Senior Real-Time Culture & Insights Strategist Freelance

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About the Opportunity

Monks is looking for a Senior Real-Time Culture & Insights Strategist to execute and optimize the detection and activation of cultural trends that inform strategies and campaigns in real time. Working closely with the Director, this role ensures insights are integrated swiftly into creative and media processes.

Our ideal candidate is a proactive, agile strategist with a deep understanding of cultural dynamics, consumer behaviors, brand building, and digital platforms, capable of turning raw data into compelling creative direction and actionable strategic frameworks.

In this role, you will:

• Territories, Cultures & Trend Detection: Continuously monitor platforms and media to identify emerging trends, subcultures, and real-time conversation opportunities.

• Social Strategy & Brand Building: Develop comprehensive social strategies and brand-building frameworks that align with long-term positioning and real-time cultural moments.

• Strategic Planning & Playbooks: Lead strategic planning processes and create actionable playbooks and guidelines that feed directly into creative ideation and campaign execution.

• Workshops & Facilitation: Plan and facilitate collaborative workshops with internal teams and clients to extract key insights, align goals, and foster creative alignment.

• Creative Approach & Ideation: Bring a strong creative strategy approach to bridge data, insights, and storytelling into high-impact visual and narrative concepts.

• Paid Media & Campaign Optimization: Collaborate on paid media strategy, analyzing cultural performance within active campaigns to recommend real-time optimizations for maximum engagement and ROI.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner closely with creative, data, media, and account teams to ensure contextual and strategic relevance across all touchpoints.

Nice to Have Skills:

• Workshop Facilitation & Training: Proven experience in designing and leading strategic co-creation workshops and client sessions.

• Advanced Playbook Architecture: Track record of building structured brand playbooks, social toolkits, and go-to-market strategies.

• Paid & Organic Media Integration: Deep understanding of how organic social tactics integrate with performance and paid media amplification.

Required Experience & Qualifications:

• 5–7 years of experience in trend analysis, research, social strategy, or brand strategy within agency, media, or tech environments.

• Strong knowledge of cultural monitoring methodologies, brand building principles, and trend forecasting frameworks.

• Demonstrated expertise in strategic planning, playbook creation, and social strategy.

• Ability to merge qualitative and quantitative data from multiple sources into clear, compelling strategic narratives.

• Intermediate to advanced English proficiency (written and spoken).

• Exceptional communication, presentation, and storytelling skills.

Technical Skills & Toolset:

1. Social Strategy & Cultural Monitoring

• Social Listening Platforms: Brandwatch, Talkwalker, Sprinklr, or NetBase Quid

• Territories, Cultures & Trend Detection: Google Trends, TikTok Creative Center, Native Platform Analytics (Meta, X, Reddit, YouTube)

• Social Strategy & Community Analytics Tools

2. Brand Building, Planning & Research

• Consumer Research: GWI (GlobalWebIndex), MRI Simmons, Search Insights

• Brand Strategy & Playbook Development Frameworks

• Paid Media Alignment & Audience Targeting Insights

3. Facilitation, Collaboration & Workflow

• Workshop & Brainstorming Tools: Miro, Figma, FigJam, Notion

• Presentation & Document Creation: Google Workspace, Microsoft PowerPoint

• Agile Project Management: Jira, Asana

About Monks

Monks is the global, digital-first, data-driven, unitary operating brand of S4Capital plc, where our culture centers on how we show up for the work and for one another. That begins with the commitment to strive for mastery—taking deep pride in our craft and creating work that sets the bar. In everyday execution, we drive momentum by choosing bold action rather than waiting for certainty. Above all, our teams are stronger together, bringing diverse perspectives into a unified team that communicates with clarity, trust, and mutual respect.

This commitment to craft and innovation translates directly into widespread industry acclaim: Monks was named a Contender in The Forrester Wave™: Global Marketing Services and a leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Global Digital Marketing Agencies. It ranks among Cannes Lions' Top 10 Creative Companies (2022-25) and remains the only partner featured in AdExchanger’s Programmatic Power Players list every year (2020-24). Named Adweek’s first AI Agency of the Year (2023) and The One Show’s inaugural AI Pioneer Organization (2025), Monks was also awarded Business Intelligence Group’s 2026 Excellence in Artificial Intelligence Award in the Human-Machine Interaction Team category. Additionally, Monks.

Flow earned AI-based Marketing Solution of the Year at the 2026 AI Breakthrough Awards and a 2026 Global Generative AI Award in the Agentic Marketing Innovation category. Finally, Monks achieved a record-breaking number of FWAs and continues to hold the most of any partner.

We are an equal-opportunity employer committed to building a respectful and empowering work environment for all people to freely express themselves amongst colleagues who embrace diversity in all respects. Including fresh voices and unique points of view in all aspects of our business not only creates an environment where we can all grow and thrive but also increases our potential to produce work that better represents—and resonates with—the world around us.