Strategist

1. Company description

We create impact

At Rationale, we create impact by making the complex compelling. We are a strategic brand and content agency supporting clients in regulated markets to define, articulate and amplify what matters most to their audiences. We solve challenges with robust, strategic thinking. We’re relentlessly focused on results. And we’re creative with good reason.

Impact is fundamental to our agency culture as a certified BCorp. We have an emphasis on training and development, team empowerment and creative expression. We work with people who live our core principles: who are in it for the long-term; who find a way; who have high standards; and who have fun.

Every agency says they are doing things differently. So we won’t say that. But we are absolutely driven to make a difference.

Our Principles

We’re in it for the long-term

We’re focused on the sustainable, strategic growth of Rationale and the related development of our people. Thinking long-term is fundamental to the ongoing stability of our business and is what allows us to make the most impact for our team, for our clients, and for the wider world.

This approach underpins everything we do in terms of our decision-making – and it also applies to how we cultivate lasting, supportive relationships with clients, partner organisations, and suppliers.

We’re building something strong at Rationale – something that will endure, and something of which we can all be proud.

We find a way

Rationale is made up of a talented and unique team of tenacious problem-solvers who are curious about uncovering what’s possible.

No matter how complicated the ask, we will do our best to find a way to make it happen.

We deliver on our promises at Rationale by being considerate and proactive, not only in how we approach our work, but in how we treat and respect each other’s needs at work.

We have high standards

Rationale’s success comes from having a happy and fulfilled team of people who are trusted and empowered to do their jobs well.

In doing this, we hold ourselves and each other accountable to the highest standards of quality, relevance and creativity in every single piece of work that leaves the agency.

Keeping this aim front-of-mind results in a value exchange – our people drive the success of our business and this feeds back into each individual’s personal and professional growth.

We have fun

Work is where we spend most of our time, so why shouldn’t it be fun? While we take our work very seriously, we don’t take ourselves too seriously.

We will always take time to lighten the load, to keep perspective, and to make each other – and our clients – feel relaxed, secure in expressing themselves and able to have a laugh.

2. Job Purpose

We are looking to appoint a Strategist – someone in the earlier part of their strategy career – working across brand, content and campaign projects and reporting to our Strategy Director.

It’s preferable that you’re curious about different types of business and B2B audiences – what engages and influences them. It’s likely that you have experience working with marketing clients, perhaps in an agency setting or a marketing, brand or content role, or in journalism.

We’re conscious that strategists (or people interested in getting into strategy) can often have squiggly routes in, so we’re open to people with diverse backgrounds and varied qualifications and experience. If you think you’ve something to offer, please do get in touch.

We’re looking for an enthusiastic and proactive team player who is able to work well with our strategy, creative and account teams, as well as all other areas of the business, including the Rationale founders. As our agency continues to grow and evolve, you’ll have the opportunity to support our growth, exploring new ways to deliver inspiring, effective work for our clients.

You’ll be joining a fun and motivated team who are ambitious and excited about the opportunities ahead of us!

The role will involve working from our office in Leith for a minimum of 3 days a week with the option to work from home 2 days a week.

3. Key Responsibilities

Strategy development

• Support the analysis and interrogation of client briefs to ensure we are solving the right problem and deploying the best approach to meet the client’s objectives. This means immersing yourself in our clients’ worlds and providing initial thoughts, questions and highlighting areas of the brief to explore. 
• Support the development of insight-led strategies across a wide range of projects, including brand development, creative and comms strategy, content marketing, advertising campaigns, customer experience and internal comms.
• Support the creative brief process: Draft and support senior members of the team develop strong briefs and collaborate with the creative team to generate big ideas and compelling creative campaigns, translating strategies into quality outputs.

Insight and research

• Monitor, analyse and evaluate the client and target audience context (client / customer or target audience understanding, market intelligence, competitor activity, etc) – identifying the critical factors at play in strategy development and ongoing client work. 
• Support primary research projects – quantitative and qualitative where required – to deepen understanding and inform ideas.
• Support the design and implementation of client and stakeholder workshops, both in person and online, to inform and validate strategic approaches.
• Proactively monitor, review and share specific industry press and published thinking on marketing, brand, creative, market trends, and other relevant industry business activity.
• Data analysis – prioritise developing deep understanding of the analysis of data that informs client work.
• Provide consistent support around workflow and contributing to the output of the strategy team as a whole.

Production of editorial content

• Support editorial planning tasks, such as content theme and topic setting, copywriting, copyediting and proofreading.
• Support the preparatory work required prior to interviewing clients or client customers or contacts. Typical tasks may include desk research and the preparation of interview questions.
• Support the coordination of interviews with contributors.

Client development and new business

• Build strong and enduring relationships with client marketing teams, proactively nurturing to strengthen and expand our client relationships.
• Collaborate with the Strategy team and agency founders on new business pitches and proposals, providing support, research and insights.
• Research and support the preparation of client proposals. 

Collaboration 

• Be a team player – help to sharpen the stories around our work, underpinned, of course, by strong rationale!
• Work with the wider team to ensure content strategies, solutions and service delivery achieves the highest levels of client satisfaction at all times, as identified by client satisfaction surveys
• Work with the account team effectively, ensuring appropriate processes are followed

Learning and development 

• Take ownership of smaller client projects, developing thinking from onboarding through to brand strategy, campaign and design development.
• Undertake training to develop capabilities in supporting clients and contributing to Rationale’s strategy practice.
• Put forward opportunistic ideas proactively to take advantage of new technologies, launches and current events.

4. Skills & Experience

• Minimum 2 years’ experience, preferably within creative or marketing agencies or in a relevant role 
• B2B experience, preferably in financial services, healthcare and/or technology and innovation
• Solid understanding of marketing channels, both on and offline
• Able to demonstrate awareness of how brand, planning, insight and marketing activity connect within a wider marketing ecosystem system
• Strong communication skills
• Able to carry out desk research: quickly review, evaluate and summarise information, distilling into useful insights
• High standards of written and spoken English
• Computer skills: word processing, spreadsheets. Ideally, an ability to generate convincing presentation decks
• Able to work under own initiative and in a team setting
• Able to coordinate a variety of projects across multiple clients alongside colleagues

5. Personal Qualities

• Self-motivated, proactive, curious and creative
• Adaptable and enthusiastic
• High attention to detail 
• High standards: wants to produce precise, high quality work
• Enjoys building rapport with different types of people 
• Takes an accurate and systematic approach to work
• Professional with a can-do attitude