Position Summary

We are seeking a Senior Brand Strategist/Business Designer to join our Shanghai Location.

What's that? May we translate? We want someone who likes to blur the lines between business, positioning, strategy and creative. We want a big-picture thinker and a pragmatic doer. We especially want that person to understand, be inspired by and have a genuine desire to see businesses grow and flourish in the unique context that is today's China. We firmly believe that creating from a base of true empathy for today’s Chinese consumer is the way to unlocking value and growth for our China-based clients. Conversational Mandarin is required for the nuanced communication that this role requires.

Maybe you are:
• A Creative entrepreneur who wants to stop bookkeeping.
• An agency Account Director who wants to create rather than direct accounts.
• An advertising planner who is bored with advertising.
• A frustrated brand manager inside a dynamic, creatively-led organization.
• A Creative Director whose ideas are too big for a small agency.
• A Strategic Thinker who can tell a great story.

What we're not seeking:
• A ‘slick’ marketing and sales approach.
• Complex, theoretical or academic thinking that does not translate into solutions for our clients.
• People who want to ‘give China a try.’ We want people committed for the long-haul to seeing China grow.

If this tugs at your heart strings then read on (if not just stop reading here and go back to whatever you did before).

Business acumen + creative content
The ideal candidate has a domain expertise or is known as a discipline expert in one of the following areas: marketing, brand strategy, product strategy or experience strategy. Fast moving, dynamic industries such as media, fashion, technology, hospitality, and consumer products interest us, as well as industries that have adapted their core business model (from product to service, for example) and thrived in doing so. Candidates must be generative in content and experienced in the creation of both strategic storytelling and tangible design deliverables.

Client facing skills
Successful candidates must be comfortable with clients, working as collaborator and/or strategic consultant, and able to effectively share their point of view and expertise. This position will require frequent contact with clients, through email, phone and in-person meetings. In other words, you are able to think very quickly on your feet, speak confidently, credibly, and successfully make your case to even the most skeptical client. This is not a role for the shy or timid.

Communication skills
Candidates must have strong presentation, verbal and written skills. He/she understands the business environment and what clients need to make something actionable. Successful applicants understand the value of design and brand within a design and business context. Candidates can share and influence through an ability to articulate concepts clearly and in a compelling way and a base level of graphic design skills to support it. He/she has an intuitive sense about what is important to deliver and how to deliver it. Style matters as much as substance.

Leadership skills
Successful applicants have achieved high-quality work output through collaboration with others. They have the talent to lead and inspire diverse teams through collaboration and respectful influence, not control, as well as direction, vision and planning.

Experience
Applicants should have around 10 years of creative-content related experience, preferably in a variety of industries or products, ideally supported by project management capabilities, client facing skills, comfort working in multidisciplinary teams and excellent bilingual communication and organizational skills. Moderate travel will be required.

Interested? We’re looking forward to receiving your resumes and portfolios (please don’t send printed portfolios). If there's an immediate match between your talents and our needs, we will contact you directly. If you do not hear from us within 6 weeks, please assume that we do not have an appropriate opportunity at this point.

Helpful Tips

The Online Application Process:

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Equal Opportunity Employer:
IDEO is an equal opportunity employer; applicants are considered for all roles without regard to race, color, religious creed, sex, national origin, citizenship status, age, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, marital, parental, veteran or military status, unfavorable military discharge, or any other status protected by applicable federal, state or local law.