Head of Creative Strategy

Location: Covent Garden, London (Hybrid 3 days in-office, 2 days remote)

Department: Creative Solutions

Reporting to: Commercial Director, UK

Role Overview

This is a creative strategy leadership role at the heart of Time Out’s commercial engine. Time Out is one of the world’s most recognisable city brands. We exist to capture the culture of our cities and help millions of curious people make the most of them, through trusted editorial, standout social and increasingly, real‑world experiences via Time Out Markets and live events. Time Out is in a period of sustained growth and Creative Solutions plays a central role in that journey. We create and deliver the commercial ideas that power partnerships across Time Out’s platforms, from always‑on content and social to high‑impact, revenue‑driving live activations.

We’re looking for a player‑manager: someone who can lead a team of 3 Creative Strategists day‑to‑day, elevate the quality of thinking and still get their hands dirty responding to client briefs of all sizes. You’ll bring top‑tier creative ideation, sharp commercial instincts and branded content experience ranging from live events to social video, with the leadership presence to set standards, coach talent and build a culture of pace, partnership and craft.

Key Responsibilities

• Creative leadership & standards: Own the creative strategy output across the UK commercial pipeline: proactive platforms and response‑to‑brief thinking. Set the bar for creative strategy craft: insight, storytelling, originality, cultural relevance and commercial clarity. Lead daily ideation sessions that unlock strong, sellable, multi‑platform ideas.
• Commercial delivery & growth: Partner with Sales/Partnerships to win and grow high‑value deals, with a focus on big‑ticket integrated partnerships. Shape proposals that balance ambition with feasibility, margin and delivery reality. Build strong relationships with senior agency and client stakeholders; present confidently at all levels.
• Live events & experiences: Lead the development of live event concepts: from brand activations to experiences, takeovers and partnership events. Work closely with Delivery/Project Management to ensure events are operationally sound, safe, on‑budget and on‑time. Build repeatable event formats that can scale and sell seasonally (and across categories).
• Team leadership (player‑manager): Line‑manage and develop the Creative Strategy team. Coach individuals on insight‑led thinking, deck craft, pitching, stakeholder management and commercial decision‑making. Manage resourcing and prioritisation across briefs, proactive work and live project peaks.
• Cross‑functional collaboration: Work closely with Editorial, Branded Content, Social and Markets to deliver integrated solutions. Ensure ideas feel authentic to Time Out and credible to audiences not bolted‑on brand work. Share learnings across the business: what sold, why it worked, what to improve.
• Measurement & learning: Define success measures with partners (and internally) and build post‑campaign learnings into future thinking. Improve ways of working: templates, processes, planning rhythms, and “what good looks like.”

Skills

• Significant experience (8+ years) in content partnerships / creative strategy within a media owner, publisher studio, creative agency or media agency environment.
• Proven player‑manager: able to lead a team while owning pitches and key accounts.
• Strong track record creating and pitching cross‑platform partnership ideas (digital, social, audio, experiential).
• Excellent presentation and narrative skills: you can turn insight into a compelling, sellable story.
• Commercial confidence: understanding of pricing, costs, margins and what makes a partnership viable.
• Calm under pressure; can juggle deadlines, stakeholders and shifting priorities without quality dropping.
• Strong collaborator: builds trust fast across Sales, Editorial, Delivery and senior leadership.
• Highly organised; sets clear direction, gives clean feedback and protects the team’s time and standards.
• Proficient in Google Slides and Excel/Sheets (you can structure media plans as well as create eye‑catching, well‑laid‑out decks).

Knowledge

• Deep interest in (and instincts for) culture: food & drink, nightlife, arts, entertainment, city life and how audiences discover it.
• Strong understanding of digital, social and video formats - what performs, what brands pay for and what audiences tolerate.
• Working knowledge of experiential activations.
• Confidence operating in the London agency landscape (or equivalent major market), including planning and partnerships functions.
• Audience‑first thinking: can use insight and data to shape ideas that feel culturally true and commercially strong.

About our culture

At Time Out Group we believe in diversity and equal opportunity for all people. We do not discriminate against external or internal candidates on the basis of age; disability; gender, gender reassignment; race; religion or belief; sexual orientation; marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity. We believe that diversity develops creativity and enables personal and professional growth where we all learn from each other. We believe in an open culture where ideas are shared candidly and where there is no fear of failure, but rather an understanding that we must experiment and have the freedom to succeed. We believe that everyone has the right to express themselves as they are as this enriches us all. We believe in an open world, social justice, and the pursuit of happiness, after all, we are in the happiness business.