Senior Manager, Creative Strategy

Job description

Who we are: Tinuiti is the largest independent full-funnel marketing agency in the U.S. across the media that matters most, with $4 billion in digital media under management and more than 1,200 employees. Built for marketers who demand growth and accountability, Tinuiti unites media and measurement under one roof to eliminate waste—the biggest growth killer of all—and scale what works. Its proprietary technology, Bliss Point by Tinuiti, reveals the truth around growth and waste, and how to capitalize on it. With expert teams across Commerce, Search, Social, TV & Audio, and more, Tinuiti delivers measurable results with brutal simplicity: Love Growth. Hate Waste. We support 100% remote work for this role! We’d love to hear from you if: Research shows that while men apply to jobs when they meet an average of 60% of the criteria, women and other marginalized folks tend to only apply when they check every box. So if you think you qualify, but don't necessarily meet every single point on the job description, please still get in touch. As Senior Manager, Creative Strategy, you will lead Creative Strategy across a larger or more complex client scope while managing and developing Creative Strategists. You will translate business goals, audience insights, cultural context, and performance learnings into stronger messaging, testing plans, creative briefs, CABs, and strategic recommendations. You will serve as a senior day-to-day Creative Strategy lead, provide quality control for strategist work, and help ensure Creative Strategy outputs are clear, rigorous, actionable, and integrated with Creative Studio, Media, Client Partnership, Analytics, and Communications Planning. What you'll be doing: Client‑Centric Define and oversee creative strategy for assigned clients and campaigns, ensuring alignment with business objectives, marketing goals, audience needs, and measurable outcomes. Translate client business goals into actionable communication, messaging, and creative objectives that support both brand and performance priorities. Build trusted relationships with client and internal stakeholders by bringing clear strategic rationale, strong recommendations, and practical creative direction. Lead client presentations, pitch support, and strategic discussions within assigned scopes as the senior Creative Strategy lead. Identify when client asks require deeper Creative Strategy involvement, different staffing, tighter scoping, or cross-functional escalation. Product‑Led Apply and help improve Creative Strategy templates, processes, and frameworks, including briefs, CABs, audits, testing roadmaps, and performance synthesis. Help build new approaches to creative strategy, including content and creative strategy synergies, AI-enabled performance creative, creative analytics, and platform-informed testing. Partner with Creative Studio to improve briefing, strategic handoff, review quality, and alignment from strategy to execution. Surface process and workflow opportunities that can improve delivery quality, reduce rework, and strengthen cross-functional collaboration. Contribute to pitch materials, case studies, and examples that demonstrate Creative Strategy value. Data & Measurement‑Driven Leverage platform, channel, creative performance, and research data to refine creative strategy and improve performance over time. Guide the development of audience-specific testing plans and learning agendas across paid social, video, display, streaming TV, email, web, and related environments. Interpret campaign results and creative testing outcomes to identify what is working, why, and what should change next. Ensure strategist recommendations connect to client KPIs, hypotheses, and measurable learning rather than only summarizing performance. Coach direct reports on how to move from observations to sharper strategic conclusions. The Tinuiti Way Partner closely with Creative Studio, Media Planning, Client Partnership, Analytics, and Communications Planning to ensure Creative Strategy is integrated into broader campaign planning and execution. Review creative concepts and strategic outputs to ensure consistency with brand standards, channel best practices, audience strategy, and client objectives. Help distinguish between Creative Strategy ownership, Studio execution, tactical asset QA, performance reporting, and channel-team responsibilities. Stay ahead of creative, cultural, platform, and AI trends and translate them into practical opportunities for client work. Raise the quality and consistency of Creative Strategy outputs across assigned clients. Owner Mindset Take accountability for the quality, timeliness, clarity, and strategic usefulness of the team’s outputs. Proactively identify gaps in scope, staffing, process, or client expectations and recommend solutions. Balance hands-on strategic leadership with the need to coach, review, and develop the team. Encourage experimentation and innovation in creative testing, messaging approaches, and strategic thinking. Create clarity in ambiguous situations and help the team focus on the work Creative Strategy is best positioned to own. People Leader Manage and develop Creative Strategists and Senior Creative Strategists, providing clear direction, feedback, and development support. Maintain accountability for the quality and strategic soundness of work produced by direct reports before it reaches clients or senior stakeholders. Coach team members on insight development, storytelling, testing logic, client communication, and cross-functional collaboration. Support hiring, onboarding, performance feedback, and career development in partnership with more senior Creative Strategy leaders. Foster an inclusive, people-first team culture rooted in curiosity, accountability, experimentation, and high standards. Ways of working and values Greatness attracts Greatness: Raise the quality of strategic creative thinking, seek feedback, and stay open to new ideas, tools, and AI-enabled ways of working. Clients grow, we grow: Anchor creative strategy in business outcomes, audience understanding, and measurable learning. Culture of ownership: Improve continuously, move with urgency, and hold yourself and your team accountable for stronger strategic outputs. Professional & Technical Qualifications 7-10+ years of experience in creative strategy, marketing, brand strategy, advertising, or a related field. 3+ years of people management, mentoring, or formal team leadership experience. Strong experience developing campaign strategy, messaging recommendations, creative briefs, testing roadmaps, and performance-informed creative recommendations. At least 3 years of client relationship experience, collaborating with in-house or agency creative teams through strategy, ideation, production, and review. Proficiency analyzing data from platforms such as Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, and similar environments to inform creative strategy. Familiarity with email, web, display, streaming, social, commerce, and related channels, with a focus on innovation and optimization. Strong understanding of A/B and multivariate testing methodologies. Demonstrated ability to use AI tools to improve personal and team effectiveness, with strong judgment in validating outputs and handling sensitive data. Excellent client-facing communication and presentation skills, including senior stakeholder presentations. Bonus: Agency experience and/or category experience in health and wellness, beauty, ecommerce, retail, apparel, home services, or financial services. The hiring salary range for this role is $100,000 - $120,000 plus a discretionary performance bonus. Hiring salaries are determined through interviews and a review of education, experience, knowledge, skills, abilities of the applicant, parity with other team members, and alignment with market data. We will provide more information on our benefits, incentive pay, and equity upon request. Disclosure as required by the Colorado Equal Pay for > Equal Work Act, C.R.S. § 8-5-101 et seq. FLSA Classification: Exempt We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation. Benefits: Unlimited PTO: At Tinuiti, we believe you deserve time to rest, recharge, and enjoy life unplugged. When you prioritize time for yourself, you're able to bring your best self to work. That’s why we offer unlimited paid time off, a fully remote environment, and flexibility to take the time you need, when you need it. On top of that, we provide 20 paid holidays, including multiple long weekends, to ensure you have dedicated time to step away and disconnect. We're proud to offer above-industry standard work-life balance, consistently rated as one of the most loved benefits by Tinuitians year after year. Healthcare: Medical, Dental, Vision, Life & Disability, Flex Spending Accounts Retirement: Match up to 4% of your contributions at 100% Perks and Wellness: Fringe, Forma, Unlimited Telemedicine and Teletherapy available at no cost, Thankful giving, Equity Parental Leave: Birthing parents receive 16 weeks of leave with 100% pay (partners 12 weeks) after the birth or adoption of a child. Learning and Development: On-demand learning, mentorship program, leadership and management development programs and resources Disclaimer: This description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this position. The actual duties, responsibilities, and qualifications may vary based on assignment or group. Tinuiti is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, national origin, marital status, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, or any other protected status.