Performance Creative Strategist, Paid Social (DTC)

Homestead Studio
We are an email marketing agency specializing in growing eCommerce brands by creating exciting, engaging, and personalized messaging across email and SMS channels. Our expertise in email and SMS marketing allows our clients to cultivate relationships with potential customers and build lasting relationships with current customers to create lifetime value.

This role is focused on writing direct response ad creative for DTC brands, grounded in performance data and built to acquire new customers profitably at scale. The Performance Creative Strategist owns the full creative strategy lifecycle for a portfolio of 4–7 DTC client accounts — from brief writing and competitor analysis through performance data interpretation and iteration roadmapping. You know why a hook converts, how to structure a direct response script, and what it looks like when creative fatigue is dragging an account. You’re curious, data-literate, and energized by the feedback loop between creative and performance. This role reports to the Creative Strategist (CS) Team Lead and collaborates extensively with the media buyer on each account.

The Creative Strategist is responsible for bringing meaningful new ideas to the table that drive the brand's ad account forward - using creative strategy as a lever to find more scale, unlock new opportunities, and improve the efficiency of customer acquisition. The CS and their media buyer are, together, responsible for the growth of that account. That means you can talk about growth, not just creative. You can explain how a piece of creative is moving the business, when an iteration needs to change, and when the problem isn't the ad at all - it's the offer, the destination, or where the traffic is landing.

Hook rate, thumbstop and hold rate, CTR, and win rate of tested concepts are how you read an account week to week. They are leading indicators that tell you what to do next - not the finish line. The finish line is ads that scale and meaningfully impact the account.

• Own creative strategy for a portfolio of DTC clients — master their brand voice, product positioning, customer psychology, and competitive landscape so every brief you write is informed and specific
• Build the messaging strategy for each account: take customer psychology, reviews, and voice-of-customer insight and turn it into relatable messaging that scales. This is the work that separates a strong creative strategist from someone who writes good ads
• Write direct response ad scripts, briefs, shot lists, and copy for UGC-style video, static, and hybrid ad formats optimized for Meta and TikTok acquisition campaigns
• Write creator briefs and shot requests — talent direction, shot-by-shot breakdowns, and specific enough asks that the footage comes back usable the first time
• Develop and present creative testing frameworks — outline testing variables, write hypotheses, and execute creative based on data-backed insights
• Identify content gaps and whitelisting opportunities by conducting social listening, competitor audits, and trend analysis across platforms
• Build monthly creative roadmaps and maintain ongoing account strategy across your book of business
• Analyze ad performance data weekly — hook rates, hold rates, thumbstop, CTR, CVR, CPA, and ROAS — to identify creative winners, diagnose underperformers, and build iteration roadmaps
• Work alongside the media buyer to grow the account: connect what creative is doing to what is happening in the buy, and bring ideas that unlock scale rather than only refreshing what has fatigued
• Use account-specific kill/scale thresholds to prioritize tests under incomplete or conflicting data; look beyond initial ROAS/CPA to secondary metrics (thumbstop, CTR, CPC, etc.) to determine next steps
• Recognize when creative is not the problem — and make the case that the landing page, offer, or destination is what needs to change
• Translate performance learnings directly into the next round of briefs
• Collaborate with designers and editors by providing clear briefs and reviewing ad quality before anything reaches the client
• Facilitate the full creative loop: take priorities from the Account Manager (AM), brief the production team, and get approved creative in front of the client
• Present creative updates directly to clients, both asynchronously (biweekly/weekly updates in client channels) and live (monthly roadmaps, creative kickoff calls)
• Manage client approvals and feedback loops, incorporating notes into final deliverables while keeping projects on track
• Proactively identify missing assets needed to execute strategy and communicate those needs directly to clients via shot lists or asset requests
• Leverage AI tools (we use Claude) to accelerate research, scripting, and creative iteration — you’re expected to work with AI as a daily tool in your workflow, not treat it as a novelty
• Apply our “Human-Led, AI-Assisted” principle: AI supports research, scripting, and iteration but does not replace creative judgment; QA all AI output against context the model doesn’t have (e.g., verify scraped reviews before use), and handle client data in accordance with per-client NDAs

The Creative Strategist (CS) has full ownership of creative strategy, including hooks, headlines, briefs, scripts, and creative-specific performance reporting. Creative direction is developed collaboratively with the Account Manager (AM), but the CS independently leads the creative strategy and does not require AM approval before work begins.

