Associate Strategy Director (New York)

Grain Group works at the intersection of technology, media, and commerce to help ambitious brands grow. Our work spans consumer brands, wellness, travel, and education, connecting marketing strategy, paid media, analytics, CRM, and digital storefronts to measurable business outcomes.

We describe ourselves as disciplined dreamers: curious about what’s possible and rigorous about making it happen. We build strategies around audiences and business goals, then use testing and measurement to decide where to invest next.

We’re seeking an Associate Director, Strategy with a strong foundation in paid media strategy and client leadership who wants to shape how brands grow across channels.

Working with the Strategy Director, you’ll help clients answer consequential business questions: which audiences to prioritize, where to invest, how to support retail expansion, and what needs to change across media and the shopping experience to improve results. You’ll lead the recommendation, align the team, and follow it through execution and measurement.

You’ll own day-to-day strategic client relationships and manage 1–2 team members, working across Performance, BI, Creative, and CRM. Commerce and storefront strategy sit within your team’s remit, giving you the opportunity to expand your expertise while connecting acquisition to the shopping experience. Ecommerce experience is a valuable advantage; strong media strategists ready to build that expertise are encouraged to apply.

• Build growth strategies around client business goals and priority audiences, defining the role of paid media, direct-to-consumer, marketplaces, and retail.
• Define business goals and measurement plans before launch. Use media, sales, conversion, and product performance data to recommend where to scale, reallocate, or test, and what to change when results fall short.
• Use AI tools and Grain’s planning platforms to speed up analysis, forecasting, and briefing, and help shape how the Strategy team adopts new ones.

• Set priorities for product assortment, pricing recommendations, product presentation, and storefront content based on client goals and performance.
• Connect media and promotions to inventory, product detail pages, and storefront readiness. Guide execution through your team and assess whether improvements deliver the intended results.

• Serve as the primary day-to-day strategic client lead. Lead planning conversations and business reviews with a clear point of view, aligning stakeholders on priorities, investment tradeoffs, and success measures.
• Turn objectives into actionable briefs and coordinate Performance, BI, CRM, and Creative around one account plan, with clear owners and deadlines.

• Manage and coach 1–2 Strategy team members in analysis, commerce, storytelling, and client leadership. Develop their ability to independently own accounts and storefront work.
• Prioritize growth opportunities and move them into client decisions and tests. Raise account risks and scope changes with recommendations, and contribute to annual planning and statements of work.

• 5–7+ years of relevant experience in paid media or digital strategy, including leading client accounts and taking responsibility for business results. Agency experience preferred.
• Strong paid media strategy skills: you can translate business goals into audience and channel priorities, investment recommendations, and testing plans.
• Analytical judgment: you can interpret performance data, distinguish a useful signal from noise, and explain what the team should do next.
• A record of building trusted client relationships and leading senior stakeholders through recommendations, decisions, and business tradeoffs.
• Experience managing and developing team members and coordinating work across media, analytics, creative, and CRM disciplines.
• Ecommerce or storefront experience is a plus, including work with Shopify, Amazon, Walmart, or TikTok Shop. Deep expertise across every platform is not required; strong media strategists with an interest in commerce are welcome.
• Clear writing and presentation skills, with the ability to turn analysis into briefs and recommendations that executive level clients and teams can act on.
• Hands-on experience using AI in your own work, and an interest in finding where it makes planning and analysis better.

• Lead senior client relationships and help build a growing Strategy practice.
• Work with forecasting and AI planning tools built by our own team.
• Join an agency named Skai’s 2026 Omni-channel Amazon Agency of the Year and a finalist for Best AI-Enabled Agency.

Clients rely on you for strategic direction. Your accounts make measurable progress against agreed business goals, with clear actions when results fall short. Priority growth ideas become decisions and tests, and your team takes increasing ownership of accounts and storefront work.

Location: New York City | Hybrid, 3+ days per week in the office

Reports to: Strategy Director | Direct reports: 1–2

Annual base salary: $120,000–$150,000, depending on relevant experience and qualifications.