Director, Strategy

The mission of The New York Times is to seek the truth and help people understand the world. That means independent journalism is at the heart of all we do as a company. It’s why we have a world-renowned newsroom that sends journalists to report on the ground from nearly 160 countries. It’s why we focus deeply on how our readers will experience our journalism, from print to audio to a world-class digital and app destination. And it’s why our business strategy centers on making journalism so good that it’s worth paying for. 

About the Role

The New York Times advertising department's mission is to create work that helps brands make their mark in the world, and our canvas is the full breadth of The New York Times and its associated media platforms, including digital, mobile, audio, print, events and more.

The Advertising Strategy team's award-winning work includes activations across digital, audio, and print and spans the breadth of NYT's portfolio, like Cooking, Wirecutter, Games, and The Athletic, as well as our premier editorial events like the Dealbook conference.

The Director, Strategy will bring experience working cross-category and possess a passion for uncovering how different categories intersect with media and culture to spark inspiring creative ways-in and ideas. Strategy is a team sport, and you will be an expert collaborator with experience leading versatile teams, including creative, program management, sales, and planning, toward a common goal. Success within the advertising strategy team requires the ability to uncover human and cultural truths across multiple categories like finance, media, entertainment, healthcare, and consumer goods as well as a passion for big ideas expressed through media, a love of The New York Times, and a high standard for creating visual presentations.

• Management and Mentorship: You are a skilled manager with practice and proficiency in teaching and guiding teams through the strategic process.

• Operational Skills: You have some experience with strategic resourcing of team members and managing stakeholders around workflows

• Research, Insights, and Creative Brief Development: You are an expert at using proprietary tools, third-party resources and desk research to uncover meaningful insights, human truths and whitespace opportunities that will lead to a compelling way in for creative and media.

• Creative Briefing: You are experienced in writing compelling creative briefs, briefing creative teams, and being an inspiring strategic partner to creative teams.

• Media Strategy: You are experienced in making recommendations for how to use media to bring ideas to life in ways that meet clients' campaign objectives. Although you will not be responsible for writing media plans, you are comfortable and expert in guiding internal teams as well as clients in making smart and creative media choices.

• Client Deliverable Development: You are experienced in owning and creating client-ready visual proposals that are polished and inspiring.

• Category Fluency: You are constantly learning and reading about macro trends in business and culture.

Responsibilities:

• Manage 3-6 strategists across 2-3 Categories

• Co-lead resourcing across the Strategy Team

• Consult with Sales leadership to improve processes, practices and strategic deliverables

• Engage with teams across the Ad Department to guide cross-functional solutions and innovations

• Use research and data to articulate and support sales stories

• Author and deliver creative briefs on sometimes-tight turnarounds

• Create and guide others in the creation of powerful proposals with effective storytelling that responds to client needs and telegraphs the value of NYT media offerings

• Develop a broad understanding of all New York Times assets

• Lead and project manage across relevant departments (including Sales, Ad Product, T Brand Studio, Ad Operations, Research, Marketing, Events) to create integrated programs for clients

• Develop, articulate and share innovative programs, partnerships, innovations and opportunities

• Research, write, and guide others in the creation of content strategy briefs

• Attend key sales calls to pitch advertising and media ideas to mid/senior-level executives

• Manage internal senior team members, communicating proposal and program status to management

• Educate and keep the Strategy team/department abreast of trends and what opportunities or challenges they might present for our business

• Demonstrate support and understanding of our value of journalistic independence and a strong commitment to our mission to seek the truth and help people understand the world.

• You will report to the Executive Strategy Director

Basic Qualifications:

• 12+ years of cross-platform Advertising experience in brand and media strategy

• Interest in managing high-volume categories

• Experience working on RFPs

• Experience working in collaborative sales and marketing processes, including working with sales teams or in a sales environment

• An understanding of the current social, branded content, digital, audio and mobile media landscapes

• Experience with how to translate the long-term goals of advertisers into solutions and recommendations that can be provided by The New York Times

Preferred Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree or equivalent work experience

The annual base pay range for this role is between $160,000.00 and $170,000.00.

REQ-020650

Additional Compensation and Benefits:

For roles in the U.S., dependent on your role, you may be eligible for variable pay, such as an annual bonus and restricted stock. Benefits may include medical, dental and vision benefits, Flexible Spending Accounts (F.S.A.s), a company-matching 401(k) plan, employee stock purchase plan, paid vacation, paid sick days, paid parental leave, tuition reimbursement and professional development programs.

Candidate Use of GenAI Tools:

We’re excited to learn more about you and your experience. To keep our hiring process as fair and authentic as possible, we ask that you submit your own work and not use GenAI tools to generate substantive content during the application and interview process.

If you’re an engineering candidate, we’ll let you know what specific GenAI tools you are permitted to use for your technical assessment.

The New York Times Company is committed to being the world’s best source of independent, reliable and quality journalism. To do so, we embrace a diverse workforce that has a broad range of backgrounds and experiences across our ranks, at all levels of the organization. We encourage people from all backgrounds to apply.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and do not discriminate on the basis of an individual's sex, age, race, color, creed, national origin, alienage, religion, marital status, pregnancy, sexual orientation or affectional preference, gender identity and expression, disability, genetic trait or predisposition, carrier status, citizenship, veteran or military status and other personal characteristics protected by law. All applications will receive consideration for employment without regard to legally protected characteristics. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)’s Know Your Rights Poster is available here. 

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