Strategy Managers


About

Exploring this Job

Get a part-time or summer job in a company that offers strategic management services or in a company with a strategy management department. Find job listings on Web sites such as Glassdoor, Indeed, LinkedIn, and through professional associations Web sites. Your schools career services office can also help you with the job search. Conduct an informational interview with a strategy manager to find out what their work and educational background is and what advice they have on how to get started in this profession. Read industry publications to keep up with news and developments in strategy management. Search for publications on professional associations Web sites.

The Job

Strategy managers help companies to achieve existing and new goals. They review the companies goals to make sure they are realistic financially and that resources, such as employees, can be allocated to working toward the goals. Strategy managers work closely with the companies executives in formulating goals and creating the strategy plans for achieving the goals. They establish the objectives of projects and the employees and groups that will be assigned to these projects. Strategy managers monitor the progress of employees and groups working on various projects by attending regularly scheduled meetings and participating in conference calls.

Some of the tasks of strategy managers are similar to those of business intelligence analysts, such as collecting and analyzing business intelligence data from industry and field reports, public information, and other sources, analyzing competitive products and markets, and keeping customers informed of their findings and business trends. This information helps strategy managers in formulating goal recommendations for companies. Those who work in the financial industry may evaluate and provide information in support of mergers and acquisitions. They may also help companies to develop plans for improving their investments.

In addition to strong analytical and organizational skills, strategy managers have strong technology skills. They use a variety of software programs in their work. Some examples of the software programs that they may use while on the job include database management software such as Microsoft Access and Oracle JDBC; enterprise resource planning software such as Microsoft Dynamics, NetSuite ERP, and Oracle Hyperion; object- or component-oriented development software such as Apache Groovy, C++, and Oracle Java; development environment software such as Apache Ant, Go, and Ruby; and Web platform development software such as Backbone.js and JavaScript, to name only a few.