda, ensuring consistency, quality, and ambition across brand and performance initiatives while maintaining full-funnel coherence.

Serve as the primary senior point of contact for growth and media strategy towards the client's senior stakeholders, representing DEPT®® with authority and clarity.

Be the voice of authority on methods to drive growth for clients, analyzing business challenges and numbers to navigate a path to growth, including owning areas such as business casing and forecasts.

Navigate a complex, client environment with sensitivity, authority, and confidence, balancing competing priorities and stakeholder expectations.

Present clear, compelling, and persuasive strategies to senior client management, translating complex media landscapes into actionable direction and decisions.

Balance long-term strategic vision with day-to-day urgency, knowing when to zoom out to shape strategy and when to step in to drive execution.

Take hands-on leadership of large, high-impact campaigns, such as international brand moments, sponsorships, and World Cup-scale activations, ensuring excellence at scale.

Ensure strategies are executable, prioritised correctly, and delivered with pace and quality across media, creative, and performance teams.

Act as the link between disciplines, connecting media, creative, influencer, content, brand, and performance teams both internally and externally to foster seamless collaboration.

Challenge teams and clients to push beyond conventional media thinking, encouraging innovation and more ambitious approaches to growth.

Proactively spot opportunities to expand the scope of work into broader strategic territories, identifying new avenues for value creation and impact.

Contribute to new business opportunities, organic growth, and competitive positioning through strategic insights and compelling media narratives.

Help shape DEPT®®'s media propositions, best practices, and strategic thought leadership, influencing internal standards and external conversations in the media space.

Requirements

Senior media strategist/media director-level professional with extensive agency experience and a proven ability to lead complex media environments.

Demonstrated track record leading large, complex, and demanding corporate accounts across multiple industries and markets.

Strong understanding of how to operate within multi-stakeholder organisations, managing diverse expectations and aligning cross-functional teams.

Full-funnel media expertise with a solid foundation in both digital and traditional media, including digital TV, influencer, creative, brand, and performance.

Ability to bridge brand and performance, strategy and execution, ensuring that strategic intent translates into measurable outcomes.

Knowledge of crafts beyond media, with the capability to brief and guide teams of data, creative, or tech experts effectively and collaboratively.

Excellent stakeholder management skills with strong organisational sensitivity, empathy, and the ability to navigate complex internal dynamics.

Persuasive, energetic, and inspiring communicator who can articulate vision, rationale, and direction to diverse audiences.

Confident presenter to senior client leadership, able to simplify complex strategies into clear, compelling narratives and decisions.

Strong process insight and prioritisation skills, balancing competing demands and managing workflows efficiently under pressure.

Ability to distinguish between theoretical strategy and what requires immediate action, making timely decisions that drive results.

Comfortable getting hands-on and leading from the front when needed, demonstrating operational excellence during critical campaign moments.

Natural connector who brings together people, disciplines, and ideas, fostering collaboration and collective problem-solving.

Practical notes

This role operates across London and Manchester in the United Kingdom, with engagement details specified within source materials. Compensation details are not provided in the source information.