Strategic Planner 4

We are seeking a Strategic Planner with exceptional strategic leadership to help shape the future of our client's Youth Business and the broader landscape of youth engagement. This pivotal role involves close collaboration with the Youth Leadership team, identifying critical strategic priorities, defining long-term growth opportunities, and translating powerful insights into actionable strategies. You will be instrumental in driving consumer, marketplace, and business impact, serving as a trusted thought partner to senior leaders. If you thrive in ambiguity, possess a balance of analytical rigor, business acumen, and communication excellence, and are energized by helping leaders make critical decisions, this is your opportunity to influence the future direction of one of the company's most important and visible dimensions.

What You Will Do

As a key contributor to the Strategy team, you will support the Youth Leadership team, partnering heavily with Finance, Insights & Analytics, and other cross-functional teams. You will help lead the strategic planning process, develop strategic recommendations, and serve as a trusted thought partner to senior leaders on the most important opportunities and challenges facing the business. You will independently lead cross-functional teams and strategic initiatives through three primary bodies of work:

• Direct and execute analysis and due diligence for new growth opportunities, translating findings into actionable recommendations.
• Lead strategic project workstreams, leveraging sound hypotheses and rigorous frameworks to generate deep insights beyond mere analytics and research.
• Catalyze the execution of actionable plans in collaboration with senior leaders and their functional teams.
• Align and guide teams through complex organizational matrices, providing essential project management support for cross-functional teams, including coordinating process milestones and deliverables.
• Collaborate with various cross-functional teams across the business to prepare comprehensive business reviews, scorecards, and materials for strategic workshops.
• Drive integrated actions that help the company succeed with Youth and Empowering Adults while delivering sustainable growth.
• Partner with leaders to answer complex strategic questions, align and mobilize cross-functional teams around shared priorities, and translate long-term strategies into actionable plans that accelerate business and organizational impact.
• Identify and shape the next growth opportunities for the Youth segment through long-range planning and strategic exploration.
• Develop frameworks, insights, and recommendations that enable leaders to evaluate emerging trends, unlock new growth vectors, and make informed choices about future investments.
• Measure progress against strategic priorities, helping leaders focus resources on the highest-impact opportunities.
• Diagnose performance, identify key learnings, develop Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and communicate clear recommendations to strengthen decision-making, improve execution, and drive continuous improvement.

What You Bring

To excel in this role, you will possess a unique blend of strategic acumen, leadership capabilities, and a collaborative spirit:

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Economics, Applied Science, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• 7+ years of experience in strategic planning or consulting, with a minimum of 5+ years in corporate strategy, management consulting, investment banking, corporate finance, business operations, business development, corporate development, or a related field.
• Strategy-specific experience within the apparel or consumer goods industry.
• Proven experience navigating complex cross-functional organizations, collaborating effectively with finance, insights, planning, merchandising, product, brand, marketplace, and other related teams.
• Expertise in Keynote or other presentation tools for creating compelling executive-level presentations and engaging decks.
• Experience in leading sophisticated strategic projects and a proven track record of methodically analyzing problems, gathering information, generating options, and proposing and acting on a course of action.
• Demonstrated success in influencing cross-functional teams and stakeholders without direct authority.
• Consistent track record of bringing together diverse individuals with different goals and facilitating productive discussions.
• Strong understanding of growth strategy, business performance, and value creation within consumer-facing industries.
• Exceptional analytical and problem-solving skills, including the ability to create structure from ambiguity and synthesize large amounts of information into actionable insights.
• Outstanding communication and written/verbal storytelling capabilities, with the ability to simplify complexity and influence executive audiences.
• A bias towards action, comfort working in ambiguity, and the ability to navigate complexity and adversity effectively.
• Ability to balance strategic thinking with operational pragmatism and an execution-focused mindset.
• Strong interpersonal skills with a track record of building trust and credibility across diverse teams and leadership levels.
• Curiosity, demonstrated learning agility, and a growth mindset.
• Proficiency in business development, quantitative, and qualitative acumen.
• Expertise in strategic planning and project management within a cross-functional, global matrix environment.
• Strong skills in data/market analysis and financial modeling.

What Will Set You Apart

While not strictly required, these qualifications will distinguish you as an exceptional candidate:

• Master's degree preferred.
• Experience leading and managing multiple workstreams, effectively driving work processes.
• Strong prioritization abilities and the capacity to quickly adapt and contribute with a short ramp-up period.
• Previous industry experience is a plus.
• Passion for consumers and products.

#LI-AJ!

About Aquent

Aquent connects the best talent in marketing, creative, and design with the world's biggest brands. Our eligible talent get access to amazing benefits like subsidized health, vision, and dental plans, paid sick leave, and retirement plans with a match. We also offer free online training through Aquent Gymnasium. More information on our awesome benefits! Aquent is an equal-opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, and other legally protected characteristics. We're about creating an inclusive environment-one where different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives are valued, and everyone can contribute, grow their careers, and thrive.