Senior Director, Experience Strategy

Merkle is looking for a Senior Strategy Director to lead across client engagements.

This role is ideal for someone who combines cultural awareness, research expertise, data-driven experimentation, personalization, and storytelling to shape meaningful brand and customer experiences.

You will gain an understanding of clients' businesses, the motivations of their target audiences, and the effects of trends within their industry. You’ll lead as an individual contributor and craft leader, collaborating with cross-functional teams to plan and execute research and strategies to achieve our clients' goals, and mentoring junior strategists while driving innovation and measurable outcomes. This role requires experience in planning and leading large-scale, data-driven experimentation programs on behalf of clients, leveraging marketing technologies and measurement platforms to continually collect audience insight and improve upon customer experiences.

Responsibilities

• You will identify cultural trends and shifts to uncover brand and business opportunities.
• You will develop strategic narratives that inspire creative and experience design teams.
• You will write clear, relevant briefs and provide strategic input throughout the design process.
• You will define strategic roadmaps for personalization and experimentation, refining and prioritizing experimentation backlogs in alignment with business objectives and development capacity.
• You will maintain a continuous testing cadence and provide regular status reporting on personalization and experimentation programs.
• You will coordinate with stakeholders and third parties to support test deployment and execution.
• You will ensure work aligns with client business and marketing goals.
• You will mentor junior team members and support their professional growth.
• You will be strategic lead on important accounts and partner with account teams to deliver value.
• You will build client relationships and identify long‑term growth opportunities.

Qualifications

• 8–10+ years of experience in integrated strategy in a digital agency.
• Bachelor's degree in a related field.
• Experience with qualitative and quantitative research methods.
• Experience with brand strategy, cultural dynamics, market trends, strategic planning, analytics, and digital experience measurement.
• Experience in leading large-scale, data-driven experimentation programs, leveraging marketing technologies and measurement platforms such as Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Adobe Target, Optimize.ly, Contentful, and other tools to continually collect audience insight and improve upon customer experiences.
• Experience with experimentation backlog management and roadmap prioritization frameworks.
• Experience in omni-channel personalization across web, mobile, and campaign experiences.
• Experience collaborating across analytics, creative, and technology teams.
• Experience understanding people, culture, and latest trends.
• Up to 25% travel allocated.

Additional Information

The annual base salary range for this position is $164,450 - $190,000. Placement within the salary range is based on a variety of factors, including relevant experience, knowledge, skills, and other factors permitted by law. Additionally, this position is eligible for discretionary incentive compensation.

Benefits

• Medical, vision, and dental insurance
• Life insurance
• Short-term and long-term disability insurance
• 401k
• Flexible paid time off
• At least 15 paid holidays per year
• Paid sick and safe leave
• Paid parental leave

Dentsu also complies with applicable state and local laws regarding employee leave benefits, including, but not limited to providing time off pursuant to the Colorado Healthy Families and Workplaces Act, in accordance with its plans and policies.

For more information regarding dentsu benefits, please visit

Location: USA - Remote - New York

Brand: Merkle

Time Type: Full time

Contract Type: Permanent

Dentsu is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees. We do this without regard to race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, ancestry, physical or mental disability, marital status, political affiliation, religious practices and observances, citizenship status, genetic information, veteran status, or any other basis protected under applicable federal, state, or local law.

Dentsu is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to, among others, individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans. If you need an accommodation because of a disability to search and apply for a career opportunity with us, please send an e-mail to by clicking on the link to let us know the nature of your accommodation request and your contact information. We are here to support you.

About dentsu

For over 120 years, innovation has been a core tenet of our offering – exploring new ways to reach, engage and nurture relationships with audiences.

Together we drive a multiplier effect for clients at a global scale, through the development of Integrated Growth Solutions that are underpinned by our promise to clients: innovating to impact.

Be a force for good.

Sustainability is a vital part of our business and an important area of focus for our clients.

We’re leading the way – helping to build a more sustainable planet.

Dream loud. In this moment of transformation, we need our people to be fearless, embracing change and ambiguity, driven by the love for their work and excitement for the future.

Team without limits. We create opportunities for connection and collaboration between our colleagues and clients, building a sense of belonging and having some fun along the way.

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