Head of Creative and Strategy £60-70k

This is a role with real creative autonomy. For the right person, this is a place to build something. You will head up ITCH's Creative and Strategy team — a role that sits right at the heart of what we do and how we grow. You'll be leading a team of creatives and strategists, winning work with brilliant ideas and helping shape the next chapter of the agency. You're someone who thinks in both directions: you can get upstream of a brief and develop the strategic foundation that makes creative land harder and then you can bring that creative to life in a way that excites clients and wins pitches. You understand the 'why' as well as the 'what'. You'll work across B2C and B2B, with a strong foothold in professional services. You're as comfortable building a brand-level audience strategy as you are directing a social-first campaign. You know how to use AI tools to accelerate research and synthesis, combining that with cultural intelligence and sharp brand thinking to deliver measurable outcomes. You're a confident, inspiring presenter. You can walk into a room and own it, or build a deck that does the talking for you. Ideally both. You will be a pitch‑winning machine - inspiring clients and proactively delivering ideas that win. You are a driven, passionate leader who brings out the best in the people around them. Managing a creative team isn't just about directing output, it’s about building an environment where brilliant ideas can actually happen. You'll foster a culture of creative ambition at ITCH; running sessions that spark something, giving feedback that pushes rather than deflates, and championing work that takes a risk. You lead from the front but you know the best idea in the room isn't always yours and you're genuinely excited when it isn't.

Key Skills

• 10+ years' experience developing creative campaigns within video and photographic content
• Proven track record across long form, short form and social‑first content
• Experience developing strategic frameworks, channel strategies or audience strategies. Not just responding to briefs, but shaping them
• A confident, inspiring presenter, both in the room and on the page
• A creative mind that loves generating multiple routes, not just one safe answer
• Ability to get under the skin of a client and understand what makes them and their customers tick
• Solid understanding of production and post‑production
• Sharp written and verbal communication skills
• Experience managing and developing a small team
• Comfortable in a fast‑paced environment where priorities shift daily
• Ability to embody ITCH values; collaborative, driven, creative, human

The day to day

• Lead strategic development across pitches and live projects — from brand‑level audience and positioning work down to campaign and social strategy
• Own the strategic narrative on new business pitches, building the 'why' that makes our creative impossible to argue with.
• Build proactive outreach into new business, living by the ethos ‘ideas win work’.
• Run discovery and insight work with clients, getting under the skin of their brand, their customers and their market
• Use AI tools to accelerate research, synthesis and strategic thinking — combining data with cultural intelligence to sharpen every brief
• Collaborate with the wider team to ensure strategy and creative are always pulling in the same direction

Creative

• Lead idea generation across new business and live projects, working closely with our team of creatives
• Work closely with our founder/ECD on the agency's creative vision, with real autonomy to shape the creative output day‑to‑day
• Build and present stunning decks that bring ideas to life — from first concept through to final execution
• Be the creative point of reference across key projects as work moves through production and post
• Lead internal creative sessions with one eye on impact and the other on commercial viability
• Manage a bank of references and stay genuinely ahead of trends across branded content and social
• Write copy for pitches and, where needed, for client work
• Collaborate with filmmakers, editors, animators and illustrators to maintain a strong creative hub
• Be a point of approval on final edits and animations for creative‑led projects
• Ensure creative is executed as sold — what's in the deck is what ends up on screen

Leadership & Growth

• Lead and line manage a team of 3–5 creatives and strategists, supporting their development and growth
• Sit on the Senior Management Team, contributing to the growth and direction of the agency
• Proactively identify creative and strategic opportunities with existing clients (with the support of our CP team), be a new business winning machine
• Have a strong understanding of the cost to deliver what we sell, with some involvement at the costing stage
• The chance to help shape the next phase of growth at ITCH
• Daily collaboration with senior leaders who will value your input and support your progression
• Room to experiment, learn, and build smarter systems and better outreach
• Team socials and an annual Summer Event

Happy, healthy people do their best work, so we make sure our people have all the things they need to thrive.

Benefits

• Salary that reflects your experience and impact
• Annual pay review and potential for up to 18% annual bonus (based on business and personal performance)
• Health insurance (private healthcare)
• Yearly training budget and development days
• Mental health support with free access to mindfulness tools
• Extra holidays that increase with tenure
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Christmas closure (company shut down over the festive period)
• New Business Incentive for converted leads
• Referral bonus for successful hires
• One day per year to give back to a cause that matters

Equal Employment Opportunity

This position is not intended to have a preference for any particular gender, sexual orientation, race or ethnicity; the organization is committed to creating a diverse environment and encourages applications from all qualified candidates.