Senior Brand Strategist in San Francisco, California at Dakotomy

Location: Fully Remote (U.S. — EST–PST overlap required)
Reports to: Managing Partner
Focus: Brand Strategy, Positioning, Client Strategy
Availability: Full time Contractor to Full time direct

We're looking for an experienced Senior Brand Strategist to lead the strategic foundation behind brand engagements at Dakotomy. You'll work at the intersection of business strategy, brand positioning, research, messaging, and creative direction — helping ambitious technology companies define who they are, how they differentiate, and how they show up in the market.

You'll be a strategic partner to our clients and internal creative team, translating business challenges, market insights, and customer needs into clear brand strategies that inspire exceptional creative work.

This is a role for someone with a strong agency pedigree and a proven track record of strategic work. We're specifically looking for someone who has developed their craft at respected branding, advertising, creative, or digital agencies. Candidates whose primary background is running their own agency or independent consultancy are not the priority for this role.

You should be comfortable working directly with founders, executives, and senior stakeholders, while also collaborating closely with designers, copywriters, creative directors, and other strategists.

• Discover: You'll embed yourself within the Dakotomy team to understand our clients, strategic approach, creative process, and how we currently develop brands. You'll learn our standards and identify opportunities to strengthen our strategic capabilities.
• Strategize & Define: You'll lead research, discovery, positioning, and strategic development for client engagements. You'll turn complex business challenges into clear strategic frameworks, narratives, and creative direction.
• Lead & Evolve: You'll take ownership of strategic work across active engagements, strengthen client relationships, and help evolve Dakotomy's approach to brand strategy as the agency grows.

• Brand Strategy: Lead the development of brand strategies, positioning, differentiation, value propositions, brand architecture, and strategic frameworks for technology-focused clients.
• Research & Insights: Lead or contribute to market, category, competitor, audience, and customer research. Synthesize findings into meaningful insights that inform strategic direction.
• Positioning & Messaging: Develop clear positioning and messaging frameworks that articulate what makes a brand valuable, differentiated, and relevant to its target audience.
• Strategic Narrative: Develop compelling brand narratives, strategic territories, and creative platforms that give creative teams a strong foundation for execution.
• Client Strategy: Work directly with founders, executives, and senior stakeholders to understand business objectives, challenge assumptions, and translate business needs into brand strategy.
• Workshops & Discovery: Lead or contribute to brand discovery sessions, stakeholder interviews, and strategy workshops. Facilitate conversations that uncover meaningful insights and opportunities.
• Creative Partnership: Collaborate closely with Creative Directors, Brand Designers, Copywriters, and Web Designers to ensure strategic thinking translates into strong creative work.
• Strategic Presentations: Build and present strategy decks and recommendations with clarity, confidence, and a compelling point of view. Communicate complex strategic ideas in a way that resonates with both executive and creative audiences.
• Strategic Leadership: Provide senior-level guidance throughout engagements, ensuring creative decisions remain grounded in the agreed strategic direction while allowing room for meaningful creative exploration.
• Account Growth: Identify opportunities within existing client relationships where stronger positioning, messaging, or broader brand strategy can create additional value.
• Process & Standards: Help establish and evolve Dakotomy's strategic methodologies, frameworks, templates, and standards as the agency grows.

• 7+ years of hands-on brand strategy experience, ideally within advertising, branding, creative, or digital agencies.
• Strong agency pedigree with experience at respected, high-quality agencies. Your career should demonstrate experience working within established agency environments rather than primarily operating your own agency or consultancy.
• Proven track record leading or making significant strategic contributions to successful branding engagements.
• Deep understanding of brand positioning, differentiation, messaging, research, and brand development.
• Experienced working with founders, executives, and senior client stakeholders.
• Comfortable presenting strategic recommendations and defending your point of view with confidence.
• Experienced collaborating across Strategy, Creative, Brand Design, Copy, UX, and Development.
• Strong understanding of technology companies, startups, SaaS, AI, digital products, or other technology-driven businesses.
• An exceptional communicator who can turn complex information into simple, compelling strategic narratives.
• High EQ — you know how to navigate different personalities, facilitate productive conversations, and build trust with clients.
• Naturally curious and analytical, with the ability to uncover insights that others may overlook.
• Commercially minded — you understand that brand strategy should support business objectives, not exist in isolation.
• Highly collaborative, comfortable operating within a small, fast-moving agency environment.
• High standards for strategic thinking, presentation, and creative work.
• Based in the United States, with priority given to candidates in California, New York, and major U.S. metropolitan areas.

• Strategic influence: You'll have a meaningful role in shaping the strategic thinking behind brands for ambitious technology companies.
• High-Level Exposure: Work directly with founders, executives, and a world-class roster of tech and venture-backed clients.
• Creative Collaboration: Partner closely with talented designers, creatives, and strategists to turn strong strategic thinking into exceptional brand experiences.
• Agency Environment: Work within a focused, high-caliber team where strategic thinking is valued and your contributions are highly visible.
• Human-First Culture: We care about doing great work and treating each other well. Contributions here are visible, and everyone's voice matters.
• Small, close-knit team: You'll work alongside a tight group where collaboration is real, expectations are high, and the work is genuinely interesting.
• Opportunity to Shape the Practice: As Dakotomy grows, you'll have the opportunity to help define our brand strategy methodologies, standards, and approach.