Strategy Director, Europe

Location: London

Type of contract: Permanent

Hybrid: Mon+ Fri WFH, Tues, Weds + Thurs office based

Who We Are

TBWA\Media Arts Lab (or MAL as you’ll hear us called) is the bespoke global advertising agency dedicated solely to Apple. Our mission is to create smart, simple, and iconic work that transforms business and makes culture for the world’s best brand.

We’re headquartered in Los Angeles with 7 further international hubs and over 800 people making great work for Apple in 26 markets around the globe.

Our London office leads advertising for Apple across Europe, the Middle East, and Turkey. Initially established as a high-end adaptation hub, it has rapidly evolved into a centre of strategic and creative excellence, responsible for crafting culturally resonant and locally bespoke work that drives impact in key regional markets.

The Role

Partnering with creative, account, and media teams, this position plays a central role in driving the strategic output for the European region, enabling us to deliver Apple-calibre creative across a broad, culturally nuanced, and important region. This is a challenging but ultimately rewarding role for someone who’s motivated by the opportunity to explore what Apple means across Europe, from both a business and creative perspective.

Our focus is:

We are dedicated solely to Apple. Completely bespoke. We don’t engage with any other client and we certainly don’t pitch. This removes the new business pressure typical of other agencies and replaces it with a creative ambition to continually deliver across Apple’s entire product and services portfolio.

As market experts, MAL London works one step removed from Cupertino and the big global campaigns, giving us licence to act as a test ground, pushing and influencing Apple to engage in different, potentially more meaningful ways.

Apple is inherently perfectionist and will not drop its creative standards. We need someone with maturity, dedication and perspective to lead the complexities of a huge global organisation, following processes and being prepared to go through multiple rounds to get the work exactly right.

Apple is incredibly private and security conscious. We don’t test our work before it goes live, trusting the partnership between agency and client to know what’s right for the brand and marketplace at any given time. Your work won’t die at the hands of a focus group.

You will be naturally inquisitive - staying on top of technology markets, online and social environments, and the latest trends in consumer behaviour, creativity, music, art and wider culture.

Alongside this, you will:

Lead the overall EU strategy direction while managing and mentoring two in-market senior EU strategists to ensure cohesive and impactful strategic output across key EU markets.

Identify cultural opportunities and proactively develop thinking that will excite Apple and lead to innovative thinking and best in class creativity.

Push Client and Agency to think of how to win in the feed and place Apple at the centre of popular culture.

Create killer creative briefs that find fresh and innovative ways to approach familiar problems.

Work hand-in-glove with creatives to foster an environment where strategic insights are brought to life and structure helps facilitate ideation.

Act as a brand guardian by debating constructively, holding a clear point of view, and ensuring creative work delivers against the problems it was designed to solve.

Create experiences in media, leveraging platforms like YouTube, X, TikTok, and beyond to bring interactive ideas to life.

Build a strong partnership with OMD so the client sees a united agency front, pushing the work in new and innovative ways to maximise cultural impact.

Demonstrate a rigorous methodology, using tools, data, research, and team resources to turn information into valuable insights and apply learnings from past campaigns.

Own key EU client relationships, presenting work compellingly and creatively to London leadership, our LA head office, and clients at all levels.

Who will thrive in this role?

A senior, culturally connected strategist with substantial experience working with creatively ambitious, global brands.

A strategic leader with deep understanding of the European market landscape - consumer behaviour, cultural trends, and regional nuances.

Experienced in leadership and people management, able to guide and develop strategists across different European markets while aligning strategy at a regional level.

A compelling storyteller with a clear and confident voice in the room - able to distil complexity into simplicity and bring others along with your vision.

A strong operator with proven experience leading integrated campaigns across multiple markets.

A naturally collaborative partner who brings clarity, generosity, and rigour to every phase of the process.

A resilient and proactive problem-solver, able to navigate a high-standard, low-ego environment with confidence and integrity.

A thoughtful mentor and team player who supports and develops junior strategists with clear, actionable feedback.

Passionate about the intersection of culture, creativity, media, and technology - always looking ahead, always curious.

What’s in it for you?

Given we push to create smart, simple, iconic, globally impactful work that makes culture; we understand this requires the hard work and dedication of an extremely talented and innovative collection of people.

Therefore, we have designed our benefits package to first and foremost take care of our teams, to say, “thank you”, but beyond that, it is there to ensure that you are rewarded for the incredible work you deliver and receive the recognition that goes along with that.

From continued learning & development, life insurance for protection and peace of mind, family care leave (for those important times), well-being and mental health support - to volunteer days and a great work environment with an international and talented team - basically, we’ve got you covered!

TBWA\Media Arts Lab

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Strategy Director, Europe