The Account Manager owns the client relationship, media buying, budget management, and overall campaign strategy. The CS develops creative initiatives based on the weekly priorities established by the AM. A separate Project Manager (PM) is responsible for coordinating the approval process and ensuring approved creative is delivered to the client. This role does not have direct people management responsibilities; employee management is handled by the CS Team Lead.

The Creative Strategist independently determines creative strategy, messaging, testing hypotheses, performance analysis, and future creative directions. All creative assets must complete the established approval process (draft → internal review → legal review, if required → client approval) before launch. Media buying, budget decisions, and campaign management remain outside the scope of this role and are owned by the Account Manager.

When multiple priorities compete, work is prioritized using the established client tiering framework, which considers client spend, relationship tier, account health, recent KPI performance, and the potential business impact of proposed tests. Issues involving legal, compliance, brand risk, high-visibility clients, unresolved client or performance concerns, or workload and capacity conflicts should be escalated to the CS Team Lead.

The Creative Strategist manages a portfolio of 4–7 active client accounts and is expected to oversee a minimum of approximately 60 creative deliverables per client each month (including statics, videos, GIFs, and creative variations), with workload adjusting based on seasonality, launches, promotions, and other business needs.

The role regularly presents creative strategy and updates directly to clients through both asynchronous communication (weekly or biweekly updates) and live meetings (creative kickoffs and monthly roadmap presentations). The Creative Strategist is expected to thoughtfully challenge briefs, recommendations, and client feedback within the creative discipline while maintaining strong collaborative relationships.

Final approval for creative launches rests with the client. Internally, the Creative Strategist develops the creative direction, Design and the Account Manager perform quality assurance, and the client provides final approval. Success in this role requires influencing and collaborating effectively with client stakeholders, Account Managers, designers, editors, and other cross-functional partners.

• Hands-on experience writing direct response ad creative — scripts, briefs, ad copy — for DTC brands running paid social acquisition campaigns
• Agency-side experience managing multiple DTC clients simultaneously
• Demonstrated ability to analyze ad creative performance data (hook rate, thumbstop, CTR, ROAS, CPA, etc.) and translate findings into new creative strategies and iterations
• A growth mindset applied to creative: you can speak to account goals, acquisition efficiency, and scale — not only to the work itself
• Deep working knowledge of Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram) — how creative performs in-platform, how the algorithm rewards engagement, and what formats and placements drive results
• Strong understanding of direct response copywriting principles: hooks, offers, CTAs, urgency, social proof, and storytelling frameworks that convert
• The ability to turn customer research — reviews, voice of customer, buyer psychology — into messaging that scales
• Experience writing UGC-style scripts and briefs, including talent direction and shot-by-shot breakdowns
• Working knowledge of TikTok ad creative and trends
• Working knowledge of creative analytics tools like Motion
• Familiarity with creative tools including Figma, Canva, and Adobe Creative Suite
• Experience working agency-side with multiple DTC clients simultaneously
• Hands-on experience using AI tools (Claude, ChatGPT, or similar) to support creative workflows — research, brainstorming, scriptwriting, competitive analysis, or performance interpretation
• Experience with project management and communication tools like Asana and Slack
• Ability to QA creative output against design best practices — hands-on design execution is not part of this role
• Strongly preferred: hands-on media buying experience. The strongest candidates for this role are media buyers who moved into creative strategy — people who understand the buy side because they have run it.

Additional Information

This is a fully remote role. Candidates must be able to work standard business hours (9:00am–5:00pm) in ET, CT, MT, or PT time zones.

Homestead Studio is an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, or genetic information. Homestead is committed to providing access, equal opportunity, and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its services, programs, and activities.

Note on Application Responses
We strongly encourage applicants to answer questions in their own words. While tools like ChatGPT can be helpful for organizing or polishing your thoughts, it is very easy to recognize when responses are copied and pasted without personalization. Candidates who use AI in that way are typically less successful in our process. Please treat your responses as an opportunity to show us how you think and communicate.

About the role

This role is focused on writing direct response ad creative for DTC brands, grounded in performance data and built to acquire new customers profitably at scale. The Performance Creative Strategist owns the full creative strategy lifecycle for a portfolio of 4–7 DTC client accounts — from brief writing and competitor analysis through performance data interpretation and iteration roadmapping. You know why a hook converts, how to structure a direct response script, and what it looks like when creative fatigue is dragging an account. You’re curious, data-literate, and energized by the feedback loop between creative and performance. This role reports to the Creative Strategist (CS) Team Lead and collaborates extensively with the media buyer on each account.