Creative Strategist

The role in a nutshell: Pearmill is a performance creative agency that works with startups, scale-ups, and mid-market brands across industries — from healthcare and fintech to consumer products and B2B SaaS. Our clients trust us to be the engine behind their paid social creative, and our strategists are the people making that engine run. In this role, you'll own the creative thinking on multiple accounts at once — concepting ads, writing briefs, studying what's performing, and pushing the next round to be smarter than the last. You'll work across Meta, TikTok, YouTube, and more. You'll collaborate daily with media buyers, designers, and motion artists. You'll use AI tools every day to move faster — from audience research and competitive analysis to concepting and iteration. And you'll see your ideas go live with real budgets behind them, reaching millions of people. If you like the intersection of creativity, data, and speed, this is the role.

Summary: The Creative Strategist is where the work lives. They own the day-to-day creative thinking on their accounts — concepting, scripting, building creative frameworks, and partnering with designers and motion artists to bring ideas to life. They study what's performing, develop hypotheses, and push the next round of creative to be smarter than the last.

Critically, the Creative Strategist is the bridge between media buying and creative execution. They sit between the Growth team (who owns channel performance) and the Design/Motion team (who builds the assets) — translating performance insights from media buyers into actionable creative direction, and translating creative ideas into clear briefs that execution teams can run with. If a Paid Social Manager says "CPAs are rising and hook rates are dropping on Meta," the Creative Strategist knows what that means creatively and can brief the next round accordingly. If a designer has a strong visual instinct, the Strategist helps frame it as a testable hypothesis.

This is also a client-facing role. Creative Strategists are expected to communicate directly with clients — presenting creative rationale, walking through upcoming rounds, explaining testing strategies, and fielding feedback in real time. You're not waiting for a CD to relay the message; you're in the room (or on the call) owning the conversation on your accounts.

Key Responsibilities:

Brief Writing & Concepting

• Write clear, actionable creative briefs — the primary deliverable of this role. Briefs include ad concepts, copy direction, visual/stylistic references, scripts or storylines, and format specs

• Concept, script, and build creative frameworks for multiple client accounts

• Develop hooks, ideas, and test concepts grounded in performance data — every idea should have a "why"

• Frame creative ideas as testable hypotheses: "We think [concept] will outperform [current] because [insight]"

• Use AI daily to accelerate concepting — conduct deep audience research, collaborate on new angles, draft copy options, explore potential visuals and concepts, and pressure-test ideas before they go into a brief

Creative Analysis & Testing

• Conduct asset-level creative analysis: what worked, why, and what to do next. Tag winning elements (hook type, CTA style, format, visual approach) to build a learning library over time

• Monitor key creative metrics — hook rate, hold rate, CTR, CPA, ROAS — and know the difference between a hook problem and a hold problem, for example

• Maintain creative velocity — consistently ship new concepts each sprint, balancing quality with the volume needed to fuel a structured testing program

• Own a structured testing methodology: define hypotheses, set success criteria before launch, and make clear calls on whether to iterate, scale, or kill each concept

• Use AI tools to streamline creative analysis — summarize performance data, identify patterns across rounds, and draft insights faster so more time goes into strategic thinking

Cross-Team Collaboration

• Serve as the connective tissue between Growth (media buying) and Execution (design, motion, video). Translate performance data from the Growth team into creative direction, and translate creative ideas into briefs the execution team can build

• Partner with Paid Social and Paid Search Managers to understand channel-level performance, audience behavior, and what the algorithm is rewarding

• Work closely with designers, motion artists, and video editors — not just handing off briefs, but collaborating on how ideas come to life visually

• Coordinate with Production on UGC and creator briefs when accounts involve UGC

Client Communication

• Own creative communication on your accounts — present upcoming rounds, explain the strategic thinking behind concepts, and walk clients through testing plans and results

• Participate in recurring client calls alongside Growth Managers; come prepared with creative updates, learnings, and recommendations

• Field client feedback in real time — know when to push back with data and when to adapt

• Build trust with client stakeholders by being responsive, proactive, and transparent about what's working and what isn't

• Manage creative timelines and expectations with the client, flagging risks early and proposing solutions

Research & Inspiration

• Regularly mine the Meta Ad Library, TikTok Creative Center, and competitor channels for inspiration and competitive intelligence

• Study channel trends, platform changes, and emerging formats to bring new thinking to the team

• Use AI for audience research, competitive intelligence, and trend analysis — quickly synthesize large amounts of information into actionable creative direction

• Maintain a swipe file of strong creative references

Misc.

• Mentor Associate Creative Strategists when paired

• Contribute to audits and pitches

Required Skills:

• Strong concepting and brief writing ability — the brief is the primary deliverable, and it needs to be clear, actionable, and grounded in data

• Fluency in creative performance metrics: hook rate, hold rate, CTR, CPA, ROAS. Know what each one tells you creatively and what to do about it

• Comfort with creative analytics tools and research platforms — Motion, Foreplay, Meta Ad Library, TikTok Creative Center

• Understanding of paid social channels and how media buying decisions affect creative strategy (audience targeting, placements, bid strategies)

• Cross-team translation ability — speak the language of both media buyers and designers. Turn performance data into creative direction and turn creative instincts into testable hypotheses

• Quick ideation and iteration speed — ability to generate high volumes of concepts without sacrificing strategic thinking

• Clear communication in written briefs and verbal presentations. Able to present creative rationale to clients with confidence and field live feedback without losing the thread

• Comfort with AI tools for ideation, iteration, and production acceleration

• Mentorship ability at senior level — coaching Associates, giving feedback on briefs, and helping junior team members develop their creative POV

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Pearmill is a diverse company with team members hailing from all backgrounds and walks of life. We’re a globally-distributed team and committed to continuing to build a company that represents the world we live in. We encourage candidates of underrepresented groups to apply.