Creative Director

Creative Strategist

Mississauga, ON (Hybrid)

Full-time | $90k-$115k

About the Opportunity

Our client is an established experiential agency that designs and delivers live events and programs for leading brands across a range of industries. Their work is built to do more than impress in the room: it's designed to shift how audiences think and move them to act. They're looking for a Creative Strategist to own the big idea at the front end of each program. This is a great fit for an experiential or agency strategist who loves the blank page, can sell an idea in the room, and wants to see it actually built.

The Role

You'll turn client objectives and audience insight into bold, differentiated experience concepts, then give the design, content and production teams direction clear enough to build from. You'll partner closely with program leads, lead ideation and research, and present and defend ideas to clients and in new business pitches.

This is a strategy role that stays close to delivery. You'll protect the core idea as it moves through budget, timeline and production realities, and you'll be onsite at programs when it matters. In your first 90 days, you'll get to know the client roster and the team, lead ideation on live briefs, contribute concepts to at least one new business pitch, and set up a shared library of research, trends and creative references.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead structured ideation that turns client goals and audience needs into compelling experience concepts, themes and narratives.
• Research client businesses, audiences, competitors and cultural trends, and translate findings into insights that sharpen the work.
• Bring client brands to life through experiences in fresh ways, while staying true to their strategy and values.
• Write creative briefs, concept decks, mood boards and narratives that make the vision easy for others to execute.
• Present ideas to clients and internal teams with confidence, and explain the strategy behind each recommendation.
• Contribute creative strategy to new business pitches and proposals.
• Balance creative ambition with budget, schedule and production constraints without losing the central idea.
• Review creative work in progress, flag misalignment early, and give clear feedback to avoid rework.
• Join post-program reviews to assess how well the concept landed and capture learnings for future work.

What We're Looking For

• 5–8+ years in creative strategy, experiential, advertising or integrated marketing.
• Experience in experiential events, a creative agency or another project-based creative environment.
• A portfolio of concepts, campaigns or experiences you originated that were actually produced, with clear client objectives behind them.
• Strong brand strategy skills and the ability to turn a brand's identity and messaging into a live experience.
• Confident presenting and defending ideas to clients, including in new business pitches.
• Research skills, with examples of audience or cultural insights that shaped a concept.
• Comfortable working alongside designers, content creators, producers and client service teams, and adapting to feedback without losing the idea.
• Able to manage several programs and pitches at once in a fast-paced environment.
• Calm under client pressure, solutions-focused, and open to feedback and learning.
• Able to work hybrid in Toronto, with occasional evenings, weekends, onsite program days and overnight travel.
• Behavioural design, learning-experience design, multi-industry client work and pitch leadership are strong assets.

This role is for the strategist who wants to own the big idea and see it built.

This position reflects a current vacancy with one of our clients. Our Recruiters combine deep market expertise with AI-enabled technology to support a faster, more informed recruitment process.