Director of Business Strategy

Art Version is a Chicago-based creative agency where strategy and design come together to solve complex business challenges. We work with organizations ranging from emerging startups to Fortune 500 leaders, helping them strengthen their brand and create digital experiences that move people to action. To accelerate our next stage of growth, we’re seeking a Director of Business Strategy to drive revenue initiatives, implement automation, and build long-term client partnerships.

This is a hands‑on leadership role that blends business development, growth operations, and client strategy. You’ll be responsible for shaping opportunities, deploying automation tools to scale outreach, and working with leadership to ensure business development efforts translate into measurable growth. This role is ideal for someone who is comfortable both thinking strategically and actively driving new business. The right candidate will know how to identify qualified opportunities, initiate conversations, guide prospects through a consultative sales process, and help translate business needs into meaningful creative, digital, and brand solutions.

At Art Version, design is strategy. This role gives you the opportunity to directly impact how we grow as a firm and how we help clients achieve their business goals. You’ll work with a collaborative, forward‑thinking team that values initiative, innovation, and measurable outcomes.

• Own business development initiatives end-to-end, including prospecting, lead qualification, outreach, follow‑up, proposal coordination, and close strategy.
• Identify opportunities with marketing leaders, brand managers, founders, executives, and enterprise decision‑makers who may benefit from Art Version’s branding, UX/UI, web design, development, and digital strategy services.
• Work with leadership to shape proposals, scopes of work, pricing conversations, and strategic recommendations for prospective clients.
• Track pipeline performance, conversion rates, outreach activity, and revenue opportunities to improve predictability, accountability, and growth planning.
• Develop referral relationships, strategic partnerships, and channel opportunities that support long‑term agency growth.

Preferred experience includes a background in creative services, digital strategy, branding, UX/UI, web design, web development, marketing, or professional services sales. Candidates with an existing network of marketing leaders, brand managers, founders, executives or enterprise decision‑makers will be especially well aligned with this role. Familiarity with agency workflows, CRM platforms, AI‑assisted outreach, Linked In prospecting, referral development, inbound lead qualification, proposal development, and longer consultative sales cycles is also valuable.

Experience identifying opportunities across professional services, healthcare, technology, real estate, manufacturing, nonprofit, B2B, and enterprise organizations is a plus. This role includes performance‑based bonus opportunities tied to qualified pipeline development, new client acquisition, and measurable revenue growth.

• Experience selling creative, digital, branding, marketing, UX/UI, web design, development, or professional services.
• Strong understanding of consultative sales, longer sales cycles, and relationship‑based business development.
• Ability to understand a prospective client’s business challenges and connect them to strategic creative and digital solutions.
• Comfortable initiating conversations with new prospects and following opportunities through to close.
• Strong proposal, presentation, negotiation, and follow‑up skills.

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Communications, or related field (or equivalent practical experience). MBA or advanced…