Senior Strategist; Team Lead

Who We Are: LINK is a fast-growing Woman Owned Small Business (WOSB) that leverages human-centered design to support strategy, innovation, communication, change, and branding within the federal government and adjacent industry partners. At LINK, we partner with engineers, futurists, and thought leaders to untangle complexity, discover opportunity, and communicate clearly with visual stories.

Let us be your partners in change.

Location: We are actively hiring in the Washington, D.C. area.

About the Opportunity:

The Senior Strategist; Team Lead oversees a cross-functional team of strategists, design strategists, and designers to ensure the delivery of high-quality, on-time products that meet program objectives. This role partners directly with clients to understand their unique challenges, then guides the team in co-creating strategic, impactful, and innovative solutions. All efforts are aligned to the program’s scope of work and are coordinated closely with the Program Manager to support program goals, priorities and requirements.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Journalism, Communication, Business, Public Policy, English, or a related field.
• 10+ years of experience in strategic communications, consulting, public affairs, organizational transformation, program management, strategy, or a related field.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance.
• Demonstrated ability to build trusted relationships with clients and influence stakeholders at multiple levels of an organization.
• Strong strategic thinking, analytical problem-solving, and decision-making capabilities.
• Experience facilitating executive-level discussions, workshops, and strategic planning efforts.
• Ability to synthesize complex information into clear insights, recommendations, and actionable plans.
• Interest in visual storytelling, data visualization, and communicating abstract concepts through compelling narratives.
• Excellent organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities while maintaining quality and attention to detail.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including experience developing executive-level presentations and strategic deliverables.
• Demonstrated ability to navigate ambiguity, exercise sound judgment, and lead work in complex, fast-paced environments.
• Extensive experience operating in ambiguous environments and exercising sound judgment with incomplete information.
• U.S. Navy experience, demonstrating strong leadership, accountability, and the ability to perform effectively in high-pressure, structured settings
• Navy (military or civilian) experience in Surface Warfare or Engineering preferred

Responsibilities:

Senior Strategist responsibilities include:

Client Partnership & Strategic Leadership

• Partner directly with clients to understand challenges, capture requirements, and define missions, visions, goals, and KPIs/OKRs.
• Collaborate with clients through well-designed meetings and workshops to co-create solutions and gather critical inputs.
• Perform high-quality primary and secondary research to inform strategic direction.
• Apply human-centered design and design-thinking principles to complex problem sets.
• Work iteratively by proactively gathering feedback from clients and internal partners to refine solutions.
• Identify opportunities to create tangible business value through current-state assessments and high-level requirement definition.
• Develop and maintain strong client relationships, including managing external stakeholders and converting new requests into business opportunities.
• Oversee multiple client engagements, ensuring alignment, clarity, and strategic impact across projects.

Content, Storytelling & Project Execution

• Elevate content quality and thought leadership in partnership with the Strategy Competency Manager, ensuring strong standards for deliverables.
• Translate ideas into compelling strategic narratives, campaigns, and solutions.
• Identify content structures, hierarchies, and visual concepts for storytelling products, including content maps and wireframes.
• Collaborate with design teams to develop infographics, charts, diagrams, presentations, and other visual products that convey complex information clearly.
• Manage multiple internal project teams, organizing assignments and tracking progress, deadlines, and deliverables from both operational and financial perspectives.
• cross internal teams and ensure consistent delivery quality.

Team Lead responsibilities include:

Project Leadership and Client Delivery

• Lead project execution across multiple workstreams, ensuring milestones, timelines, and deliverables are met.
• Directly engage with clients to understand challenges, co-create solutions, and translate ideas into campaigns, strategies, and visual stories.
• Design and facilitate workshops, meetings, and research activities to gather content and co-create solutions with clients.
• Support Agile operations, including planning sessions, stand-ups, retrospectives, and sprint tracking.
• Ensure high-quality project outputs, including infographics, charts, diagrams, presentations, and other visual products.
• Partner with the Program Manager to identify strategic opportunities, flag risks, and track Period of Performance deadlines.
• Manage brand consistency across all deliverables.

Team Leadership & Operations

• Provide day-to-day supervision, mentoring, and coaching to project teams, including designers, strategists, and information designers.
• Oversee team onboarding, integration, workload allocation, and resource coordination.
• Communicate assignments, time commitments, and priorities based on project scope and budget.
• Delegate work effectively, ensuring products align with program objectives.
• Lead team meetings and check-ins, track progress, and escalate risks to the Deputy Program Manager or Program Manager as needed.
• Coordinate travel and logistical planning in partnership with the PM.

Process, Quality & Deliverables Management

• Implement project-specific processes, delivery methodologies, and process improvements to enhance efficiency and quality.
• Apply human-centered design, design thinking, and consulting principles throughout research, synthesis, and execution.
• Monitor deliverable quality through structured review and feedback loops.
• Document lessons learned and best practices to support organizational knowledge sharing.
• Ensure timely delivery of all project outputs in accordance with client contracts and Period of Performance requirements.

Work Schedule:

• Full time, 40 hours per week
• Some travel required to attend relevant events and conferences, and participate in LINK team events

Salary: We're committed to offering competitive compensation. While the salary range for this position is $112,000-$151,000, your final offer may be adjusted based on factors like experience and location.

Benefits:

• $100 monthly internet/cell phone stipend
• $150 monthly commuter stipend for eligible participants
• LINK sponsored healthcare benefits including medical, dental, vision
• Company-paid Short Term Disability Insurance
• 401K with employer contribution of up to 4%
• 11 Federal Holidays per year
• 15 days of Paid Time Off (PTO) per year
• Paid Holiday Time Off (Christmas Eve through the New Year)
• Annual bonus plan participation
• Annual profit sharing participation
• $2,000 Learning and Development program reimbursement
• Technology package that includes a LINK-owned MacBook Pro, monitor, mouse and keyboard

LINK is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected Veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by applicable state, local, and federal law.

If you are unable to complete this application due to a disability, contact Human Resources to ask for an accommodation or an alternative application process.