Associate Creative Director (Social-first) in London

We’re looking for someone who really gets social. The kind of person who knows what content works and why. Who can take an insight from TikTok or an upcoming cultural trend and turn it into something original that delivers. Someone who sees the algorithm not as a blocker, but as a brief.

About Us - The Social Shepherd: We are a Social-first agency helping global brands, household names, and high-growth scale-ups accelerate their business growth. Having won Best Large Social Agency in the UK (2 years in a row!) and continued growth, we’re now looking to take on our next member to enhance our Social team!

Our service offering includes:

• Social
• Paid (Social & Search)
• Creative
• Influencer

We’re a team of over 70 across London, Bath, New York and Miami with ambitious plans.

The Role: As an ACD specialised in organic social, you’ll take charge of the creative direction across some of our biggest BAU organic social clients alongside the wider team, as well as lead larger social activations. You’ll lead a team which includes a Social Creative, Content Creator, Designer and Videographer – helping them turn data, search intent, and cultural trends into smart, standout organic social-first content. You’ll set the tone for creative across our organic output, making sure every piece of work is strategic, sharp, and built for the platform it lives on. This is a director-level role – so we’ll look to you not just to lead the work, but to help in supporting leading the direction of the creative department. You’ll help grow the team, raise the creative bar, shape the process and thinking, and be someone others look to. We’re not after someone who just talks a good game or sees themselves above the doing. We want someone who’s just as happy in a pitch as they are on-set, directing edits or jumping in to write a hook when the moment calls for it.

What You’ll Do:

• Own creative strategy and execution for organic content across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and whatever’s next.
• Build and lead content plans that are rooted in platform insight, search intent, and audience behaviour.
• Lead ideation, scripting, and content planning – making sure the work’s grounded in data, cultural relevance, and brand voice.
• Write or review platform-first copy, hooks, and scripts that engage and convert.
• Direct shoots and oversee pre-production – from creative briefs and shot lists to call sheets and campaign delivery.
• Collaborate with Paid, Influencer, and Performance teams to create joined‑up, high‑performing campaigns.
• Coach and mentor creatives and managers – developing their creative instincts, storytelling, and leadership skills.
• Contribute to new business and pitches – bringing creative firepower and platform expertise to win work.
• Help shape how we work – including creative operations, delivery process and team resourcing.
• Stay ahead of trends, platform updates, content formats and algorithm changes – and bring that thinking into the room.

What We’re Looking For:

• 6+ years in a creative role focused on Creative – agency-side and in Social.
• A portfolio that shows strong ideas, cultural awareness and smart use of platform trends.
• Deep knowledge of TikTok, Instagram and YouTube – what’s trending, what performs and how the algorithms work.
• Strong storytelling, scripting and social copywriting skills.
• Confident directing content on‑set and overseeing pre‑prod and post.
• Experience leading and mentoring creative teams, including line management and performance development.
• Able to interpret and apply social and search data to shape strategy and optimise creative.
• Calm, collaborative and commercially aware – able to balance ambition with delivery.
• A strong sense of what ‘great’ looks like on social – and the ability to make it happen.

Work From Home: We operate a hybrid model where team members come to the office 3 days a week and WFH 2 days a week - although there is the option to work from the office more if you prefer. Our team loves working collaboratively, but also likes the option and balance of working from home.

Benefits Package:

• Enhanced maternity and paternity.
• Collaboration with Bupa grants you access and savings to a spectrum of health services.
• Additional day off for your birthday.
• Kickstart a healthier commute with our cycle-to-work scheme.
• Flexible hours: Some people are early birds, and others like to start later. We allow people to set their own times, with some starting at 8am and finishing up earlier. We trust our team to get their work done on their schedule.

We’re committed to equality of opportunity for all. We welcome applications from individuals regardless of their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, age, gender, or disability status. We want to support diverse and inclusive work environments and are actively looking for people who share our values.