Roles we recruit
Seven practices, 27 functions. Start at the practice when you cannot yet name the title; go straight to the function when you can.
Browse all 229 roles Brief us on a seatFlat 15% of first-year base · shortlist in 10 working days
A brand strategist sets the company’s position, not a product’s: buyer and competitor research, the brand promise, architecture and the story every team and agency builds from. Decks hide whether the thinking worked, so we screen for research they ran, positions they set and who used them afterward.
A new brand strategist is judged on whether buyers, sales and product start describing the company in the same words. Each stage below has a signal that predicts it, and we test for that signal before you meet anyone.
The ramp, and the test behind each milestone
Weeks 1 to 3
Buyer interviews and win-loss calls, sales calls listened to, competitor positioning mapped, and every place the company describes itself reviewed: website, deck, product and job posts.
On track looks like a short research summary of what buyers say, how competitors position themselves and where the company sounds different in different places.
How we test for it before you meet them
A positioning audit in our screen: three competitor sites and the company's own. We score what they notice about sameness before they suggest a new line.
Weeks 4 to 6
Two or three position options with the evidence behind each, tested with buyers and sales, then narrowed to one with leadership.
On track looks like a single position written in plain words that the CEO and the heads of sales and product can repeat.
How we test for it before you meet them
We ask for a position they set, the evidence they used and who disagreed. A former CMO or CEO confirms the account.
Weeks 7 to 10
The brand promise, how product and service names relate, the core story and the proof behind each claim, written so teams and agencies can build from them.
On track looks like a brand platform short enough to read in ten minutes, with proof for each claim.
How we test for it before you meet them
We ask them to explain a naming or architecture decision and what they rejected.
Weeks 11 to 13
Briefs for sales, product marketing, content and the agency written from the position, with examples of what is on brand and what is not.
On track looks like new campaigns, decks and pages using the position without the strategist rewriting them.
How we test for it before you meet them
We ask how they got a skeptical team to use a position. A reference from product marketing or sales confirms it.
After day 90
Strong brand strategists check each quarter whether buyers repeat the position, change it only on evidence and stop teams from drifting.
On track looks like a quarterly read on whether buyers and sales use the same words, and drift caught early.
How we test for it before you meet them
We ask what they changed after launch and why. A change made on evidence predicts a strategist who will not defend the work out of pride.
Five responsibilities. If the seat also runs campaigns, agencies and the daily use of the brand, it is a brand manager; if it plans announcements and press, it is a communications manager.
Interviews, win-loss analysis and a map of how competitors position themselves.
What the company stands for and where it is different, in words buyers repeat.
What the company commits to and the evidence behind each claim.
How the company, its products and its services are named and related.
The narrative and the rules every team, writer and agency builds from.
Three neighboring seats absorb work people assume belongs here. Drawing the line wrong is how a brand strategy search ends with a campaign manager or a copywriter with a framework.
That seat ownsThe brand in market: identity standards, campaigns, agencies and how the brand shows up across channels.
Hire it instead whenthe position is clear and the work is keeping it consistent.
That seat ownsThe communications plan: announcements, press, internal and executive communications and issues.
Hire it instead whenthe position is set and the work is saying it to the right audiences on time.
That seat ownsA product’s positioning, messaging and launches for its buyers.
Hire it instead whenthe question is how one product wins, not how the company is seen.
The title stays the same; the setting does not. Pick the one that matches your situation.
Comes from a branding or creative agency and brings research method, workshop skills and presentation craft.
Sets the company’s position and keeps it aligned as products and markets change.
Positions a company sold to buying committees: category, differentiation and proof sales can carry into the room.
The questions we ask in our own screen. Use them in yours; the warning signs are as useful as the answers.
