Head of Brand Strategy

Head of Brand Strategy

Location: New York, Hybrid

Salary: $200,00–$230,000 (OTE $240,000–$300,000)

About us

Duel is a SaaS company on a mission to make Brand Advocacy the industry standard philosophy for building brilliant retail brands. It was founded by world record-breaking adventurer and former brand ambassador Paul Archer. We exist to show that companies built for advocacy can change the world. In today's hyper connected world in which social media is now twice the size of all other media channels combined and entirely user-generated, the most successful brands are the ones investing in people and in community, not in ads.

The Duel Brand Advocacy Solution allows enterprise brands to do just that. We have onboarded over 60 influential brands such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Charlotte Tilbury, Spanx, Victoria’s Secret, LUSH and Elemis. The Duel team's global presence includes offices in New York City & London. Our team of 60+ is composed of psychologists, brand experts and community builders, combining cutting-edge brand expertise with seasoned SaaS experience.

Backed by top European VCs, Duel recently announced a $16 million Series A, which will accelerate growth in the US from our base in New York, and bring our entirely AI-driven product vision to life to equip brands with the solution needed to drive growth through thousands of advocates, customers, creators and brand ambassadors.

The Role

At Duel, the Head of Brand Strategy will build and lead a team of Brand Strategists who will drive the strategic direction of Brand Advocacy and Advocacy Programs with enterprise brands. This leadership position requires a blend of hands-on strategic delivery, team leadership, and a unique ability to operate at the intersection of agency-grade strategic services and the commerciality of deploying a software solution.

Our strategy team works closely with the Sales Team and our Account Managers to design winning brand strategies for implementing advocacy and building community at the company level and for deploying the Duel Technology to manage and scale advocacy programs. You will unearth broader consumer insights, evaluate digital behaviors, and translate them into actionable recommendations that give our brands clarity on advocacy. Both planning and data analytics are essential, and we strive to deliver a remarkable experience for all our brand partners. You’ll need to think structurally, tell compelling stories (especially through numbers), and provide persuasive recommendations that inform business and marketing decisions.

Our solution today is as much about delivering a service as it is about the software. To help build and mature the Brand Advocacy category, this person must have a deep understanding of service design and delivery as much as (if not more than) the product. They will work closely with Brand Experience, Sales and Product leaders to be the voice of the customer, ensuring our product adoption reflects real-world brand needs.

We’re looking for someone who will…

• Partner with sales teams to consult, advise, run workshops and provide insight so together you can translate brand advocacy strategies into compelling commercial propositions, driving significant Gross Advocacy Value into proposals and ensuring brands buy into the advocacy vision from day one

• Build a strategic framework that becomes the standard playbook of our active enterprise brand accounts and is embedded into our platform experience.

Support Duel’s Accounts and Client Services team on all things Brand Strategy:

• Advising or running workshops in the implementation journey, supporting business reviews, identifying strategic gaps, and uncovering growth levers across the customer lifecycle.

• Drive measurable commercial impact by working cross-functionally to deliver remarkable outcomes that become case studies for future sales efforts and demonstrate clear ROI on brand advocacy investments

• Guide brands through insight-led playbooks that turn raw ambition into repeatable frameworks, and scalable tools our brands (and Duel) can rely on to activate communities and drive loyalty at scale.

Insights:

• Work closely with Product Marketing to build internal enablement tools & strategy hubs for GTM teams, including playbooks, maturity models, workshops, and templates that scale brand thinking across the business.

• Collaborate with accounts/client services teams to maximize revenue returns from advocacy programs, leveraging strategic insights to optimise client outcomes and drive program expansion

• Provide strategic thought leadership across high-stakes engagements, including Fortune 500 clients.

Data Led:

• Use data to shape the customer journey, developing content and experiences that drive informed strategic decisions.

Lead:

• Manage and mentor a team of Brand Strategists, building a culture of collaboration, credibility, and client impact.

• Foster a spirit of curiosity, and creativity, developing your team of strategists into trusted partners for our clients.

Service Design:

• Build out and scale service & program design capabilities, establishing playbooks, SLAs, delivery rituals, and commercial measurement.

• Operate with a consultancy-meets-agency mindset where service delivery and program design are as critical as the software.

