Head of Strategy in Nottingham

Hallam is a B2B-specialist digital marketing agency. Only 5% of B2B buyers are in market at any one time. The other 95% will form their shortlist long before they start searching. Our job is to make sure our clients are on that list. That’s what strategy is for, helping our clients be chosen before the search begins.

As Head of Strategy, you own the brief-to-recommendation process. Working within our Elements framework, you bring together brand, reach, experience and data to give clients clarity on what’s working, what’s not, and where to focus for growth. You work channel‑agnostically, challenge assumptions, and set the direction. Delivery teams execute from there. This is a senior individual contributor role. You’ll report directly to the Growth/Performance Director, work closely with Client Services, Performance, and New Business, and play a direct role in shaping how Hallam’s strategy function grows.

• To help clients be chosen before the search begins, by building the brand presence and strategic clarity that puts them on the Day One List.
• To own the brief-to-recommendation process, bringing rigour and commercial clarity to every client engagement.
• To bring a channel‑agnostic perspective that puts client outcomes ahead of channel preferences.
• To contribute to new business and organic growth by bringing strategic credibility to pitches and existing accounts.
• To embody Hallam’s values and help build a strategy function the agency can scale.

• Own the strategy process end‑to‑end, from client brief through research, insight, and recommendation. You define the problem, shape the approach, and set the direction. Delivery teams execute from there.
• Lead strategic workstreams across a portfolio of B2B clients, primarily in complex or considered purchase categories.
• Challenge briefs and channel assumptions: push back where needed and bring a clear point of view to every engagement.
• Develop Hallam’s strategy methodology: frameworks, products, and repeatable processes that raise the bar across accounts.
• Lead or contribute to new business pitches alongside the Growth Director and BD team.
• Build measurement frameworks that connect marketing activity to commercial outcomes, not just channel metrics.
• Collaborate with Performance, SEO, Paid Media, and Creative disciplines to ensure strategic intent translates into joined‑up execution.
• Represent Hallam’s strategic thinking externally through content, events, and thought leadership.

• Work closely with Client Services to ensure strategy is embedded in how client relationships are managed and grown.
• Partner with the Performance Director to align strategic recommendations with delivery capability and channel expertise.
• Engage with the New Business team at pitch stage to ensure strategy is a visible differentiator in new business conversations.
• Build trusted relationships with senior client stakeholders, bringing challenge and clarity in equal measure.

• You’ll need genuine B2B experience as a foundation. Not a nice‑to‑have. You understand how B2B buyers behave differently, how to build a brand in a category where nobody is searching yet, and how to connect brand investment to pipeline.
• Deep understanding of classical marketing principles: segmentation, positioning, brand strategy, and the ability to apply them to real commercial problems.
• Experience working across both brand and demand, with the judgment to know when each applies.
• Ability to synthesise data and qualitative research into a clear, defensible strategic point of view.
• Comfort with ambiguity and the confidence to make a call when the brief is unclear or incomplete.
• Strong communication skills: you can write a strategy deck that a CEO finds compelling and a channel lead finds actionable.
• A consulting mindset: you ask good questions, challenge assumptions respectfully, and earn trust through quality of thinking.
• Experience agency‑side, with a working understanding of how agencies deliver and how to get things done across disciplines.
• Track record of contributing to or leading new business pitches.

We’re not just some self‑obsessed agency promising table tennis and unlimited snacks in exchange for your soul. And that’s why we’ll always show up with something to say, not just something to sell. We share a mission to deliver outstanding work with purpose. We’re here to do business in a better way: to work hard to do the right things, not only for our clients but our people and the world around us. Work should exist to make life better and we are a great place to work. Hallam has been chosen by its employees as one of the best places to work, and in the top 40 marketing employers in the UK.

You’ll get to work for a progressive agency that is driven by its people and values, not just profit. We’ll provide you with everything you need for your role with us, including the latest Apple equipment (or equivalent) and set you off on your personalised onboarding program where you’ll get to know us; your manager, team and the wider departments as well as how we do things around here through our proven operations and processes.

• Unlimited remote and flexible working policy.
• 33 days holiday (25 plus the extra 8 bank holidays to take whenever you want).
• Option of early finish Fridays.
• Your birthday day off, whenever you choose to celebrate!
• Bi‑annual, seasonal recharge days.
• Other annual leave perks including, quarterly long weekends, additional holidays after longevity of service and the option to buy further holiday days.
• Sabbatical opportunities after 5 years service.
• Enhanced parental and reproductive health policies, supporting every stage of family planning including access to menstrual and menopause leave.
• Enhanced policies to support with leave for medical reasons, caring for dependents, compassionate or bereavement reasons.
• Training, learning and development opportunities, both individual and company‑wide.
• A revered employee engagement programme including frequent surveys and retros. Your opportunity to have your voice heard and genuinely make a difference to your place of work.
• 2 days per month of ‘Thrive Time’. This is your personal development time you can spend on anything you want. Want to focus on innovation? Volunteer for a charity? Enrol for a qualification? We’ll give you the time to do this.
• Regular company and team socials, events and celebrations.

We’re also proud to offer plenty of employee benefits:

• Competitive pension scheme.
• Monthly wellbeing allowance.
• Access to paid for therapy and counselling services.
• Payroll giving opportunities for charitable donations.
• Travel to work schemes and electric vehicle salary sacrifice scheme.

We highly encourage applicants from under‑represented ethnic groups and LGBTQ+ communities. Throughout the recruitment process, we will strive to make interviews as diverse and gender‑balanced as possible for impartiality. As long as you’re qualified, you’ll receive equal consideration for employment regardless of race, religion, colour, gender or disability.