Director, Brand Strategy

Company Description

Heartbeat is a full-service agency for healthcare Challenger Brands. Challengers are playing a high-stakes game—they must battle behemoth market leaders, upend ingrained treatment habits, or transform a “me-too” product into “yes-please.”

 

The agency is known for serving up distinctive strategies and differentiating approaches, ensuring clients’ market positions are uniquely owned. Heartbeat designs their organization around a 100% integration model, housing media, strategy, med comms, creative, technology, and even point of care/population health under the same roof for the tightest, most integrated campaigns possible. They price work based on outcomes, not outputs. Their innovative model delivers not only alignment, but powerful orchestration, greater efficiency, and maximum impact for every dollar spent—all the necessary elements for Challengers to triumph.

 

That’s the philosophy, here’s the creds: 250+ employees between NYC & LA; 6 agency leaders with decades of tenure; a pile of awards from the likes of the Mannys, MM&M Awards, OMMAs, and Clios; an industry-leading commitment to diversity and inclusion (with a Med Ad News D&I Champion nod to match); and a President who dared to be quoted as saying, “We celebrate people who stand up and say, ‘You know what? This is dumb.' Damn straight.

Overview

Job Description

 

We are Heartbeat, the Challenger Agency in healthcare marketing & advertising. We dedicate ourselves, every day, to tearing down the status quo and ensuring our clients brands are impossible to ignore.

 

If you’re interested in overturning traditional thinking and opening the eyes of HCPs & Consumers alike to new healthcare options, you might be our next Director, Strategy.

Responsibilities

How you’ll strengthen the team:

Our team is looking for someone who demonstrates a strong work ethic, exceptional analytical skills, and a knack for converting insights into creative, actionable recommendations for our clients. Beyond that, here’s how you’ll make your mark:

• Developing strong client relationships as a key strategic and business partner
• Guiding the strategic direction with internal and external teams in relation to our clients’ brand development and marketing approach
• Gain a deep, holistic and evolving understanding of our client’s business objectives, challenges, threats and opportunities – including forward looking awareness of emerging competitive threats
• Developing a nuanced understanding of our clients’ customers’ wants, needs, and behaviors across the full customer journey
• Understanding and advocating for Heartbeat’s full suite of strategic offerings
• Formulating strategic recommendations ranging from brand positioning, marketing strategy and digital engagement strategy, and being able to communicate them clearly and effectively
• Developing POVs for our colleagues and clients around business-critical issues and trends
• Developing inspiring creative and execution briefs

 

 

 

How you’ll grow with us:

Director, Strategy is where you’ll start, but we’re always planning for where you’ll go. Strategy Directors are all expected to hone skills that will help build on their careers. Those skills include:

 

• Facilitating internal brainstorms and client workshops
• Identifying and pursuing organic growth opportunities within existing clients
• Partnering with clients on market research activities
• Overseeing development of measurement plans and developing meaningful or noteworthy insights based on both qualitative and quantitative analysis
• Contributing to the development of junior team members
• Managing complex projects independently and successfully
• Seamlessly collaborating with other departments, identifying opportunities for efficiencies in working relationships and cross-departmental processes and hand-offs (e.g. Creative, Client Services, Media, Production, and Technology)

Hell yes, I want to do all of that. But tell me more about Heartbeat…

Heartbeat is a healthcare marketing & creative agency, headquartered in NYC and powered by ~300 smart people all over the US. In the past four years, we’ve been named a 4-time “Best Place to Work” by AdAge and MM+M and a “Diversity & Inclusion Champion” by MedAdNews.

 

We care about three big things:

 

1. Empowering Challenger BrandsWe work with marketers who have big mountains to climb and the ambition to make it happen. As their sherpa and sidekicks, we must relentlessly deliver on our core values: insightful, inventive, and courageous.

 

2. Being the Best Place You’ll Ever Work

This isn’t all pool tables and Bagel Fridays — it’s about giving you the support to do and be your best. Examples include the ability to work wherever (forever), unlimited PTO, and self-care stipends. We also love to let loose, whether through selfie scavenger hunts or bouts of companywide bingo that would shock even the rowdiest retirement communities.

 

3. Fostering a Diverse & Caring Community

We’re the most diverse agency in healthcare, by design. No matter your story, you’ll find representation and amplification — through our affinity groups, cultural celebrations, and unwavering support no matter what society throws at us. We’re proud to say that you can be anything you want at Heartbeat (as long as it’s not an a**hole).

 

There’s a reason 1/3 of Heartbeaters have been here for 4+ years and we have a 90% retention rate. We hope you’ll experience it for yourself.

 

 

About Publicis Health & Publicis Groupe

 

Heartbeat is a proud member of Publicis Health, the largest health communications network in the world. Publicis Health is one of the four solutions hubs of Publicis Groupe, the third-largest advertising and media company in the world — offering us unparalleled global reach and resources.

Qualifications

What you’re bringing with you:

Across 7+ years of experience, you know what it takes to slay Strategy. These are the core skills you’ve totally nailed:

• Experience in strategy at a creative agency and/or consulting
• Experience in healthcare marketing, including both HCP and consumer
• Superb and persuasive communications skills, both written and verbal
• Strong analytical/logical thinking
• Able to simplify and clarify complex concepts
• Structured problem solving approach to address complex strategic/management issues
• Excellent analytical skills
• Ablility to become deeply immersed in our clients’ business on both a commercial and clinical/scientific level
• Ablility to develop strong client relationships and trust based on deep immersion in their business
• Familiarity with relevant digital channels (e.g., web, mobile, CRM, social media, search)

Additional Information

Our Publicis Groupe motto “Viva La Différence” means we’re better together, and we believe that our differences make us stronger. It means we honor and celebrate all identities, across all facets of intersectionality, and it underpins all that we do as an organization. We are focused on fostering belonging and creating equitable & inclusive experiences for all talent.

 

Publicis Groupe provides robust and inclusive benefit programs and policies to support the evolving and diverse needs of our talent and enable every person to grow and thrive. Our benefits package includes medical coverage, dental, vision, disability, 401K, as well as parental and family care leave, family forming assistance, tuition reimbursement, and flexible time off.

 

If you require accommodation or assistance with the application or onboarding process specifically, please contact USMTTACompliance@publicis.com.

 

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

 

#LI-JM3

 

Compensation Range: USD $129,485.00 - USD $207,324.00/Annually. This is the pay range the Company believes it will pay for this position at the time of this posting. Consistent with applicable law, compensation will be determined based on the skills, qualifications, and experience of the applicant along with the requirements of the position, and the Company reserves the right to modify this pay range at any time. Temporary roles may be eligible to participate in our freelancer/temporary employee medical plan through a third-party benefits administration system once certain criteria have been met. Temporary roles may also qualify for participation in our 401(k) plan after eligibility criteria have been met. For regular roles, the Company will offer medical coverage, dental, vision, disability, 401k, and paid time off. The Company anticipates the application deadline for this job posting will be 8/10/2026.