Associate Director, Client Strategy

The Business of Fashion is recognised around the world for its authoritative, analytical point of view on the global fashion and beauty industries. Our mission: to open, inform and connect the global fashion and beauty industries.

Serving members in more than 125 countries, The Business of Fashion combines independent, agenda-setting journalism with practical business advice, online learning, career-building tools and immersive events, powering positive change in fashion and the wider world.

Over time, our pioneering approach has made BoF the fashion industry’s leading source of business intelligence, and one of its most respected and influential voices, simply because you won’t find BoF’s original reporting, analysis and advice anywhere else. The Business of Beauty brings the same kind of agenda-setting coverage to the beauty and wellness space. Today, our talented team of correspondents, editors, analysts, engineers, designers, marketers and more numbers more than 100 people in London, New York, Paris and Milan.

BoF is committed to building a diverse workforce and we are proud to be an Equal Opportunities employer. All applicants and employees receive equal treatment regardless of race, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation, gender, age, disability, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity.

BoF is committed to building an inclusive environment where everyone can bring their authentic selves to work and reach their full potential within their roles using a growth mindset. We are committed to creating an inclusive culture for our employees globally.

BoF is committed to providing an accessible environment for all applicants throughout any stage of the recruitment process, by removing any barriers to ensure we offer a process that gives all of our applicants an opportunity to shine.

We will work with you to understand what adjustments you may need in the recruitment process to ensure you are able to perform at your best and we want to create a safe space to support this. Should you require any particular adjustment to be made, please let the Talent Specialist who is managing your application know when you are contacted for an interview, so we can consider how best we can support you with this.

The Associate Director, Client Strategy will be a senior strategic lead within the team, responsible for developing ambitious ideas, leading complex partnerships and helping translate BoF’s intelligence and expertise into commercially valuable propositions.

The successful candidate will play a significant role in:

Leading the strategic development of major custom partnerships, translating client objectives and business challenges into compelling propositions across content, thought leadership, executive engagement and live experiences.

Acting as a senior strategic partner to clients, confidently engaging with CEOs, CMOs and other senior decision-makers, while identifying opportunities to deepen relationships, develop new propositions and increase the long-term commercial value of key partnerships.

Playing a leading role in the growth of The Business of Beauty, developing high-value commercial partnerships and executive engagement opportunities, and translating BoF's beauty intelligence into compelling briefings and strategic narratives for senior audiences.

Collaborating on the strategic development of community experiences across fashion and beauty, including executive salons, leadership briefings, roundtables, panels and other bespoke formats designed to create genuine value through insight, access and peer exchange

Taking ownership of complex, cross-functional projects, bringing together colleagues across Commercial, Editorial, Content, Events, Marketing and Product while maintaining strategic clarity and consistently high standards.

Representing BoF externally, including moderating panels and executive conversations, facilitating senior roundtables and presenting BoF intelligence to leading fashion, luxury and beauty businesses.

Supporting the Head of Client Strategy in developing the function, including identifying new propositions, improving ways of working and building repeatable approaches that increase the team's commercial impact and ability to operate effectively at scale.

You are an experienced strategist with a strong understanding of the fashion, luxury and/or beauty industries and a track record of developing sophisticated strategic work for senior clients.

You combine intellectual curiosity with commercial instinct. You can quickly understand a business challenge, identify the most interesting strategic territory within it and turn that thinking into an idea or proposition that both clients and senior internal stakeholders find compelling.

You are equally comfortable in a room with a CEO, interrogating a client brief with a commercial lead, shaping the narrative of an executive presentation or helping a strategist make a promising idea significantly stronger.

You will also bring:

You have a depth and breadth of experience in strategy, consulting, intelligence, journalism, brand partnerships or a related discipline.

A sophisticated understanding of the commercial dynamics shaping fashion, luxury and beauty, including consumer behaviour, technology, retail, culture and wider macroeconomic forces.

Strong commercial judgement and an understanding of how excellent strategic work can create deeper client relationships and new revenue opportunities.

Exceptional storytelling and editorial judgement, with the ability to turn complex information into sharp, authoritative narratives.

Confidence engaging senior executives and navigating complex stakeholder relationships.

Excellent presentation, facilitation and public-speaking skills.

The ability to manage multiple complex work-streams without losing sight of the strategic objective.

A hyper-collaborative approach and the judgement to work effectively across commercial, editorial and creative teams while protecting BoF’s authority and standards.

You are trusted by senior clients and Commercial colleagues to shape the strategic direction of BoF’s most important partnerships.

Your strategic input contributes to stronger propositions, deeper client relationships, larger opportunities and repeat business.

You develop ideas and intellectual territories that feel distinctive to BoF and make meaningful use of our journalism, intelligence, audience and industry access.

You confidently lead senior client conversations, presentations, executive gatherings and live discussions as a representative of BoF.

You raise the quality of thinking across the Client Strategy team and are a trusted source of guidance.

You build strong relationships across BoF and can effectively mobilise different parts of the organisation around ambitious partnerships.

The work you lead consistently meets BoF’s standards for intellectual credibility, client value and executional excellence.

You help the Head of Client Strategy build a stronger, more commercially valuable and increasingly scalable Client Strategy function.