Director, Data Strategy

Chicago, IL, United States

Merge Storytelling and Technology

MERGE promotes health, wealth and happiness in the world by merging storytelling with technology and offers marketing and technology clients full-service capabilities including strategy, creative communications, experience engineering, performance marketing, media and digital platform development. MERGE has enduring client partnerships with American Express, T-Mobile, LG, Subway, Kate Spade NY, Coach, The North Face, Meta, Adobe, BlueCross BlueShield, Abbott, Astellas, Supernus, CSL, GE Healthcare, Broward Health, Indiana University Health, Nationwide and Morgan Stanley. With 800 employees across offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Kansas City, Montreal, New York City and Los Angeles, MERGE uses a talent-to-task process that enables clients to think higher and feel deeper about their customers. For more information, visit mergeworld.com.

Promote Health, Wealth & Happiness

We are committed to promoting health, wealth, and happiness in the world by partnering with purpose-driven clients in purpose-driven industries such as healthcare, financial services, and consumer products. Our deep vertical expertise and category insights stem from decade-long partnerships with our top clients.

Emerge to the Top of Your Career

At MERGE, we strive to create a superior work experience where talented and ambitious people grow. An experience that encourages people to think higher and feel deeper. An experience where people engage minds and hearts to do the best work of their careers.

As our Director, Data Strategy you will…

Lead our data strategy efforts to drive decision-making and enhance the effectiveness of our digital marketing campaigns. You will be responsible for owning and cultivating our relationship with TransUnion, packaging their offerings, providing go-to-market support, and developing ongoing use cases and training across our network. You’re comfortable diving deep into large datasets leveraging advanced analytics techniques, developing audience strategies, and exploring and integrating other 1st, 2nd, and 3rd party data sets such as health data, as demand across verticals. You will be working in tandem with Analytics & Data Science team members as well as other cross-functional service offering leaders (CRM, Media, etc) in expanding existing audience and data offerings, exploring new offerings, and supporting the development of marketing and sales materials.

Be Accountable and Responsible

Strategic Data Leadership:

Own and cultivate the relationship with TransUnion, ensuring comprehensive understanding and utilization of their capabilities.

Package TransUnion offerings and provide go-to-market support.

Develop ongoing use cases and training across our network.

Explore and integrate other data sets, such as health data, as demand across verticals.

Data Analysis and Insights

Work closely with the Analytics team to synthesize data reports and outputs.

Utilize advanced analytics tools and techniques to analyze large datasets.

Conduct audience segmentation and develop strategies for enhanced targeting.

Implement lookalike modeling and machine learning techniques to refine target audience profiles.

Apply audience insights to enhance CRM strategies.

Develop strategies to effectively leverage all available data sources for audience profiling.

Collaboration and Communication:

Collaborate with cross-functional teams to align strategies with client goals and objectives.

Craft compelling narratives based on complex data and insights.

Effectively communicate complex data insights to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Collaborate with account managers, creatives, and other team members to ensure alignment with campaign objectives.

Business Development & Marketing:

Lead the creation of sales materials, template deliverables, and case studies to support audience and data solutions.

Support the Marketing team in planning for and contributing to content including but not limited to joint collateral, solutions overviews, website content, webinars, events, and/or award submissions.

Work with the Business Development & Client Services teams as needed to assist in the identification of sales opportunities for solutions, including partnered services or strategies via ongoing account mapping.

Work with cross-functional partners to provide relevant information and content in support of related sales opportunities.

As needed on selected strategic sales opportunities, be a member of the pitch team to present solutions and/or partner-related content, within specialized Data Strategy expertise.

MERGE Thought Leadership:

Develop subject matter expertise in audience analysis, segmentation, and targeting; act as an internal expert in key components of the client business model

Stay informed on a changing landscape of digital channels, technology, and platforms globally.

These are the qualifications we’re looking for:

10+ years of experience in marketing with a strong preference for experience within an advertising agency, marketing services, or consulting firm

Bachelor's degree in Data Science, Statistics, Marketing, or a related field. Master’s degree and/or equivalent work experience

5+ years in data/research/strategy

Proven experience in audience data analytics and strategy development

Strong proficiency in data analytics tools such as Python, R, SQL, or similar

Understanding and experience in ML Techniques (Lookalike Modeling, Decision Trees, Reinforcement Learning or similar)

Familiarity with data visualization tools (e.g., Tableau, Power BI).

Excellent communication and collaboration skills

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And here’s how we live our values at MERGE

Ability. Mastering our craft

Agility. Delivering with a growth mindset

Humility. Collaborating for shared success

MERGE is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer

MERGE welcomes and celebrates diversity regardless of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, veteran status or people with abilities. We believe that the more diverse we are, the more creative our work will be!

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