Creative Strategy & Production Lead

What you’ll do

Own creative quality, end to end

• Set and hold the creative standard for all output - from storyboard to final ad

• Review and give specific, actionable feedback on Creative Strategy Presentations (CSPs), storyboards, RAW footage, and final ads before they reach clients

• Build and maintain the checklists, brand guides, and review frameworks that keep quality consistent as the team grows

• Develop an ad example library and “what makes a great UGC ad” resource - codifying instinct into something the whole team can learn from

Be the bridge between strategy and production

• Translate creative briefs into production-executable direction, and translate what’s possible on set back into strategy

• Run pre-production alignment sessions between Creative Strategists and Producers so we go into every shoot prepared, not reactive

• Identify where handoffs break down and build the processes to fix them

• Be the person each department comes to when they’re not sure what the other team needs

Drive platform & trend intelligence

• Maintain a genuine, current pulse on social platforms (e.g. TikTok and Meta) - what formats are performing, what hooks are landing, what’s oversaturated

• Feed trend intelligence to the Creative Strategy team in a way that’s actionable, not just inspirational

• Bring a production lens to trends: not just “what’s working” but “how do we make that in our studio?”

• Use AI tools as a natural part of ideation, scripting, and research workflows

Support key client creative relationships

• Take the lead on creative input for a subset of VIP or complex client accounts

• Join brainstorming and kick-off sessions where the creative direction needs a senior voice

• Help the accounts team set accurate creative expectations with clients upfront - reducing revision cycles before they’ve started

Represent Creative Milkshake externally

• Own approval of CM’s own social content and website portfolio - holding ourselves to the same standard we set for our clients

• Shape what we show the world: the work we feature, the voice we use, the story we tell about what we make

Who you are

We’re not filtering on job titles - the right person might be a Senior Creative Strategist, a Head of Creative Strategy, a Content Director, a Creative Lead or something else entirely. What matters is your experience and how you think.

• You have 4–8 years in performance creative, creative strategy, or content production - at a social-first agency, DTC brand, or UGC studio

• You’ve worked across both creative strategy and production - not just adjacent to them. You know what a storyboard needs to say for a shoot to go well, and what a shoot can actually deliver without blowing the brief

• You have a deep, current relationship with TikTok and Meta. You use the platforms yourself. You have opinions about what’s working and why, and you can speak in specifics - formats, hooks, edit pacing, performance signals

• You can tell a good ad from a great one on instinct, and explain the difference in a way that helps someone make better work

• You’re as comfortable building a process as you are reviewing a script. Checklists, SOPs, guides - you see these as creative tools, not admin

• You have high EQ and collaborative instincts. You earn trust through expertise and presence, not org-chart position

• You’re comfortable with ambiguity and fast pace. We’re building systems while operating at volume - you don’t need everything to be perfect before you contribute

• You’re fluent in English and confident presenting creative rationale to clients

You’ll thrive here if…

• You love the craft of short-form social content and get genuinely excited about what makes a piece of content stop a scroll

• You want to shape a studio’s creative culture from the inside, not just deliver a brief and move on

• You want a role where your instinct and expertise directly raise the quality of work going out the door every week

• You’re energised by a team that’s close-knit, fast-moving, and genuinely cares about the work

• The idea of helping a studio grow from UGC-first into elevated branded content over the next couple of years sounds like the right moment to join

This role isn’t for you if…

• Your version of “creative leadership” is primarily about building and managing a large team - our Strategy Team Lead already owns that function

• Your creative background is rooted in brand identity and visual design rather than performance and social-first content

• You’ve only ever sat on one side of the strategy/production divide and have never had to work across both

• You need a fully built machine to operate in - we’re still building parts of ours, and that’s part of what makes this role interesting