A bachelor's degree is required; a master's degree, preferably an MBA, is preferred.
At least 15 years of working experience in a professional services, agency, or consulting environment.
A proven track record of shaping and winning large, multi-practice, multi-year engagements with C-suite and enterprise buyers.
Deep expertise in at least one of Customer Experience, Loyalty, Customer Relationship Management, Brand Engagement, or Data and Analytics, with working fluency across the others.
A proven track record of bringing new integrated offerings to market and blending multi-disciplinary approaches into differentiated solutions.
Financial acumen in scoping, effort estimation, pricing strategy, and engagement profitability.
Experience overseeing delivery and sponsor reviews on complex programs.
Ability to counsel, coach, and develop others and achieve results through them.
Outstanding presentation skills and excellent verbal and written communication, with the ability to influence executives.
Ability to build and maintain strong client relationships.
Ability to work across markets, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and continental Europe.
Responsibilities
Work across Bond's practices: Customer Experience, Customer Relationship Management, Loyalty Solutions, Brand Engagement, Events and Experiential, and Data Analytics.
Lead qualified opportunities meeting the stated scale, practice breadth, buyer seniority, or account-priority criteria.
Join weekly triage and help the Client Leader frame opportunities; decide whether a Solution Architect is also required.
Own solution shape and architecture, deciding which practices and partners play which roles.
Co-lead Solution Development Meetings, own final proposal scope and proposal story, calibrate effort estimates, and support pricing strategy.
Reach VP and C-suite decision-makers alongside the Client Leader and bring larger ideas to designated accounts before a brief lands.
Lead handoff meetings, remain attached through delivery, oversee shared deliverables, and run sponsor reviews to protect client outcomes.
Build three-year account roadmaps with the Client Leader and pod.
Lead the Principal Architect community of practice leads and subject-matter experts supporting major solutions.
Coach Solution Architects, Solution and Discipline Leads, and a pool of high-potential junior colleagues; contribute to reusable integrated offers.
Partner with Client Leaders, who own client relationships and commercial decisions, on account growth and wins.
At Bond, we build growth and loyalty for some of the world’s most recognized brands. Behind that work is a team of smart, curious people who care deeply about clients, each other, and building something meaningful together.
As Principal, Strategy & Solutions, you will play a pivotal role in shaping our largest and most strategic client engagements, bringing senior strategic expertise to enterprise clients and priority pursuits. You will help Client Leaders win bigger!
You provide solution leadership, multi-disciplinary business development acumen and delivery oversight on Bond's largest, most complex, multi-practice opportunities. You shape the overall solution, reach more senior buyers and bring more of Bond to our priority accounts. Client Leaders own the relationship and the commercial decisions. You work in partnership with them, and every win is a shared win.
You will report to the SVP, Customer Experience (CX), as a separate function outside CX.
A Day in the Life:
Principal Architects work across all of Bond's practices: CX, CRM, Loyalty Solutions, Brand Engagement, Events & Experiential and Data Analytics. You are part of a three-level Architect Model: Principal Architects, Solution Architects and Solution / Discipline Leads, with one lead architect on every deal. On designated accounts, you sit in a pod with a named Client Leader and Project Lead who stay together from one pursuit to the next. The pod works from one account plan and brings ideas to the client before a brief lands. You also lead the Principal Architect community: named practice leads and SMEs who support Bond's biggest solutions.
You lead when a qualified opportunity meets any two of: ~$500K+ net revenue or a multi-year program; 3+ practices or a net-new integrated solution; a C-suite or senior buyer; a designated account or priority new logo. Your time splits 60% designated-account pods and 40% prioritized new logos.
Join weekly triage and help the Client Leader frame the opportunity. Decide whether a Solution Architect is also required.
Own solution shape and architecture. Decide which practices and partners play what role.
Co-lead the Solution Development Meeting. Own final proposal scope and the proposal story. Calibrate effort estimates and support pricing strategy.
Reach VP and C-suite decision-makers alongside the Client Leader. Bring bigger ideas to designated accounts before a brief lands.
Lead the handoff meeting. Stay attached through delivery, oversee shared deliverables and run sponsor reviews to protect client outcomes.
Build the 3-year account roadmap with the Client Leader and the pod.
Coach Solution Architects, Solution / Discipline Leads and a pool of high-potential juniors. Contribute to reusable integrated offers.
You are measured on:
Speed to Value: Time from brief to a shaped, priced solution.
Win Rate: Architected pursuits won.
Buyer Seniority: VP and C-suite decision-makers reached.
Account Outcomes: Client outcomes, 3-year roadmap and new pipeline on pod accounts.
Financial Results: Integrated net revenue growth and recurring revenue on architected deals.
Client Satisfaction: Project NPS and service levels met.
Team Development: High-potential juniors coached.
Partnership: Shared credit with Client Leaders for account growth and wins.
Are You the One?
Bachelor's degree required. Master's degree, preferably an MBA.
15+ years of working experience in a professional services, agency or consulting environment.
Proven track record shaping and winning large, multi-practice, multi-year engagements with C-suite and enterprise buyers.
