Brand Strategist

Straight Up Growth (SUG) is a fast-growing Amazon and Walmart commerce agency helping brands accelerate performance through data-driven strategy, retail media, content optimization, marketplace operations, and technology. We are looking for an experienced Brand Strategist who can independently own the strategy, performance, forecasting, and client relationship for a portfolio of brands . This is a full-service strategy and account leadership role , not a traditional account management position where strategy is divided across multiple teams. The Brand Strategist is responsible for developing the overall strategy, identifying opportunities, aligning internal specialists around that strategy, and ultimately owning the brand's marketplace performance with the client. The ideal candidate brings recent brand-side or agency experience , strong Amazon and/or Walmart expertise, proven advertising knowledge, advanced forecasting capabilities, and the ability to quickly turn complex performance data into actions that grow the business. The Brand Strategist reports to the Head of Strategy & Brand Experience . What You'll Do Own Brand Strategy & Performance Serve as the primary strategic leader and day-to-day client partner for a portfolio of brands across Amazon, Walmart, or both. Create, own, and continuously evolve the brand's marketplace growth strategy , connecting sales, advertising, content, search, promotions, profitability, inventory, and retail operations. Take accountability for overall client performance rather than relying on separate internal teams to develop or lead individual parts of the strategy. Direct Advertising, Content, Operations, and Data resources against the priorities and opportunities identified within the overall brand strategy. Proactively identify performance risks and growth opportunities before they become client concerns. Forecasting & Business Planning Build and manage complex sales, advertising, and growth forecasts at the brand, product, ASIN/SKU, and portfolio level. Translate historical performance, advertising investment, seasonality, promotions, inventory, launches, pricing, and marketplace trends into credible forward-looking forecasts. Develop annual, quarterly, and monthly performance targets and clearly explain the assumptions and strategies required to achieve them. Continuously evaluate actual performance against forecasts and adjust strategy when the business is ahead of or behind plan. Bring proven hands-on experience managing or directly leading advertising strategy and campaigns for brands. This experience is required even though this role will have Advertising support. Understand how retail media investment connects to total marketplace performance, including revenue, profitability, organic ranking, customer acquisition, and long-term growth. Evaluate advertising performance across metrics such as ROAS, ACOS, TACOS, CVR, CPC, CTR, NTB, branded vs. non-branded search, and customer acquisition. Partner with Advertising Managers on execution while maintaining ownership of the broader advertising strategy, investment direction, business objectives, and client recommendations. Identify when advertising investment should increase, decrease, shift between products, or change based on business performance and forecast expectations. Data & Performance Analysis Quickly identifying meaningful performance opportunities within complex datasets is critical to success in this role. Analyze sales, traffic, conversion, advertising, profitability, inventory, content, keyword, competitive, and customer data to identify the highest-impact opportunities. Go beyond reporting what happened by determining why it happened, what it means to the business, and what action should happen next. Identify emerging performance issues, competitive threats, search declines, Buy Box challenges, catalog problems, conversion opportunities, and advertising inefficiencies. Translate large amounts of data into clear priorities and executable growth strategies. Lead recurring client performance meetings, strategy sessions, planning discussions, and QBRs. Communicate confidently with brand executives, ecommerce leaders, marketing teams, and operational stakeholders. Turn complex marketplace and advertising data into clear recommendations tied to revenue, profitability, and business impact. Establish performance priorities, communicate expectations, and maintain accountability against agreed-upon goals. Build trusted client relationships by consistently bringing proactive ideas, solutions, and opportunities to the business. Cross-Functional Leadership Lead the internal team supporting each client by establishing the strategy, priorities, and desired business outcomes. Partner with Advertising, Content, Operations, Data, and Technology specialists to execute against the Brand Strategist's overall client strategy. Ensure recommendations across advertising, content, operations, and marketplace execution work together as one unified growth strategy . Provide feedback to SUG leadership on marketplace trends, emerging client needs, performance opportunities, and process improvements. What Makes a Strong Candidate Required Experience Recent experience working directly for a brand/manufacturer or ecommerce/digital commerce agency is required. 3+ years of hands-on experience managing and growing brands on Amazon is a must with Walmart as a plus. Demonstrated experience developing complex sales, advertising, and ecommerce performance forecasts. Proven experience developing, managing, and optimizing advertising strategies and campaigns for brands is required. Strong knowledge of Amazon Seller Central and/or Vendor Central; Walmart Marketplace, Walmart Connect, or Supplier Center experience is highly valued. Experience operating within 1P and/or 3P marketplace environments. Strong understanding of Amazon advertising including Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Brands Video, and Sponsored Display. Experience owning client or brand performance across multiple components of the ecommerce business rather than operating within only one specialized function. Omnichannel ecommerce experience across Amazon, Walmart, DTC, retail media, or other major retail platforms is a plus. Analytical & Business Skills Exceptional ability to interpret performance data and quickly identify the opportunities most likely to materially impact the business. Strong financial and commercial thinking with an understanding of revenue, advertising investment, profitability, forecasting, and growth. Ability to connect advertising, content, conversion, organic search, inventory, pricing, promotions, and retail operations into one cohesive strategy. Comfortable working with dashboards, large datasets, marketplace reporting, and performance KPIs. Strong ability to prioritize opportunities based on potential business impact rather than simply reporting metrics. Strong executive-level communication and presentation skills. Comfortable independently leading client relationships and strategic business conversations. Able to challenge assumptions, recommend changes in strategy, and clearly explain the business rationale behind recommendations. Highly organized and capable of managing multiple brands, forecasts, priorities, and client deliverables simultaneously. Mindset Owner mentality: takes responsibility for the strategy and the resulting performance. Proactive and opportunity-driven rather than reactive. Comfortable making decisions and recommendations using incomplete or rapidly changing marketplace data. Naturally curious and constantly looking for ways to improve client performance. Thrives in a fast-moving, remote, growth-oriented agency environment. What This Role Is - and Is Not This role is designed for someone who wants to own a brand's ecommerce business strategy and performance , not simply coordinate activities between departments. At SUG, the Brand Strategist is the strategic leader for the client. Advertising, Content, Operations, and Data teams provide specialized execution and expertise, but the Brand Strategist connects those disciplines into one strategy, sets the priorities, owns the forecast, communicates the plan to the client, and is accountable for driving performance against it. Success requires someone who can look at the entire business, quickly determine where the biggest opportunities exist, establish a strategy, mobilize the appropriate resources, and confidently lead the client toward measurable growth. Why Join SUG? Direct ownership of meaningful brands and their ecommerce growth strategies Clear career path toward Senior Brand Strategist and Strategy leadership roles Exposure to sophisticated Amazon and Walmart businesses across multiple industries Advanced marketplace, advertising, data, and technology resources Continuous development across retail media, forecasting, strategy, and marketplace performance Comprehensive health benefits, 401(k), and performance incentives Remote-first, entrepreneurial culture built around accountability, learning, and growth #J-18808-Ljbffr