Senior Vice President, Strategic Planning

About the Opportunity:    

The Weber Shandwick team is seeking an Account Director, Earned Media Strategy with exceptional earned strategy and media relations prowess to support CPG, Retail and Food & Beverage clients. This role offers the opportunity to work on top-tier brands across multiple consumer categories, helping them earn meaningful attention in culture.

About you:

You live for a great pitch and have the media relationships to back it up. With deep knowledge of top-tier lifestyle, entertainment, sports, broadcast, food & beverage, and business outlets, you know how to get stories placed — and noticed. You move seamlessly between traditional media and emerging platforms like Substack, podcasts, and content creators. Fluent in internet culture and always ahead of the trends, you know what’s buzzy, what’s next, and how to help brands break through.

You’re a strategic thinker who thrives in fast-paced environments and knows how to manage multi-faceted, integrated campaigns without missing a beat. You bring structure to chaos, all while juggling deadlines, media moments, and client needs with calm confidence. You’re immersed in pop culture and entertainment and know how to turn cultural insight into earned impact. A creative storyteller and collaborative partner, you bring curiosity, originality, and hustle to everything you do. Ready to make waves with a team of leading earned strategists? Let’s talk. 

Responsibilities:

• Build and maintain excellent relationships with top-tier media across business, national/local broadcast, and lifestyle verticals — including men’s/women’s interest, fitness, food & beverage, wellness, sports, entertainment, and commerce
• Maintain a strong understanding of the media and cultural landscape, as well as emerging issues that may impact clients directly or indirectly

• Approaches client work with curiosity — always seeking to understand the brand, its competitors, and the broader industry context

• Proactively and reactively crafts compelling, newsworthy stories that drive earned coverage
• Lead the development and execution of earned and integrated media programs from start to finish
• Lead and develop comprehensive earned media strategies  
• Draft high-quality internal and external facing media materials, including briefing documents, Q + A, pitches, press releases, and messaging documents
• Deliver consistently high-caliber work with a client-first mindset and sharp attention to detail
• Counsel and interact effectively with clients and leaders at client organizations
• Collaborates effectively with agency and inter-agency partners, serving as a key contributor across teams to drive alignment and deliver cohesive, large-scale campaign work
• Mentors and develops junior team members through hands-on guidance, feedback, and professional development
• Cultivates and participates in new business opportunities and pitches
• Spotting and executing quick turn and client relevant culture tapping earned storytelling opportunities

 Competencies:

• Business Acumen– align talent strategies to drive business goals
• Client Service– client focus and ability to build trust and rapport across all levels
• Proactivity – exhibit relentless pursuit for new and innovative talent strategies
• Collaboration– build strong relationships at all levels across the organization
• Critical Thinking– ask probing questions; anticipate and address critical talent gaps and needs
• Conflict Resolution– possess sound judgment and savvy in navigating and resolving complex talent and organizational issues

Basic Qualifications:

• 6-8 years of experience.  
• Experience leading projects from start to finish, working with integrated teams across various disciplines.
• Earned strategy and media relations experience
• Bachelor’s degree 

The Weber Shandwick Collective recognizes that your health and wellbeing are a priority. This is why we offer a full suite of benefits including:

• Medical
• Dental
• Vision
• 401k (with employer match)
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Juice Money – $60 monthly reimbursement to be used towards purchases that nourish your health, mind, body, and soul
• MyDays – Flexible holiday schedules
• Short-Term Disability
• Paid Employee Family Leave
• Family Building Benefit

Salary range: $100,000 – $130,000

Where an employee or prospective employee is paid within this range will depend on, among other factors, actual ranges for current/former employees in the subject position; market considerations; budgetary considerations; tenure and standing with the company (applicable to current employees); as well as the employee’s/applicant’s background, pertinent experience, and qualifications.

Weber Shandwick is proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. Weber Shandwick recruits qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, gender, age, ethnic or national origin, protected veteran status, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status or citizenship status.

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It’s not just about the code — it’s about the culture.

A core capability within Weber Shandwick, Weber I/O partners with ambitious leaders to unlock the full power of tech, data and AI. Built for today’s complexity, we deliver solutions where intelligence, innovation and cultural fluency converge — unleashing real outcomes, with velocity.

Our AI Acceleration team translates innovation into actionable approaches, whether reimagining campaigns, reshaping reputation or redesigning workflows.

We’re seeking a seasoned leader to step into a newly-defined role at the Senior Vice President level in North America, working hand-in-hand with our EVP, Global AI Acceleration Lead. If you’re energized by complex client engagements, fluent in emerging technologies, and passionate about agency transformation, keep reading.