Deep expertise in at least one of Customer Experience, Loyalty, CRM, Brand Engagement or Data & Analytics, with working fluency across the others.
Proven track record of bringing new integrated offerings to market and blending multi-disciplinary approaches into differentiated solutions.
Financial acumen: scoping, effort estimation, pricing strategy and engagement profitability.
Experience overseeing delivery and sponsor reviews on complex programs.
Strong collaboration and interpersonal skills: able to counsel, coach and develop others and achieve results through them.
Outstanding presentation skills. Excellent verbal and written communication, with the ability to influence executives.
Excellent ability to build and maintain strong client relationships.
Ability to work across markets, including Canada, the US, the UK and continental Europe.
Benefits
Compensation: Annual compensation is expected to exceed $200,000 CAD; details to be shared if selected for an interview. Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI): Bond uses AI tools during parts of the screening, assessment, and selection process, supporting a fair and efficient hiring process. We welcome applications from all qualified candidates; however, only those selected for an interview will be contacted. Vacancy Type: This posting is for a newly created vacancy within Bond. The actual base salary compensation will vary depending on local market conditions, geography, and relevant job-related factors such as skills, qualifications, experience, and education/training.
At Bond, we believe compensation is more than a salary. Our Total Rewards program is designed to help you grow your career, support your well-being and keep you meaningfully connected: Flexibility: A hybrid work model and flexible vacation offers agility to meet the needs of our global business and workforce, allowing us to inspire the best from our people. Moments that matter: Social events like F1rst Thursdays, Kick-Off gatherings, and holiday parties make it easy to build relationships and have fun. Health & Wellness support: Competitive healthcare and wellness benefits that care for both body and mind including Medical, Dental, Vision, Health Care Spending Account, Employee Assistance Program, access to 24/7 virtual healthcare and/or consultation services for you and your family — all available from your first day. Future-focused: Retirement planning assistance with company matching. Career development: Access to learning programs, mentorship, stretch projects, and internal mobility to keep you moving forward. Celebrating your impact: Recognition programs for individual and team achievements, peer-nominated awards, and service anniversaries.
TORONTO, May 14, 2024 /PRNewswire/ - Bond was recognized for its industry-leading performance, its global business practices, and its sustained growth by receiving the prestigious 2024 Best Managed Companies award.Celebrating over 30 years, the Best Managed Companies program awards excellence in private Canadian-owned companies with revenues of $50 million or greater. To attain the designation, companies are evaluated on their leadership in the areas of strategy, culture and commitment, capabilities, and innovation, governance, and financial performance. This year, Bond is being recognized as a Platinum Club member, where winners have maintained their Best Managed status for seven years or more."We are honored to be recognized as one of the Best Managed Companies of 2024," said Bob Macdonald, CEO of Bond. "This award is a testament to the dedication and hard work of our team, whose commitment to excellence has allowed us to reach this achievement. Being named among the best managed companies in North America is not just a recognition of our accomplishments but also a validation of our ongoing efforts to innovate and deliver exceptional tools for clients. We are immensely proud of this and remain steadfast in our commitment to continue raising the bar in the loyalty and market research industry."Best Managed Companies is one of the country's leading business awards programs recognizing innovative and world-class businesses
The following month, Bond launched BondX, an agency formed out of the merger of its in-house team and the acquisition of brand experience consultancy Drumroll.
Bond announced in a press release that it has launched a new personalization intelligence platform that works alongside platforms like Snowflake and Databricks.
Bond now certified as implementation partner; Qualtrics platform now accessible to robust global client roster focused on CX growthBond, a leading customer experience, loyalty, and growth firm, announces a strategic partnership with Qualtrics, the leader and creator of the experience management category. In the partnership, Bond brings its expertise in strategy and guidance, along with Qualtrics’ dynamic and scalable technology platform to make capturing customer sentiment easy to gather, evaluate and analyze. Qualtrics CustomerXM will allow Bond clients to understand and act on customer feedback from surveys, social media, contact center engagements, and online reviews by automatically surfacing the most critical insights with powerful text, stats, voice, and predictive analytics.Marketing Technology News: MarTech Interview With Alex Song, CEO and Founder at ProximaThe business partnership enables Bond to become certified to carry out implementation services on the Qualtrics platform for their CX and EX clients. In a joint marketing effort, the partnership will drive growth of mutual business initiatives in CX through guidance, information and demonstrated success of customer-centric engagement and support.“Incorporating real time measurement and analytics into an overall CX strategy is table stakes”, says Morana Bakula, EVP, Strategy & Solutions at Bond Brand Loyalty. “As our counsel to clients grows in this area, we are adding to our delivery capabilities with Qualtrics, the leading world-class technology platform provider. This partnership furthers our mission to provide leading brands long-term, customer-centric growth.”“A single bad experience—like an error at checkout or a frustrating customer care conversation—can result in a lost customer and lost revenue,” said Aaron McGarry, Chief Ecosystem Officer, Qualtrics
Squire Patton Boggs has advised Canadian firm Bond Brand Loyalty on the acquisition of 100% of the consulting services provider Buljan & Partners Consulting.