When I think of the kind of job I want to be doing a few years from now, the word 'strategy' inevitable comes up. And since I want to work on the web (or portal) side of things, the role I'm looking for turns up in different departments in different companies.

In some companies, the IT department is in charge of the website (both its operations and strategy aspects) while in others it's the marketing department (handling mostly strategy). In companies that are all about the web, strategy is often managed by a interdisciplinary team or specialized department. Non-tech companies, on the other hand, often hire consultants that might work on web/portal strategy as part of a broader business strategy analysis.

What this means for me is that I need to keep my eyes open for all sorts of different roles because there are so many different career pathways to a 'strategy role' (whatever that might mean).

Job Opening: Web Analyst in Digital Media

I came across one such pathway today (via Seek and Xpand) which is a position on the web tracking and analysis team of a leading technology and online company:

You will be working with a range of:

    Measurement tools such as: Omniture & Nielsen

    Data sources such as: Hitwise & Roy Morgan

To be right for this role you do not have to have [necessarily] used any of these tools but at least tracked web [usage] in some way and have a strong understanding of data.

You will be delivering reports on usage of sites, forecasting usage and contribute to strategy by understanding market and user behaviour. 

To be considered you will ideally be tertiary qualified in either a marketing or business related field.  You must be able to use [Excel] to an advanced level and will possess general [familiarity] with the Internet and web-based technologies.

This is a marketing department role that involves plenty of number crunching, the results of which are then translated into a business strategy. It also has "potential for career progression", which is really good.

Of course, I can't apply for this job. Even though it doesn't have a closing date, the company is unlikely to want someone who can't start before the 2nd of May. On the positive side, at least it's good know that there are plenty of interesting jobs out there.