What you’ll do

• Serve as AI Acceleration Lead in North America. Lead initial client intake meetings and discovery sessions with a blend of strategic vision and technical understanding. Present AI capabilities clearly and confidently, guiding senior clients and agency leaders through opportunity framing, first-stage ideation and early solution scoping. Field preliminary technical questions about generative AI tools, proprietary platforms and AI service design with fluency and confidence.
• Bring structure to our agentic future. Own agentic workflow mapping and intelligent design interviews (IDIs), transforming service aspirations into actionable and repeatable frameworks. Collaborate with cross-functional teams to evaluate existing and future workflows, pinpoint automation opportunities, and map “agentic” paths to delivery. Convert insights from IDIs and internal stakeholder engagement into architecture-ready documentation and strategic narratives.
• Navigate the tech-product-agency triangle. Act as a strategic integrator between agency leadership, client teams, and our in-house AI and product development squads. Co-develop MVP specs and new service blueprints alongside tech teams—grounded in user insight, AI capability and operational viability. Help pressure-test product hypotheses and co-create narratives for go-to-market internal and external activation.
• Stay grounded in communications. Apply our PR/communications foundation and your experience to inform and evolve the storytelling, delivery models and activation strategies of our AI offerings. Support internal marketing of our offerings and pilots—ensuring they are positioned and understood across the agency ecosystem. Serve as a strategic thought partner in helping clients and teams understand not just “how” AI works, but why it matters and what to do about it.

You’ll thrive here if you

• Are immersed in emerging tech—its possibilities and implications—and can explain it in plain English.
• Are equal parts technologist, strategist and communicator—and can switch between them at speed.
• Have the confidence to lead high-stakes client interactions and the curiosity to dig deep into user needs, pain points and product gaps.
• Can “see the matrix” when it comes to how things work today—and imagine how they could work better with AI tomorrow.
• Enjoy converting ambiguity into structure and helping teams move from abstract conversation to concrete activation.

Must-have chops

• 12–15+ years of experience spanning communications/public relations, innovation, or digital transformation—with clear exposure to AI technologies.
• Strong grasp of Gen AI platforms, process mapping, and product ideation cycles.
• Comfort presenting to senior clients, fielding early-stage technical questions, and guiding discussions toward action.
• Proven experience navigating cross-functional environments, especially with technical and product development teams.
• Familiarity with intelligent agent design, agentic workflows, and/or service blueprints is highly desirable.
• Ability to communicate clearly in decks, meetings, and whiteboard sessions—making complex tech accessible to all levels.

Bonus points

• Experience launching AI-powered communications or marketing services.
• Track record of delivering structured innovation frameworks in a fast-paced agency or consultancy setting.
• Experience orchestrating integrated media strategies for consumer brand campaigns
• You can vibe code a prototype when inspiration strikes

Our team is future-leaning but grounded, legit curious and pragmatic. We celebrate makers and breakers. We ask hard questions, listen to everyone’s POV, make calls and move fast. And we love digging into nascent platforms and figuring out how best to put them to work. If that feels like your energy, let’s talk about how you can help accelerate the agency of the future!

The Weber Shandwick Collective recognizes that your health and wellbeing are a priority. This is why we offer a full suite of benefits including:

• Medical
• Dental
• Vision
• 401k (with employer match)
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Juice Money – $60 monthly reimbursement to be used towards purchases that nourish your health, mind, body, and soul
• MyDays – Flexible holiday schedules
• Short-Term Disability
• Paid Employee Family Leave
• Family Building Benefit

NYC Salary range: $160,000 – $225,000

Where an employee or prospective employee is paid within this range will depend on, among other factors, actual ranges for current/former employees in the subject position; market considerations; budgetary considerations; tenure and standing with the company (applicable to current employees); as well as the employee’s/applicant’s background, pertinent experience, and qualifications.

Weber Shandwick is proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. Weber Shandwick recruits qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, gender, age, ethnic or national origin, protected veteran status, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status or citizenship status.

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Directeur·rice, Planification stratégique

Le ou la directeur·rice de la planification stratégique travaillera à l’élaboration de stratégies de communication percutantes destinées au marché du Québec. Le ou la candidat·e idéal·e est bilingue et possède un esprit perspicace qui s’imprègne de la culture, aime comprendre ce qui pousse les consommateur·rice·s à agir et cultive une passion pour les idées inattendues permettant de faire progresser les communications dans un marché nuancé. À ce poste, il ou elle participera à tous les éléments de la stratégie de marque et d’entreprise dans divers secteurs, notamment celui des soins de santé. Au cœur de cette fonction figurent la création et l’analyse des données et des tendances du marché, l’élaboration d’études de marché et la conception d’idées et de stratégies efficaces permettant de relever les défis auxquels sont confrontées les marques et les entreprises.

