Brand Strategist

We're seeking an ambitious Brand Strategist who thrives on challenging conventional wisdom and guiding brands toward breakthrough success. In this role, you'll be the catalyst that helps our clients break free from industry norms, discover untapped opportunities, and build strategies that don't just compete—they redefine entire categories.
As a Brand Strategist, you'll work with ambitious brands ready to take risks, question everything, and achieve remarkable growth by zigging when others zag. You'll be part detective, part provocateur, and part architect—uncovering insights that others miss and building strategic frameworks that transform how brands connect with their audiences and deliver business outcomes.

Role

Strategic Vision & Planning

• Develop differentiated brand strategies that challenge industry conventions and create competitive advantages
• Conduct deep-dive market analysis to identify gaps, opportunities, and areas ripe for disruption
• Lead strategic workshops and brainstorming sessions that push clients beyond their comfort zones
• Create comprehensive brand positioning frameworks that set clients apart from competitors

Research & Insights

• Uncover counter-intuitive consumer insights through innovative research methodologies
• Analyse competitor landscapes to identify areas where conventional approaches are failing
• Synthesise cultural trends, emerging technologies, and market shifts into actionable strategic recommendations
• Challenge client assumptions with data-driven insights and fresh perspectives

Client Partnership & Leadership

• Serve as a trusted strategic advisor to C-level executives and brand leaders
• Present compelling strategic recommendations that inspire bold decision-making
• Guide clients through the process of organizational and brand transformation
• Facilitate difficult conversations that challenge status quo thinking within client organizations

Innovation & Implementation

• Design unique go-to-market strategies that break traditional category rules
• Collaborate with creative and media teams to ensure strategic vision translates into integrated marketing
• Develop measurement frameworks that track both traditional metrics and innovative success indicators
• Stay ahead of industry trends and continuously evolve strategic approaches

Opportunity

You’ll be joining Rival at an exciting time—we are three years in, growing quickly, and have big plans for the next few years!

This is a unique opportunity for someone early in their career who wants to understand how a modern marketing consultancy operates—and to learn from a senior team while developing a future path in either operations or marketing.

You’ll be embedded in our London team, working with a global group of talented marketers, strategists, and operators across North America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

We’re a small (but mighty!) team of around 35 people globally, which means you’ll get to work on a wide range of projects and learn quickly.

This role holds a ton of potential for the right person, as you’ll be supporting the core of our business and working closely with our leadership team.

Requirements

We’d like to hear from you if…

Strategic Thinking

• Ability to see patterns and opportunities that others miss
• Comfort with ambiguity and complex business challenges
• Systems thinking approach to brand and market dynamics

Disruptive Mindset

• Natural curiosity and tendency to question conventional wisdom
• Comfort with calculated risk-taking and pushing boundaries
• Resilience in the face of resistance to change

Client Management

• Consultative approach with ability to build trust quickly
• Emotional intelligence to navigate organizational politics
• Confidence to challenge clients while maintaining strong relationships

Collaboration & Leadership

• Cross-functional collaboration skills with creative, media, and account teams
• Mentoring abilities to develop junior strategists
• Leadership presence in client meetings and internal initiatives

How to apply… 

If you’d like to apply, please use the “apply button” below. Alongside sharing your CV, we’d like you to please do the following: 

Highlight a challenger brand you think is crushing it. You just need to write “CHALLENGER BRAND: X” and a few sentences on why you think they are interesting from a marketing perspective. 

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Compensation

• Our compensation philosophy is to “mid-market base, top-market upside”. As a start-up we can’t compete with big agency/consultancy salaries, but we offer everyone the opportunity to share in the upside of what we’re building together. 
• There are three components to our compensation package 
  
  • Base Salary - market average for marketing consultancy/agency
  • Profit Share - eligibility for a profit share distribution twice a year (after one year of employment) based on company and individual performance
  • Employee Liquidity Plan -  eligibility for our “shadow stock” plan (after one year of employment)

Benefits 

• Group Life Insurance and Group Income Protection 
• Automatic enrolment into our pension scheme from day one
• 32-days vacation days for UK employees + public holidays
  
  • 25 discretionary vacation days
  • 7 company recharge days (company-wide days off throughout the year to relax and focus on family, friends and ourselves)
• Profit Share and Rival Employee Liquidity Plan (ELP)
  
  • ELP aka “shadow stock” has all the financial benefits of options, but without the cost to exercise and tax implications
• Office-first but flexible working environment 
  
  • Our default policy is for everyone to be in the office two - three days per week (currently Tues/Thurs with Wednesday highly encouraged). We believe in and have seen the impact of in-person collaboration on our work, culture, and development. However, we hire grown ups and trust people to manage their time and schedule. We understand there will be exceptions to the default rule, as long as we’re all focused on what’s best for the team.
• The equipment and technology you need to be successful, plus additional support if you need to enhance your work from home set-up
• Quarterly ‘Team Weeks’
  
  • One week a quarter we focus on planning, team building, and professional development. This can involve the opportunity to travel to other offices.  
• Rival Retreat
  
  • Every once in a while we’ll turn a Team Week into a Rival Retreat, which is a full-company, all-expense paid trip to spend a week together in a fun location
•  Various surprise and delights & Rival events throughout the year.

About Rival

Rival is a marketing consultancy for challengers. We believe incumbent best practices lead to average results. We use the playbook of challenger brands to deliver outsized impact for CMOs who need to do more with less.

Our Hiring Ethos

We want to build a home for the world’s best marketing talent while advancing diversity in our industry. Hiring is the most important thing we do at Rival. Finding and attracting the best talent in the industry is key to our long-term success and day-to-day happiness, but it’s also the most direct way we can have an impact on driving positive change in our industry and for our clients. 

Our goal is to deliver a best-in-class interview experience for candidates:

• Upfront alignment on what good looks like 
• We compensate candidates time for any interview that requires a task
• Timely, respectful communication 
• Opportunity for all candidates to provide feedback 
• All employees undergo unconscious bias training
• Global Equality Collective membership to upskill ourselves in all aspects of hiring

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

At Rival, we're invested in a thoughtful, long-term hiring approach that promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion. We care about creating a global community with a combined mission, but not at the expense of losing individual identity, which is critical to our innovation. It’s essential that we bring our authentic self to work every day, no matter our age, ethnicity, religion, citizenship, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability status, neurodiversity, or otherwise.

We listen to our employees, take direction and are taking continual action to better ourselves in this mission. Inclusion isn't just an initiative at Rival. We strive to embed it into all aspects of our business model and how we operate.