Instrument is a design and technology company. We build brands, products, and experiences that move businesses forward—by making the complex simple.
For over 20 years, we’ve partnered with companies like Google, ServiceNow, Uber, Eventbrite, and ŌURA, helping them navigate change, launch new ideas, and grow with intention.
Our work spans Brand, Marketing, and Product, but what defines us is how we work. We bring strategy, design, and engineering together from the start, moving quickly from idea to execution and refining as we go. We aim to do great work and be great to work with, because both matter.
We’re a collaborative, hands-on team with roots in Portland and New York and a distributed presence across the U.S. and Europe. We build teams around the needs of the work, staying nimble without sacrificing craft.
We value curiosity, perspective, and continuous learning, and we’re committed to building an inclusive environment where people can do their best work.
If that sounds like you, we’d love to meet you.
Strategy Directors at Instrument are senior leaders responsible for the quality, vision, and impact of strategy across clients, teams, and the broader organization. They shape how strategy shows up in the work — balancing brand, experience, content, and business thinking — while building strong client partnerships and healthy, high-performing teams.
This role requires requires the ability to define the strategy for branded digital experiences from shaping core brand strategy to building the UX strategy for brand's digital surfaces. The ideal candidate operates at a systems level; guiding multiple engagements simultaneously, overseeing strategists in the work, contributing to project 2-3 pitches at a time, and partnering closely with creative leads and executive leadership team to grow the discipline and the business. This also role will help drive the team's UX perspective and help shaping the strategy discipline on the team in partnership with the Executive Strategy Director and other strategy leaders.
This role emphasizes judgment, pace, people leadership, and long-term strategic impact. The right person thrives in fast-moving, fluid environments, context-switches quickly, and gets up to speed on new challenges without a lot of ramp time.
What You'll Do
- Serve as the senior strategic lead across multiple client engagements and portfolios simultaneously.
- Ensure strategic rigor, clarity, and coherence across projects, from discovery through delivery.
- Oversee and guide strategists and teams through ambiguity and complexity by applying sound judgment while maintaining quality standards across the work.
- Bring expert-level fluency in UX and brand strategy for digital experiences.
- Balance and integrate brand thinking with detailed UX; comfortable operating across both with equal rigor.
- Apply experience strategy to complex, multi-touchpoint engagements involving brand, content, and digital product.
- Actively contribute to 2-3 pitches at a time in collaboration with creative, design, and account disciplines.
- Get up to speed quickly on new categories and client contexts with minimal ramp time.
- Bring a sharp, distinctive strategic POV to pitch situations; confident presenting to senior and executive stakeholders.
- Partner with discipline and studio leadership to identify and pursue new business opportunities.
- Build and maintain trusted relationships with senior and executive-level client stakeholders
- Partner with Client Executive Directors and account leadership to identify and grow new opportunities.
- Present strategic direction and recommendations with confidence, credibility, and influence.
- Balance client advocacy with business objectives and delivery realities.
- Hire, manage, and develop strategists across levels, building a strong and resilient team.
- Define, codify, and implement clear, repeatable strategic standards and frameworks that elevate quality, improve efficiency, and create consistency across engagements and teams
- Contribute to internal learning, workshops, and knowledge sharing that scale best practices across the discipline.
- Continuously evolve the discipline by identifying gaps, raising the bar for quality, and ensuring standards keep pace with the work and market within the assigned Studio.
- Set clear expectations for performance, growth, and accountability, and hold leaders accountable for outcomes.
- Foster a culture of strategic excellence, collaboration, and inclusion.
- Ensure team health, resourcing balance, and sustainable delivery.
- Support team structure and scoping needs for net-new projects
What You'll Bring
- You’ve led strategy at a senior level and are comfortable operating across multiple projects, teams, or accounts—balancing depth with breadth.
- You bring a broad set of strategy skills across brand, digital, product, content, and marketing, with deeper expertise in at least a few of these areas.
- You’re skilled at connecting insights to action—using research, synthesis, and storytelling to shape clear, compelling strategic direction.
- You’re an effective facilitator and communicator, able to lead workshops, guide conversations, and influence senior stakeholders with confidence and clarity.
- You have experience building and leading teams—setting expectations, developing talent, and creating a strong, collaborative culture.
- You understand how to balance client needs, business goals, and delivery realities—making decisions that are both ambitious and practical.
- You’re curious about emerging tools and technologies, and you apply sound judgment about how they can meaningfully improve the work.
Pay Range
- The expected pay range for this position is $150,000-$185,000. We have three regional pay ranges that are adjusted for cost of living (US1 +15%, US2 +7.5%, US3 Base), learn more about our pay philosophy and cost of living adjustments
What We Offer
- Medical, dental, and vision coverage
- 401k with employer matching
- Unlimited PTO + company wide closures
- Work From Home and Wellbeing monthly stipend
- HSA Employer Contribution
- Professional Development Stipend
- Paid Parental Leave
Flexible, Hybrid Work Environment
Great Compensation with Annual Reviews (Learn more about our Pay Philosophy)
401(k) Matching with Immediate Vesting
Robust Medical, Vision, and Accident Insurance
Generous Paid Holidays and unlimited PTO
Monthly Wellbeing Stipend
Career Management and Leadership Training
Skills Required
- Led strategy at a senior level across multiple projects or accounts
- Expertise in UX and brand strategy for digital experiences
- Broad strategy skills across brand, digital, product, content, and marketing (deeper expertise in some areas)
- Experience building, hiring, managing, and developing strategist teams
- Skilled at research, synthesis, storytelling, and connecting insights to action
- Proven ability to present and influence senior and executive stakeholders
- Experience contributing to and shaping pitches (2-3 at a time)
- Ability to define and implement strategic standards, frameworks, and repeatable processes
- Strong facilitation and workshop leadership skills
- Capacity to operate quickly across new categories with minimal ramp time
- Curiosity about emerging tools and technologies and good judgment about their application
What We Do
We’re a team of technologists, strategists, and creative problem solvers seeking to make a positive impact on your business and the world around us
