Strategy Lead

ABOUT APPLY

APPLY is the Agentic Customer Experience (ACx) partner for the world's most ambitious consumer and entertainment brands. We bring together deep domain expertise across Retail, CPG, Sports, and Media with AI-native delivery capability, designing and delivering agentic solutions that turn CX vision into commercial reality. We are the partner of choice for brands like Arc'teryx, NFL, Lululemon, and Kraft Heinz. For more information, visit applydigital.com.

LOCATION: APPLY is hybrid/remote friendly. The preferred candidate should be based in Canada, working in hours that align to ET (Eastern Timezone).

THE ROLE

As a Strategy Lead, you'll help our clients grow through Agentic Customer Experience (ACx): the practice of designing brand experiences that show up with intelligence, relevance and continuity across every part of a customer's ecosystem.

Reporting into the Strategy team, you'll lead ACx initiatives working with cross-functional teams to bring strategies to life, grow client relationships into new opportunities, and help evolve our strategic practice for an agent-mediated future.

Read our full ACx report here: https://www.applydigital.com/insights/learn/the-acx-report/

RESPONSIBILITIES

Client Partnership & Business Development

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• Build and lead senior client relationships grounded in genuine understanding of their business.
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• Identify and develop new opportunities within accounts through rigorous insight and point of view.

Strategic Leadership

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• Lead primary and secondary research to surface business insights and identify strategic opportunities.
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• Develop deliverables that connect audience and experience findings to commercial outcomes.
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• Bring domain depth in sports,media, and entertainment to add credibility and context to the work.
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• Facilitate workshops with executive stakeholders to align on direction and build momentum.

Team Management & Mentorship

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• Partner with the Head of Strategy and peers to evolve how we work, including integrating agentic and AI-native approaches.
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• Contribute to methodology, tools, and ways of working that make the team sharper.

Communication & Delivery

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• Create compelling presentations that engage and inspire clients and stakeholders.
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• Partner across disciplines - product, experience, engineering - to see strategy through to execution.
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• Apply business casing and value frameworks to test proposed directions.

REQUIREMENTS

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• 8+ years of experience in strategy or digital/customer experience design roles.
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• 3+ years in consulting or agency environments.
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• Proven experience working with entertainment, sports, and/or media clients or within an entertainment, sports, or media organization.
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• Proven track record in digital and customer experience strategy development.
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• Strong expertise in primary and secondary research methodologies.
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• Experience designing and facilitating workshops with executive-level stakeholders.
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• Comfortable using AI tools in your day-to-day work, with an eye on how they're reshaping customer experience.
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• Excellent data analysis, research and communication skills.
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• Ability to thrive in dynamic environments while managing multiple projects.