Brand Strategist

Focus Lab is a strategic brand agency that’s looking for the next addition to our team. We're an international, all-remote team with thoughtful, creative professionals passionate about partnering with good companies. Leveraging our craft and care for others, we exist to unlock the potential in the people around us, both internally and externally. We approach challenges with process-driven intentionality to inform the solutions we create. Craft is our calling card, camaraderie is our brand.

We are looking for a Brand Strategist to join our Strategy team. Candidates must be able to work within 9AM-5PM Eastern Time Zone. For international contractors, we need at least a 6 hour overlap between the hours of 9AM-5PM Eastern Time Zone for collaboration. We’re flexible on exact start and end times, but consistent availability during our core collaboration hours is important.

About the role:

The ideal candidate is a skilled collaborator and flexible strategist driven by a deep understanding of the branding process and its relationship to writing and design.

As a Brand Strategist at Focus Lab, you will:

• Create sound strategies through research, analysis, creativity, and critical thinking.
• Evaluate brand identities, goals, audiences, competitive landscapes, and industries.
• Deliver the foundational rationale and direction for client brands.
• Work primarily with B2B brands who are at various points in their branding journey, through projects that vary in scope, scale, and timeline.
• Present your recommendations in comprehensive written strategy documents, and use strategy to guide verbal and visual outcomes.

Because our clients’ needs and the types of projects we offer vary, we’re looking for someone who is a skilled, confident, and curious strategist — someone who is unafraid of asking hard questions and providing a strategic basis for recommendations. Our strategy team is responsible for building rapport with clients from day one, helping generate a positive working environment and impactful ideas that could only be achieved through mutual trust. You must be an empathic listener, a critical thinker, and driven to collaborate within a team of writers, strategists, and designers.

You can expect to:

• Drive weekly meetings and conduct workshops with clients during brand strategy.
• Spend a lot of time researching, writing, ideating, and collaborating.
• Deliver and defend your own work directly with clients.
• Actively provide strategic oversight for verbal and visual design outcomes.
• Participate in the betterment and evolution of Focus Lab processes and client experiences.
• Work closely with both writers and designers on a daily basis.
• Work within a fast-paced, regular weekly cadence.
• Be responsible for daily time tracking.
• Work during U.S. East Coast Time Zone.

You should be comfortable working in:

• Figma
• Google Drive
• Slack
• Quantitative research tools
• Project management tools
• Time-tracking tools
• AI tools (Claude, Waldo, ChatGPT, etc.)

The right strategist for this role has:

• The background and skills that align with this position (which must include a portfolio of demonstrated strategy work, not just verbal or visual design outcomes).
• A love for all things research and new ideas.
• Initiative, seeing what needs to be done, and making a plan for it.
• Extremely strong communication skills.
• The ability to learn from teammates.
• Know-how on the latest and greatest trends, tools, and technologies in brand strategy.
• Experimented with a variety of strategy frameworks and project scopes.
• Skills around turning information overload into clear, distilled, actionable steps.
• Detail orientation (include the word “Applebees” somewhere in your application for bonus points).
• Alignment with our core values.
• Strive for Excellence
• Empathy in Action
• Lead With Courage
• Assume the Best
• All Over Ego
• Own the Work
• Soft skills in the way of your humility, hunger, and people smarts.
• Experience working remotely as part of a team.
• Ability to work within 9AM-5PM EST collaboration hours.

Please note: We are open to both U.S.-based candidates and international contractors. If you live in the U.S., we may ask for documentation verifying your legal right to work. Candidates located outside the U.S. will be considered independent contractors. Candidates must display strong proficiency in written and spoken English.

Consider these questions:

Do you get easily overwhelmed by opinions and conflicting information? Do you speak up honestly when you don’t understand something? Are you at ease with conversations about business objectives, positioning, and differentiation? Can you sit comfortably in the space between business strategy and brand strategy? What about the space between a brand’s current reality and its future? Do you value active listening? Are you open to critique from internal and external opinions?

Interested? Cool. Here’s how to apply:

Tell us about yourself and what gets your excited about this role. It doesn't need to be long; just let us know why you'd be a great fit at Focus Lab and what you see your future looking like with us. Please pick two projects you've worked on recently and tell us what we should know about them.

We understand that candidates won’t check every single box we have here; most of us didn’t when we applied either. If you are interested, we highly encourage you to still apply!

What happens after you apply?

This job posting will close on Tuesday, April 7th at 5PM EST.

Our plan is to get through all the applications as soon as possible after the job posting closes. Our goal is to start interviewing in April, with an ideal start date in May.

We're excited to hear from you!

What does the interview process look like?

• A video interview to discuss your interest and answer any initial questions you may have
• A video interview to talk about your experience and Focus Lab culture
• A video interview to talk about your experience, your portfolio, and how we collaborate

We will cover the full benefits package further into the interview process, but the key benefits provided by Focus Lab are:

• Unlimited paid time off. You’ll be encouraged to take a minimum of 20 days outside of holidays and sick time.
• Health, dental, and vision insurance plans (medical covered at 100% for you 50% for your family dependents, dental covered at 50% for you and your family dependents) beginning first of the month following hire.
• Life, disability, accident, critical illness, and cancer insurance plans.
• Retirement plan beginning at your one-year anniversary.
• Paid parental, adoption/caregiver leave.
• Two weeks paid holiday rest at the end of the year.

Please note: Candidates hired as independent contractors outside the U.S. are not eligible for traditional employee benefits, such as health insurance or retirement plans. As independent contractors, you will be responsible for managing your own taxes, benefits, and insurance. However, we offer competitive compensation, and you may be eligible for certain perks or bonuses based on project performance. While international contractors are not eligible for formal paid time off (PTO), we encourage a healthy work-life balance and offer flexible scheduling to accommodate personal needs.

Be who you are with us.

We’re devoted to building an inclusive, supportive culture. That means we don’t discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, disability (physical or mental), sex, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, or parental status. We especially welcome people of color, women, and LGBTQIA2S+ to apply.

At Focus Lab, you’ll find an empathetic crew who checks their egos at the door. We aim to assume the best of each other, strive for excellence in all we do, lean into tough situations, and feel empowered to own our work. Sound like you? Super. We expect you’ll be successful here.