Associate Director - Social Strategy

Strategic Leadership & Client Partnership

• Lead the development and execution of integrated social media and influencer strategies across branded and unbranded healthcare campaigns.

• Serve as a strategic lead for client engagements, translating business objectives into actionable social, influencer, and performance marketing strategies.

• Drive audience-first recommendations across paid, owned, earned, community management, creator, and emerging social channels.

• Leverage cultural intelligence, audience insights, competitive intelligence, and platform innovation to identify opportunities that advance client business objectives.

• Present strategic recommendations, annual plans, measurement frameworks, and innovation opportunities to senior client stakeholders with confidence and influence.

• Act as a trusted advisor to clients, helping guide decision-making and ensuring brands remain at the leading edge of social media marketing.

Influencer & Social Program Leadership

• Oversee influencer marketing programs from strategic planning through execution, including talent identification, tiering approaches, audience fit assessments, content strategy, and performance evaluation.

• Lead key aspects of the influencer RFP process, including partner evaluations, proposal reviews, strategic recommendations, talent selection, and contract negotiations.

• Partner closely with influencer agencies, legal teams, compliance partners, and cross-functional stakeholders to ensure campaigns meet regulatory and business requirements.

• Guide the development of influencer and creator briefs, ensuring clear articulation of campaign objectives, content expectations, measurement requirements, and brand guidelines.

Performance Marketing & Optimization

• Drive measurable business outcomes by amplifying online presence and optimizing performance across social and creator ecosystems.

• Utilize performance data, audience signals, social listening insights, and platform reporting to inform targeting strategies, budget allocation, content optimization, and campaign enhancements.

• Identify opportunities to improve engagement, reach, conversion, and return on investment through data-driven recommendations and continuous optimization.

• Partner with analytics and media teams to design measurement frameworks, brand lift studies, attribution approaches, and learning agendas that demonstrate campaign effectiveness.

• Translate campaign performance into actionable business insights and strategic recommendations for future planning.

Team Leadership & Operational Excellence

• Lead, mentor, and develop junior strategists, fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, innovation, and continuous learning.

• Oversee day-to-day workload management across assigned accounts, ensuring projects are delivered on time, on budget, and to the highest quality standards.

• Provide ongoing coaching, constructive feedback, and professional development support to team members.

• Drive process improvements and operational efficiencies across social strategy, influencer workflows, reporting, and client service functions.

• Collaborate with leadership on team growth, resource planning, staffing, and capability development.

Thought Leadership & Innovation

• Maintain a deep understanding of social platforms, creator ecosystems, cultural trends, audience behavior, and digital marketing innovations.

• Pioneer research initiatives and transform findings into customized social media strategies and thought leadership for clients and internal stakeholders.

• Contribute to agency thought leadership, training programs, case studies, and new business opportunities.

• Champion testing, learning, and innovation by identifying emerging opportunities and evaluating new technologies, platforms, and social solutions.

Key Characteristics & Qualifications

• 6+ years of experiencein social media strategy, digital marketing, influencer marketing, or related disciplines.

• Established experience developing integrated social strategies across paid, owned, and earned environments, including community management, content strategy, channel planning, and creator marketing.

• Experience within healthcare, pharmaceutical, or other highly regulated industries preferred.

• Strong understanding of performance marketing principles and the role social media plays across awareness, engagement, consideration, conversion, and loyalty objectives.

• Proven ability to leverage audience insights, cultural intelligence, performance data, and social listening to develop impactful marketing strategies.

• Demonstrated success leading strategic client relationships and influencing senior stakeholders.

• Strong understanding of evolving social trends, platform innovation, creator ecosystems, and digital culture, with the ability to advise brands on when and how to participate.

• Ability to design and lead original research initiatives and translate findings into actionable strategic recommendations.

• Excellent storytelling, presentation, and communication skills, with the ability to simplify complex information and inspire action.

• Gravitas and executive presence, with the ability to build credibility and influence across clients, partners, and internal teams.

• Experience managing, mentoring, and inspiring high-performing teams.

• Highly detail-oriented with strong project management skills and the ability to lead multiple initiatives simultaneously.

• Innovative and entrepreneurial mindset with a willingness to challenge convention, test new approaches, and learn from results.

• Demonstrated commitment to continuous improvement, operational excellence, and process optimization.

• Practical experience with leading social listening, community management, measurement, and analytics platforms. Experience with Sprinklr, Meltwater, NetBase, Quid, Pathmatics, Socialbakers, or similar platforms preferred.

• Passion for building inclusive, collaborative, and high-performing team cultures.

What Makes Success in This Role

• Acts as a strategic leader rather than a tactical executor.

• Drives measurable business outcomes through social, creator, and performance marketing programs.

• Influences clients and internal stakeholders through expertise, insight, and executive-level storytelling.

• Develops talent and elevates team capabilities.

• Continuously pushes the work—and the agency—to stay ahead of culture, platforms, and industry best practices.