Paid Ads Creative Strategist - Freelance - Brand Hackers

Location: Remote, with occasional London meet-ups

Commitment: 2-3 days per week

Contract Type: Part-time, rolling freelance contract with 30 days' notice as standard

Salary: £38-50k FTE (paid as a day rate equivalent) DOE

Timings: Start ASAP

About Brand Hackers: We build experienced, dynamic and fractional teams that fit in like puzzle pieces – providing just the right knowledge and energy at the right time. We’re not your typical agency or a one-man show; we’re a team of passionate professionals who eat, sleep, and breathe branding and marketing. Our diverse team of experts covers all marketing mix elements, from performance and social media to web development and beyond. With over 100 brands under our belt, our Brand Hackers have a treasure trove of shared experiences. This wealth of knowledge fuels our creativity and gives us the edge.

The Role: As our brand partners scale and invest more heavily in paid acquisition, we’re looking for a Freelance Paid Ads Creative Strategist to own and lead the creative side of performance marketing. This is an exciting and diverse role that sits at the intersection of strategy, creative and performance.

Typical responsibilities will likely include:

• Developing and refreshing paid creative strategies for our brand partners through a structured framework, aligned to budget, funnel stage and growth targets.
• Analysing current ad performance in partnership with our performance marketing team (e.g. CTR, CPC, CPA, Conversion Rate, Hook Rate) to identify what’s working, what’s not, and where to test next.
• Conducting competitor and category research to understand how others are showing up in paid and where our brands can stand out.
• Leading idea generation: running regular paid creative brainstorms with performance marketing managers, social managers and internal brand teams to build a backlog of testable concepts.
• Translating ideas into clear, actionable creative plans: what to make now vs later, what sits best in paid vs organic, and how each piece supports key funnel messages.
• Writing detailed creative briefs for content creators (UGC, BH creators, in-house teams, designers, editors) that include hooks, messaging, formats and performance goals.
• Owning content creator sourcing and management for paid ads: identifying relevant creators, briefing, negotiating rates and timelines, and managing delivery.
• Planning the volume and mix of creative (video vs static, UGC vs in-house) required for each platform, based on budget and performance data.
• Collaborating closely with paid media managers so new creative is aligned with campaign structures, audiences and testing plans.
• Maintaining an “always-on” bank of inspiration and ideas (e.g. TikTok links, ad examples, competitor activity) and turning that into structured tests.
• Ensuring clarity over creative production costs (UGC creator budgets, graphic design, BH creator time/video editing) and working within agreed budgets.
• Sharing key creative learnings, insights and recommendations back to stakeholders in a clear and actionable way.

You’ll have:

• 3+ years of hands-on experience in performance creative for paid social (Meta, TikTok, etc.), ideally with D2C or FMCG brands.
• A strong understanding of paid ad performance metrics (CTR, CPC, CPA, Conversion Rate, Hook Rate) and how creative impacts each.
• Demonstrable experience turning data and insights into testable creative concepts and structured testing roadmaps.
• Experience working with or briefing UGC creators, content creators and/or design teams for performance-focused content.
• A solid grasp of the differences between organic and conversion-focused paid creative, and how to adapt ideas across channels.
• Excellent skills in creative briefing and storytelling, you can clearly communicate hooks, angles and desired outcomes.
• Strong analytical skills, comfortable interpreting performance dashboards and drawing clear next steps.
• Proactive, self-motivated and confident working independently across multiple brands and stakeholders.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal.
• Excellent project and time management skills; you can juggle multiple brands, creators and deadlines without dropping the ball.
• An eye for what “good” looks like in feed.
• Agency or multi-brand experience is a plus!

What We Can Offer:

• Freelance contract with autonomy and support.
• Membership to Up World while you work with us.
• Support from a Lead Brand Hacker who’s got your back.
• Tools, templates and a wider crew of Brand Hackers to connect with.
• Flexible remote working with occasional London meet-ups.

Working rights in the UK are required (we are currently unable to sponsor visas).