Associate Brand Strategist

Craft is delighted to partner with AREA 17 on the launch of their 2026 Cohort, a structured entry point designed to grow and nurture junior talent into the leaders of tomorrow. You’ll work in small, autonomous teams alongside senior strategists and designers, learning by doing rather than sitting on the sidelines with colleagues at the same stage of their careers.

AREA 17 is a global brand, experience, and technology agency working at the intersection of strategy and craft. It helps ambitious companies and cultural institutions transform how they show up in the world, from early-stage AI startups to some of the world’s most recognized Institutions.

You’ll join a brand practice of five, spanning two studios. You’ll report to an Associate Strategy Director and be trained directly by the Head of Brand, who leads the practice globally.

Your work will move between two speeds: six-to-eight-week acceleration sprints and transformation engagements running six months or more. You’ll partner with designers to articulate strategy before execution, ground creative ideas in business logic, and help clients move from positioning through to brand systems they can own. Because no rigid split exists yet between senior and junior strategists, you’ll help define how this practice actually works.

Onboarding is a structured 12-week programme: intensive training, shadowing on an internal R&D project, then a live project role.

• $60,000 - $75,000
• Hybrid working
• Early October start date
• Fully paid medical, dental, and vision for employees and families
• 401(k) with company match
• HSA with annual employer contribution
• Employer-paid life insurance

You’re one to two years into strategy work, past the first-job hump but not a fresh graduate. Your background could be semiotics, UX, media strategy, or any commercial environment built on strategic problem-solving.

You’re a maker - someone who has built or launched something independently, and your research goes well beyond what an AI can generate.