Creative Strategist

About Everything Bagel Partners LLC

At Everything Bagel, we build and support breakthrough brands that disrupt categories and captivate audiences across digital, social, and beyond. Our brand team leads strategy and messaging for some of the most exciting startups and scaling companies across wellness, beauty, CPG, and education and more. We believe in brand-building that’s strategic, deeply human, and creatively fearless.

About the Role

The Creative Strategist sits at the intersection of consumer insight, performance data, and creative leadership. You will be responsible for shaping what we say, who we’re saying it to, and why it will convert — while guiding teams on how that strategy comes to life.

Unlike junior strategy roles, this position does not focus on copywriting or briefing execution. Instead, you will own the high-level creative strategy, oversee strategic output, lead client conversations, and manage the creative ecosystem that brings paid social campaigns to market.

This is a highly collaborative, client-facing role for someone who can confidently speak to creative from a strategic lens, translate performance insights into actionable direction, and lead teams toward stronger, smarter creative.

Key Responsibilities

Paid Media Creative Strategy & Messaging

• Own the end-to-end creative strategy for a portfolio of clients across paid social for video and static/animation assets (Meta, TikTok, emerging platforms)

• Define and evolve messaging frameworks based on consumer archetypes, customer psychology, platform behavior, trends and performance data

• Translate insights from historical performance, testing learnings, and trends into clear strategic direction for video and static ads

• Identify creative opportunities, gaps, and scalable angles to inform ongoing testing and iteration

• Conduct competitive research using tools like Magicbrief, TikTok trend trackers, Meta Ad Library, etc.

• Align with internal teams (Lifecycle, Copy, Video) to shape cross-channel messaging strategies

Performance, Insights & Reporting

• Analyze creative performance across client portfolios to identify patterns, learnings, and opportunities
• Lead creative performance reporting in internal meetings, turning data into strategic insights and recommendations
• Use reporting to inform future creative direction, testing roadmaps, and messaging evolution
• Partner closely with Lifecycle and analytics teams to ensure creative strategy aligns with media performance

Client-Facing Strategy & Communication

• Serve as the strategic creative lead in client relationships
• Confidently present creative strategy, messaging decisions, performance insights, and recommendations
• Guide clients through the “why” behind creative direction, testing approaches, and iteration plans
• Act as a trusted strategic partner, balancing brand goals with performance realities

Team Leadership & Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Manage and mentor a team of junior strategists, editors, and graphic designers
• Provide strategic feedback and direction to ensure creative execution aligns with overarching strategy
• Collaborate closely with the Creator Manager to ensure creator-led content is on-brand, on-message, and strategically aligned
• Partner with Lifecycle, brand, and creative leadership to ensure cohesion across strategy, execution, and performance

Production, QA, and Delivery

• Collaborate with design and video teams to ensure visuals align with strategy and messaging
• Lead QA for all creative assets; reviewing layout, copy placement, specs, and brand consistency
• Send and manage client approvals; incorporate feedback while maintaining project momentum
• Present weekly reports to clients on creative strategy, upcoming campaigns, testing insights, and performance trends

Qualifications

• 3–5 years in paid social creative strategy, performance marketing, or brand strategy — agency side preferred
• Demonstrated experience building messaging frameworks and creative direction for video and static/animation ads on Meta and TikTok
• Experience working with performance data to inform creative decisions (not just reporting on it)
• Some exposure to client-facing work — presenting strategy, fielding feedback, managing approvals — even if not as the sole strategic lead

Strategic & Analytical Skills

• Ability to translate performance data and testing learnings into clear creative direction
• Understanding of consumer psychology, archetypes, and platform-specific behavior
• Comfort identifying creative gaps and scalable angles from competitive research
• Working knowledge of tools like Meta Ads Manager, Meta Ad Library, TikTok Ads Manager, and ideally Magicbrief or a similar competitive intel tool

Communication & Collaboration

• Strong presentation skills can walk a client through the "why" behind a creative decision, not just the "what"
• Experience collaborating cross-functionally with copy, video/design, and lifecycle or media teams
• Comfortable giving structured feedback to editors/designers on creative execution against strategy

Leadership

• Some experience mentoring or giving direction to junior team members (full people management not required)
• Ability to manage QA and creative approvals process with attention to brand consistency and platform specs