Product:

• Partner closely with the Product and Engineering teams to represent the voice of the customer, ensuring product development is informed by real-world brand experience.

• Balance long-term strategy excellence with long-term product adoption and scalability, bridging agency-style delivery and SaaS maturity.
  

We’d love to hear from you, if you have..

• A background in building Brand Strategy teams, either within agencies/consultancies, tech or in-house; we are especially interested if you have built strategy from the lens of delivering a tech solution.

• 10+ years of experience in brand strategy, consumer or integrated marketing, service design, or product-adjacent roles, with at least 3 years in a leadership role

• Strong experience in developing and executing brand strategies, preferably in the beauty, fashion, lifestyle or CPG industries. You've been brave enough to tell some of the biggest brands in the world what they're doing is dumb and showed them how they should actually approach it.

• A deep understanding of how to translate brand and product narratives through a highly compelling consumer-first lens at each phase of the funnel.

• You understand not only how to develop a go-to-market plan, but are also intimately familiar with building brand strategies, full-funnel omni-channel execution, community, social, influencer, events & activations, partnerships, PR & VIP, trade marketing, and the creative development process.

• A polished approach to brand strategy, brand goals, audience insights, cultural trends and platform-specific tactics.

• You have led brand workshops, aligning diverse teams, and holding the room with clarity and conviction.

• A strong grasp of customer journey mapping, segmentation, and advocacy mechanics (Community building, User Generated Content, referrals, loyalty) to design programs that move the needle on real business outcomes.

• Exceptional collaboration skills, you're a team player through and through.

• Immaculate attention to detail and high standards of brand strategy.

Person

• Creative provocateur and persuasive storyteller who turns data into powerful insights and bold ideas.

• Natural presence; commands a room, aligns diverse stakeholders, and earns trust.

• True collaborator and “dot connector” across large-scale, cross-functional programs.
  Seasoned people leader with exceptional communication, organisation, and time management.

• You live and breathe brands. You obsess over the latest campaigns, the hottest names on the street, and feel strongly about sh*t marketing.

• Translate strategic thinking into compelling narratives that resonate with stakeholders across marketing, product, and the C-suite.

• Confidently connect data to commercial impact, identifying how brand advocacy influences retention, referrals, and revenue at every step.

• Advocated for evolving beyond traditional influencer models into micro-creator & community activation and UGC-driven strategies.

• You understand the difference between surface-level influence and deep authenticity & trust-driven engagement, which aligns perfectly with Duel’s vision.

• You're a natural leader that inspires people, and galvanises cross-functional teams - you're someone people want to work with.

• You strive to be innovative and push creative boundaries, not just in campaign ideation but also in how you approach execution.

The Dueligan Culture

• We want to build a remarkable company with remarkable people and a remarkable culture that you will want to shout from the rooftops about. Advocacy is our north star, both for our customers and our employees.

• A High Trust, Tight Ship, full of Utterly Lovely & Bloody Brilliant People doing their Best Work Together

• We value trust and freedom above all else. Yet this must be combined with deep ownership, execution, and clear, candid communication. If this is not how you are at Duel, or you break that trust, you will not be around for long.

• Dualigans combined are the largest shareholders in Duel. We take that concept of ownership seriously.

In-person and remote working balance ...

We do much of our best work as a team together in the office, which is why we are only hiring people within a commutable distance of our London or New York offices. However, we also know that we do our best work alone at home, and we all need to be able to balance work with life, childcare commitments, and other responsibilities. The office philosophy is hybrid, where you're encouraged to be in the office a few days a week, namely when your team will be there.

However, the name of the game with everything we do is freedom and flexibility. So you do, as long as it's not at the expense of others.

Duel Perks and Package

We have a growing benefits package, including;

• Flexible working hours - if you need to fit around childcare or life, we understand.

• 25 PTO Days + 11 Statutory Holidays + End-of-year break (3-4 additional days depending on dates)

• Options scheme for all full-time employees - it’s important to us that everyone shares in what we build.

• US Healthcare Options - More to come on this

• 401K Match Plan

• Company MacBook to work from

• $350 WFH Set-Up

• Headspace Contributions

• Personal Development budget and support

• 2 additional days leave for volunteering