Group Strategy Director

Join New Zealand’s Most Effective Agency. Work on the Country’s Biggest Brands.

TBWA\New Zealand is looking for our next strategic rock star to join the Most Effective Agency in the country (Effie 2024) and the most effective network in the world (IPA 2024). You’ll lead thinking for some of the country’s biggest and most ambitious brands, including Anchor, 2degrees, ANZ, Tourism New Zealand, The Warehouse Group, and Southern Cross, shaping work that disrupts convention, drives results, and makes an impact.

If you’re a sharp strategic thinker ready to take on career-defining work, we’d love to hear from you.

TBWA\New Zealand is looking for an experienced Strategy Director / Group Strategy Director to lead strategic thinking across a portfolio of key clients and help to shape the future of our strategy team. You will be responsible for setting the strategic vision and driving commercial impact for our clients, ensuring our agency remains at the forefront of disruptive, effective creativity.

As Strategy Director / Group Strategy Director, you will report to the Head of Strategy, support junior strategists, partner closely with senior clients, and collaborate with creative, account, and media teams to develop breakthrough work that challenges conventions and delivers results.

Beyond the smarts, experience, and ambition, we're looking for someone who brings leadership, energy, fun and a sense of humour – adding to the culture of the strategy team and wider agency.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership

• Drive the strategic direction across key clients, ensuring all work is anchored in strong insights and commercial effectiveness.
• Help to set the vision for TBWA’s strategic approach, ensuring our Disruption® methodology is consistently applied and evolves to meet the changing landscape.
• Drive high standards in strategic thinking across the agency, ensuring creativity is always effective and disruptive.

Client & Business Leadership

• Act as a senior strategic advisor to key clients, helping them solve complex business and brand challenges with fresh, disruptive thinking.
• Lead senior client relationships, presenting strategic recommendations with clarity, authority, and impact.
• Shape and grow key accounts by identifying new opportunities and guiding clients toward long-term brand and business success.

Creative & Strategic Development

• Champion the strategic integrity of all creative work, ensuring it is rooted in real insight and maximized for impact.
• Oversee the development of creative briefs that are clear, compelling, and designed to ignite the creative process.
• Collaborate closely with creative and account teams, ensuring strategic thinking translates into brilliant, effective work.
• Stay ahead of cultural and industry trends, using them to fuel fresh thinking and new opportunities for clients and the agency.

Performance & Effectiveness

• Ensure work is delivering real results, tracking effectiveness and refining strategies based on performance data.
• Lead award-winning case studies, proving the impact of TBWA’s strategic and creative approach.
• Shape the agency’s measurement frameworks, ensuring effectiveness is a core part of how we think and operate.

Team Leadership & Development

• Mentor and develop the strategy team, coaching planners at all levels to grow their strategic craft and confidence.
• Foster a high-performance culture where curiosity, collaboration, and ambition thrive.
• Champion thought leadership, ensuring TBWA\New Zealand has a strong voice in the wider industry.

Skills & Experience

• Proven leadership experience in a senior strategic role, ideally within a creative agency environment.
• A deep understanding of brand-building, consumer behavior, and cultural trends, with a track record of shaping high-impact creative work.
• Exceptional communication and storytelling skills, able to articulate complex ideas simply and persuasively.
• A commercial mindset, with the ability to link strategy to business growth for both clients and the agency.
• Experience leading and mentoring teams, fostering a culture of excellence and innovation.
• Comfortable working with C-suite clients, building trusted relationships and guiding major brand decisions.
• Highly collaborative and proactive, with the ability to work seamlessly across departments and disciplines.
• Experience with data and research methodologies, using insights to fuel creative effectiveness.
• A track record of effectiveness, with award-winning or high-impact work that has delivered tangible business results.
• 10+ years in a strategy/planning role, with experience leading multiple accounts or disciplines.