Director, Commercial Strategy

About the role

Dentsu Creative is looking for a Director, Commercial Strategy to lead portfolio planning for one of the world's leading consumer brand portfolios. The role partners closely with the Retail & Shopper Strategy Lead to connect brand ambition with how people actually shop and buy, turning complex multi-brand questions into clear plans the business can act on.

Key responsibilities

• Analytical leadership: own the tools that inform portfolio recommendations, keeping them accurate, rigorous and repeatable
• Strategic direction: frame the right business questions early and adapt analysis as objectives, markets and data change
• Critical judgment: pressure-test findings against market reality, category dynamics and brand strategy, and distinguish insight from noise
• Recommendations: turn complex analysis into clear, commercially grounded recommendations for senior client stakeholders
• Data fluency: work with large, complex datasets, integrating multiple sources and spotting gaps and anomalies
• Shopper and retail partnership: bring shopper, retail and channel fluency as a genuine thought partner
• Decision to activation: collaborate with creative, media, data and retail teams so downstream work stays anchored to commercial logic
• Client leadership: be the senior commercial voice with brand, category, sales and customer marketing leaders, backed by evidence
• Measurement and learning: define success before plans go to market and feed results back into future decisions
• Team and practice growth: build and mentor a team of strategists and analysts, and bring commercial rigor to new clients

Required profile

• 8+ years in commercial, brand or portfolio strategy at an agency, consultancy or CPG company, including 3+ years leading teams
• Beverage alcohol experience is a strong plus
• Deep strategic expertise across portfolio management, brand architecture, growth strategy and category management
• Hands-on experience with syndicated, panel and retailer data
• Track record of building or managing analytical models or planning frameworks, documented and improved over time
• Working knowledge of shopper marketing, retail and channel strategy across in-store, on-premise and e-commerce
• Clear communicator and low-ego collaborator able to simplify complexity for senior clients

Required skills

• Advanced Excel (essential)
• SQL, Python, R or BI tools (a plus)
• Ability to interrogate large datasets and build decision frameworks

What we offer

• Annual salary range of $136,850 - $180,000
• Medical, vision and dental insurance, life insurance, and short- and long-term disability insurance
• 401k, flexible paid time off, at least 15 paid holidays per year, paid sick and safe leave, and paid parental leave

Employees living within commuting distance of a hub office (currently Chicago, metro Detroit, Los Angeles and New York City) must work from the office three days per week; those outside commuting range may be designated remote. Applications are submitted through the Apply button on the posting and reviewed on an ongoing basis.