Responsabilités :

• Faire progresser les capacités à diriger des mandats spécifiques au marché – sous la supervision et avec les conseils d’un·e membre expérimenté·e de l’équipe.
• Afficher une prestance professionnelle et mature au sein de l’équipe et dans les relations avec la clientèle et faire preuve de solides techniques de présentation.
• Déceler de façon proactive les défis potentiels liés au plan de recherche et au brief créatif en formulant des recommandations d’amélioration.
• Initier et contribuer à la réalisation du processus stratégique, du plan de recherche au brief créatif. Codiriger des mandats pour la clientèle.
• Exploiter les données, les recherches et les rapports pour en tirer des idées et des enseignements.
• Développer une compréhension approfondie de la dynamique du marché d’un produit ou d’une marque, de l’état d’esprit de la clientèle, des actions de la concurrence et des tendances de l’industrie.
• Déterminer et formuler des idées qui conduiront à un changement de comportement.
• Cultiver des relations étroites avec le personnel, les partenaires internes et la clientèle, notamment en conseillant le personnel subalterne.

Expérience requise :

• Six à dix ans d’expérience en stratégie et planification des communications ou du marketing, idéalement au sein d’un service ou d’un environnement en communications, spécialisé dans la génération d’idées stratégiques au sein du marché québécois.
• Compréhension de la stratégie de marque culturelle et connaissance des relations publiques, du numérique et des médias sociaux.
• Expertise dans le secteur du marketing et des communications.
• Grande aisance dans l’utilisation des techniques et des ressources de recherche et dans la génération d’idées.
• Expérience avérée de l’analytique et de l’analyse de données (non seulement l’extraction de données, mais aussi leur manipulation).
• Aptitudes à faire des présentations claires et convaincantes en français et en anglais.
• Agilité dans le style de travail – capacité démontrée à travailler dans des délais serrés et à collaborer.
• Excellente communication verbale et écrite en français et en anglais, ainsi qu’une capacité à élaborer et à étayer des arguments.

 

Freelance Director, Strategic Planning

The Director, Strategic Planning will work to architect powerful business driving communications strategies for the Québec market. The ideal candidate is a bilingual, insightful thinker who is in-culture, loves to understand what drives consumers to act and is relentless about finding unexpected insights to drive communications forward in such a nuanced market. In this role, you will be involved in all elements of brand and corporate strategy across industries including healthcare. Key to this role will be creating and analyzing data and market trends, shaping market research, and developing impactful insights and strategies that solve brand and corporate challenges.

Responsibilities:

• Advances abilities to lead market-specific engagements – with supervision and guidance from a senior member of the team.
• Acquires professional, mature presence in the team and client relationship, and shows strong presentation skills.
• Proactively identifies potential challenges with the research plan, creative brief, making recommendations for improvement prior to completion.
• Initiates and helps to execute strategic process, from research plan to creative brief, for approval from more senior leads. Co-leads client projects/ assignments.
• Mine data, research, and intelligence reports for insights and implications.
• Develop an immersive understanding of a product or brand’s market dynamics, customer mindset, competitive actions and industry trends.
• Derive and articulate insights that will drive behavior change.
• Cultivate strong relationships with staff, internal partners, and clients including counseling junior staff.

Experience Requirements:

• 6-10 years of experience in marketing/communications strategy and planning ideally within a strategy department/communications environment specializing in strategic insight generation within the Québec market.
• Understanding of cultural brand strategy with familiarity of work within PR, digital and social media.
• Expertise in the marketing and communications industry.
• High level of comfort with research techniques and resources and insight generation.
• Demonstrated experience with analytics and analyzing data (not necessarily just pulling data but also manipulating it).
• Clear and compelling presentation skills in both French + English.
• Agility in working style – demonstrated ability to work against tight timelines and to work collaboratively.
• Excellent verbal and written communication in both French + English with the capability to construct and support arguments.

 

Salary range: $100.00 – $115.00 

Where an employee or prospective employee is paid within this range will depend on, among other factors, actual ranges for current/former employees in the subject position; market considerations; budgetary considerations; tenure and standing with the company (applicable to current employees); as well as the employee’s/applicant’s background, pertinent experience, and qualifications.

Weber Shandwick is proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. Weber Shandwick recruits qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, gender, age, ethnic or national origin, protected veteran status, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status or citizenship status.

 

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