Director, Cultural Strategy in London

Crowd DNA is looking for a dynamic, culturally‑attuned, sharp and supportive Director to join the team on a 10‑12‑month fixed‑term contract, providing maternity cover. The key focus of this Director role is senior leading client projects, winning and growing work, shaping strategic direction, and ensuring consistent excellence in work and team performance. This role sits at the sweet spot between strategic oversight and hands‑on delivery, owning the quality, profitability and cultural direction of major accounts, programmes and multi‑market engagements. The Director becomes the go‑to thought leader and trusted advisor — both internally, coaching teams to build confidence in strategy and narrative, and externally, positioning Crowd DNA as a best‑in‑class partner to senior clients.

By leading teams, ensuring excellence of work and driving business growth, the Director directly contributes to meeting gross profit targets and establishes the Crowd brand while emphasising what sets the agency apart and showcasing its distinct identity.

• Knowledge & Craft: Set the standard for how cultural insight turns into commercial advantage, sharing best practice across the team and with clients. Bring strategic thinking and best‑in‑class deliverables whilst confidently articulating the full spectrum of the Crowd offer. Review project teams’ work – including from other specialisms – and provide strategic guidance.
• Delivery: Advise on project design, client management and debriefs, acting as final quality filter for all client‑facing deliverables. Provide senior oversight across major accounts, programmes and multi‑market engagements, ensuring highest quality and profitability. Identify and resolve project issues proactively. Support teams to turn things around and manage scope creep through strategic and sometimes challenging client conversations. Ensure delivery excellence across multiple workstreams by providing clarity, direction, risk‑spotting and commercially viable, strategically impactful solutions. Lead proposals (including multi‑specialism) end‑to‑end, producing strategically strong and commercially sound pitches. Empower individuals by granting them autonomy within defined roles, ensuring clear accountability, and aligning work with their strengths.
• Influence & Growth: Engage with senior client stakeholders as trusted strategic partner. Grow existing client relationships and contribute to new business growth. Give clear, constructive feedback to teams and set out what quality looks like. Develop synergies between other STRAT7 agencies, leading to larger opportunities for the group as a whole. Play an active role in the senior team, helping shape business decisions and challenge for improvements.

• Demonstrated passion for the intersection of brands, culture and commercial strategy with proven impact.
• Deep expertise in insights, strategy or cultural research with expert‑level proficiency in qualitative research and mixed methodologies.
• Proficiency in managing multiple complex projects simultaneously whilst maintaining quality and meeting tight deadlines.
• Advanced financial acumen and commercial awareness, including proposal costing, profitability analysis and gross profit management.
• Excellent attention to detail across numerical, written and visual deliverables with ability to spot risks and inconsistencies early.
• Strategic thinking capability to reframe briefs, strengthen analytical approaches and guide decisions on major accounts.
• Ability to synthesise complex information into commercially viable, strategically impactful solutions for clients and internal stakeholders.
• Proven ability to inspire and coach teams, providing constructive feedback and building confidence in others' capabilities.
• Confidence to challenge the status quo, engage with senior client stakeholders and navigate tricky conversations with diplomacy and credibility.
• Great communication skills to share knowledge, articulate thought leadership and drive influence across senior team decisions.
• Experience using frameworks and tools that raise the bar across diverse industries.
• Track record of driving new business growth and landing repeat work through solid relationship management and trusted advisor positioning.
• Understanding of cross‑agency synergies and ability to spot collaborative opportunities across the wider group.

The role comes with a competitive salary of up to £75,000. Benefits include:

• 25 days holiday plus UK bank holidays (our office also shuts between Christmas and New Year).
• 2 volunteering paid days per year (under a formal programme for a registered charity).
• Flexible, hybrid working options – we expect you to be at the office 3 days a week.
• A contributory group personal pension scheme, to which we contribute 4% of Qualified Banded earnings to each team member’s gross salary.
• Salary sacrifice and season ticket loans.
• A Westfield Health cash plan.
• Life assurance scheme at 4 x salary.
• Generous staff ent programme.
• Cycle to work scheme.

STRAT7 is an Equal Opportunity Employer and our employees are people with different strengths, experiences and backgrounds, who share a passion for research. Our commitment to inclusivity is not just about race and gender identity, but also age, disability status, sexual orientation, religion and many other parts of one’s identity. All of our employee's points of view are key to our success, and inclusion is everyone’s responsibility.