Vice President, Creative Strategy (Social Media)

ABOUT ORCHESTRA

Orchestra is a strategic communications and marketing company built for today’s complex and fragmented world. From decoding audiences to designing bold strategies, Orchestra integrates people, platforms, and stories that stick to help clients build lasting influence. The company offers programs that span from the highest level strategic business counsel through to tactical execution. Orchestra brings together 700+ people with experience across consumer and lifestyle, technology, nonprofit and philanthropy, real estate, sports, travel, hospitality, and more. Made up of leading firms BerlinRosen, Civitas Public Affairs Group, Derris, Glen Echo Group, Inkhouse, M18, Message Lab, Onward and Small Girls PR. It also launched Brightmode, a talent acquisition firm for communications professionals, and Versus Media Group, a strategy-first political media team. Learn more at www.orchestraco.com.

People of all backgrounds and abilities are strongly encouraged to apply. Orchestra is committed to building and maintaining a diverse staff, and recognizes that its continued success depends on hiring and retaining high-quality creative professionals with a variety of backgrounds and experiences. Opportunities for advancement exist, and we are committed to helping all staff develop and grow.

ABOUT THE ROLE

Orchestra is seeking a Vice President, Creative Strategy (Social Media) to lead the development of social-first strategies and campaigns that help consumer brands earn attention, participate meaningfully in culture, and connect with audiences. This individual will turn social behavior, audience insights, cultural shifts, platform dynamics, and business objectives into clear strategic direction and ideas built to resonate in social environments.

This individual will serve as both senior strategic leader and hands-on practitioner — establishing how social-first strategy shows up in our work while personally leading research, uncovering insights, developing strategic narratives, writing briefs, and building and presenting strategies. This role is designed for someone who understands that social is more than a distribution channel; it is where audiences participate in culture, form communities, influence one another, and increasingly shape how brands earn relevance.

While social will be the starting point, the work will extend beyond it. This individual will collaborate cross-functionally across Orchestra's agencies and teams to turn social and cultural insights into ideas that can travel across earned media, influencer partnerships, experiential, and other brand touchpoints.

Role location: This role will ideally be based in our NYC our office. 

ACCOUNTABILITIES & QUALIFICATIONS

As the Vice President, Creative Strategy, you will:

• Lead the development of social-first brand, content, channel, and campaign strategies rooted in audience behavior, cultural insight, platform dynamics, performance data, and client business objectives
• Personally lead the strategic process from research through recommendation.
• Translate how people behave, communicate, discover, share, and participate across social platforms into actionable insights and opportunities for brands
• Define the strategic architecture behind social-first campaigns, including audience, brand role, cultural opportunity, channel roles, content territories, and creator and community opportunities
• Serve as a senior strategic counselor to clients, bringing proactive points of view on social and culture, challenging assumptions, and identifying opportunities for brands to show up in more relevant and distinctive ways
• Turn social and cultural insights into campaign territories and ideas, partnering across communications, influencer, experiential, account, and production teams to bring them to life across channels
• Lead and participate in brainstorms, bringing audience, cultural, community, creator, and platform intelligence that opens up unexpected opportunities for brands
• Pressure-test campaign concepts against both the strategy and the realities of social behavior, ensuring ideas feel native to the platforms and communities where they will live rather than adapted for social after the fact
• Maintain a consistent pulse on emerging platforms, communities, creators, behaviors, and internet culture, translating shifts into meaningful implications and opportunities for clients
• Establish KPIs and measurement frameworks for social-first campaigns, using performance and audience response to identify strategic learnings and evolve recommendations over time
• Play a senior role in new business, helping diagnose client challenges and developing the insights, strategic narratives, and campaign territories that support winning pitches
• Establish the frameworks, tools, and standards for social-first strategy as a growing capability across Orchestra, while helping teams strengthen how social behavior, audience insight, and culture inform their work

What you bring:

• A strategist's ability to see the bigger picture and a practitioner's willingness to personally dig into the research, find the insight, build the strategy, and develop the idea
• Deep understanding of audiences, social behavior, and culture, with sharp instincts for distinguishing an observation or trend from a true insight
• A track record of developing strategies that have shaped breakthrough, culturally relevant campaigns for major consumer brands
• Strong fluency across social platforms, creators, communities, earned media, and culture, with an understanding of how social-first ideas can travel beyond social
• A compelling storytelling ability, turning complex research, data, cultural observations, and business challenges into clear and persuasive strategic narratives
• Executive-level client presence and the confidence to challenge assumptions, navigate ambiguity, and counsel senior stakeholders
• A collaborative, entrepreneurial approach and excitement for building a new capability while remaining hands-on in the work

Essential skills:

• 10+ years of experience in social strategy, brand strategy, cultural strategy, or a related discipline, with significant experience in a social, communications, marketing, or integrated agency environment
• Demonstrated experience independently leading social-first strategy for major consumer brands, from research and insight development through strategic recommendation, ideation, and client presentation
• Deep experience with social listening, audience research, cultural analysis, competitive intelligence, trend forecasting, and qualitative and quantitative research methodologies
• Proven ability to develop strategic frameworks, narratives, and briefs that connect audience and cultural insights to business objectives and campaign opportunities
• Deep understanding of social platforms including TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Reddit, Pinterest, and emerging channels, as well as the behaviors and communities shaping how those platforms are used
• Experience developing social-first strategies and ideas that extend across creators, earned media, content, partnerships, experiential, and other brand touchpoints
• Strong experience contributing to new business, including research and insight generation, strategic development, ideation, pitch development, and presentation
• Proven ability to build trusted relationships with senior clients and communicate complex strategic thinking clearly, confidently, and persuasively
• Strong facilitation skills, with experience leading strategic working sessions, brainstorms, and cross-functional teams through ambiguous challenges
• Ability to operate as both strategist and executor, setting direction while also rolling up sleeves to research, write, build, and deliver
• Extremely strong presentation, written communication, interpersonal, and organizational skills

WORKING AT ORCHESTRA

Salary range (commensurate with experience and skills): $163,000 + bonus potential

Orchestra is the first communications company built for today’s media landscape. Since 2022, it’s acquired nine firms, including: BerlinRosen, Civitas Public Affairs Group, Derris, Glen Echo Group, Inkhouse, M18, Message Lab, Onward and Small Girls PR. It also launched Brightmode, a talent acquisition firm for communication professionals. Learn more at: www.orchestraco.com.

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