Every candidate we put forward is scored on these five, and the scores travel with the shortlist, gaps included. Four out of five with a named weakness beats a clean sweep you cannot verify.
| What we score | Weak evidence | Strong evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Research depth | Opinions from the leadership team only. | Buyer interviews and win-loss work they ran, with what it changed. |
| Clarity of position | A tagline with no claim behind it. | A position in plain words, with proof, that leadership can repeat. |
| Commercial link | Awareness and sentiment only. | Positioning tied to win rate, pipeline quality or pricing, confirmed by sales. |
| Adoption | A guide that sits in a folder. | Teams and agencies using it, confirmed by product marketing or sales. |
| Fit with your market | A different buyer, category or competitive set. | Positioned a company like yours against similar competitors. |
Public US benchmarks, read October 2026. Brand strategist pay is mostly base: Salary.com’s employer-reported band is $97,786 to $111,197 with a median of $106,035, and its total cash average is $116,773. Built In has no page for the title, so the brand manager is shown as the seat beside it. Agency or in-house setting and seniority move the number most.
Each bar runs from the 25th to the 75th percentile, the middle half of reported pay.
Base salaryWages including commission (BLS)Average total pay, base plus variable
Brand Strategist
Salary.com base, total cash average
$97,786 to $111,197 base$116,773 average total
Brand Manager
Salary.com base, Built In total, neighboring seat
$115,818 to $129,338 base$119,478 average total
Communications Manager
Salary.com base benchmark, neighboring seat
$110,271 to $132,455 base
Advertising and promotions managers
BLS, all industries, the nearest category
$91,370 to $201,050
Bars: Salary.com base salary, 25th to 75th percentile, United States, as of October 1, 2026. Brand Strategist ring: Salary.com total cash compensation average (base plus annual incentives), as of October 1, 2026. Brand Manager ring: Built In average total compensation (base plus additional cash, self-reported), reviewed October 21, 2026. Advertising and promotions managers: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, annual wage at the 25th and 75th percentiles (SOC 11-2011), all industries. Public aggregates, not ZaphyrRecruit placement data.
A brand strategist decides what the company stands for and where it is different: buyer and competitor research, the position, the brand promise and its proof, the architecture of company and product names, and the story every team and agency builds from. The measure is whether buyers and sales repeat the same words, so we check research they ran, positions they set and who used them.
Salary.com puts a brand strategist at $97,786 to $111,197 base, with a median of $106,035 and total cash averaging $116,773 (October 2026). Built In has no page for the title, so there is no self-reported total to compare. Agency or in-house setting and seniority move the number. Ask for the full package, including any bonus.
A brand strategist decides the position: research, the promise, the architecture and the story. A brand manager runs the brand in market: identity standards, campaigns, agencies and consistency across channels. Strategy sets what to say; management keeps it said. Small companies often need a strategist first and a manager later, while larger ones with a settled position need the manager. One title for both jobs tends to leave one of them undone.
When sales, product and marketing describe the company differently, when a repositioning or a new product line is coming, or when competitors sound the same as you do. A brand strategist needs access to buyers, a leader who will own the decision and a plan for how teams will use the result. If the position is settled, hire a brand manager; if the need is announcements, a communications manager.
We run a positioning audit on a company site and three competitors, ask candidates for a position they set and the evidence behind it, and check with a former CMO or CEO who disagreed and how it was resolved. Every candidate is scored on the five criteria on this page, and the scores travel with the shortlist, gaps included.
Either can work. Agency strategists bring research method and range across categories, but may not have lived with a position or watched teams use it. In-house strategists know the company and its constraints but may have worked on one brand. Match the background to the gap: agency experience for a fresh start, in-house experience when the work is alignment and adoption.
Ten working days from a signed brief to a shortlist of three to five calibrated candidates, each with a positioning audit scored and past positions checked with a former CMO or CEO. Interview speed decides the rest: brand strategists with a record usually have several processes open, so a decision within two weeks of the first interview keeps them.
Tell us the market, the competitors and who owns the company’s story today. We come back within one business day with how we would run the search and what the seat pays.
We build shortlists from people doing this work now, often before a seat is advertised. Set up a job alert for brand roles, or send your CV and we will come to you, in confidence, when a seat opens.
The brand strategist is one of six seats in this function. If the gap sits elsewhere, start there.