Content & Creative Services Lead

OCS; Toronto; On-site; CAD 90,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

The Ontario Cannabis Store is seeking a Content and Creative Services Lead to steer marketing content strategy and the internal client services process. You will own the content calendar, translate business priorities into briefs and ensure all output aligns with the OCS brand and style guide.

This role partners with design, project, and production teams to deliver cohesive campaigns. Reporting to the Senior Manager, Marketing & Creative, you will refine messaging for multiple channels and

Qualifications

• Post secondary education in Marketing, Business Administration or related discipline.
• 3+ years of marketing with significant experience partnering with multiple marketing agencies.
• Experience building strategy and executing a B2C email program.
• Experience managing content calendars and providing internal client service for creative requests.
• Experience developing briefs, messaging direction or content recommendations that translate stakeholder objectives into clear creative outputs.

Responsibilities

• Lead the content calendar and inform priorities across campaigns and channels.
• Clarify business objectives and audience needs for stakeholder creative requests.
• Develop clear content direction and briefs to support designers, agencies and vendors.
• Review content for strategic fit, accuracy, clarity, tone and adherence to brand.
• Adapt messaging and tone based on campaign objective and audience needs.
• Assess outputs against the approved brief and brand expectations.
• Synthesize stakeholder feedback into actionable direction for vendors while maintaining content integrity.
• Provide editorial judgment on messaging hierarchy and consistency across assets.
• Identify opportunities to strengthen future content and creative outputs.
• Develop and maintain the marketing content calendar and planning visibility.
• Define content review criteria and priorities for planned initiatives.
• Identify risks or gaps affecting quality, timing or effectiveness and raise resolutions.
• Support annual planning and marketing services needs.
• Support team operations and coordinate content and creative service requests.

Skills

Marketing strategy

Agency collaboration

Content calendar management

Internal client service

Brief development

Tone and messaging guidance

Stakeholder alignment

MS PowerPoint

MS Excel

Editing and proofreading

Education

Post secondary education in Marketing, Business Administration or related discipline

Tools

MS PowerPoint

MS Excel

Job description

About Us

The Ontario Cannabis Store provides safe, responsible access to recreational cannabis for adults 19 and older. We operate the sole legal online store for recreational cannabis in Ontario and are the provincial wholesaler of cannabis for private retail stores.

Working at the OCS is a unique opportunity to be part of an agile start-up in a ground-breaking new industry. We’re a diverse team passionate about delivering a great customer experience, working together with mutual respect and building value out of our differences. We’re an inclusive organization that understands that delivering great results comes out of ensuring every voice is heard.

About the Role

We're looking for a Content and Creative Services Lead to join our team! Reporting to the Senior Manager, Marketing & Creative, this role serves as a strategic content strategist and internal client services partner, leading the marketing content calendar and transforming business priorities into clear, audience-focused content. Working closely with stakeholders, the Content and Creative Services Lead translates objectives into effective creative briefs, messaging, and review-ready deliverables while ensuring all content and creative outputs are aligned with business goals, on brief, and consistent with OCS brand and style guide standards. In partnership with design, project, and production teams, this role provides content direction, quality review, and stakeholder alignment to deliver impactful and cohesive marketing communications.

About Your Day

• Support the Sr. Manager, Marketing and Creative by leading the content calendar. Inform priorities, sequencing content needs and identifying opportunities to improve message consistency across campaigns, channels and stakeholder initiatives.
• Act as an internal client services partner for stakeholder creative requests, clarifying business objectives, audience needs, channel requirements and desired outcomes before work moves into development.
• Translate stakeholder requirements into clear content direction, messaging guidance and creative briefs that support designers, agencies and vendors in delivering work that is on brief and on brand, without assigning, supervising or approving their day-to-day work.
• Review short- and long-form marketing content for strategic fit, accuracy, clarity, tone and adherence to the OCS style guide.
• Adapt messaging and tone based on campaign objective, audience, channel and stakeholder need, ensuring content supports the intended customer or business outcome.
• Assess creative and content outputs against the approved brief, campaign objective, audience need and brand expectations.
• Synthesize stakeholder feedback into clear, actionable content direction for designers, agencies and vendors while maintaining the integrity of the content strategy and approved brief.
• Provide editorial judgment on messaging hierarchy, tone, clarity and consistency across creative assets and marketing materials.
• Use campaign performance, stakeholder input and channel context to identify opportunities to strengthen future content and creative outputs.
• Develop and maintain the marketing content calendar, provide visibility into planned campaigns, stakeholder requests and content needs.
• Define content considerations, review criteria and messaging priorities for planned initiatives to support efficient creative development.
• Identify risks, content gaps or competing priorities that may affect the quality, timing or effectiveness of marketing outputs and raise recommendations for resolution.
• Support annual planning by identifying recurring marketing services needs, campaign dependencies and opportunities to improve creative service delivery.
• Support team operations by maintaining visibility into content and creative service needs, dependencies and stakeholder commitments, while relying on the Project Specialist for detailed project workflow coordination.
• Partner with internal stakeholders to clarify requests, align expectations and support a consistent intake experience for creative and content work, with project logistics managed through the established project workflow.
• Contribute to process improvements that strengthen briefing quality, review readiness, stakeholder alignment and creative service standards.
• Support financial administration, budget tracking and vendor coordination as required for content and creative services activities.
• Assist with other marketing activities and additional responsibilities as required.

About You

• Post secondary education in Marketing, Business Administration or related discipline; or equivalent combination of education and experience

• 3+yearsworking experience in marketing with significant experiencepartneringwith multiple marketing agencies (creative, media, experiential, shopper, videographers, B2C email,etc)
• Fulsome marketing experience working in either above the line or below the line marketing roles
• Experience building strategy and executing a B2C email program
• Experience managing content calendars and providing internal client service support for creative or marketing requests
• Experience developing briefs, messaging direction or content recommendations that translate stakeholder objectives into clear creative outputs

• Experience reviewing short- and long-form marketing content for strategic fit, brand alignment, style guide adherence and tone

• Meticulous attention to detail
• Highly organized with the ability to handle multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment
• Sound communication both written and verbal
• Ability to apply content strategy principles, style guide standards and tone-of-voice guidance based on campaign, channel and project objectives
• Ability to synthesize internal stakeholder feedback into clear direction while balancing audience needs, brand standards and approved campaign objectives
• Strong client service orientation, with the ability to clarify needs, manage expectations and support stakeholders in achieving effective content and creative outcomes
• Intermediate MS Office skills, including MS PowerPoint and MS Excel
• Ability to analyze data and make decisions quickly

• Proactive in finding solutions to optimize projects

About the Job

• Location: Toronto, ON near York Mills and Yonge Street
• Hours of Work: 36.25 a week

• Employment Type: Full-Time, Permanent (Bargaining Unit Role; Represented by OPSEU)

• Required Travel: Rare, usually within the GTA
• Application Deadline: September 23, 2026 at 11:59 PM EST

Compensation

The target hiring range for this position is $90,000-$100,000. This is a pay grade 8 Bargaining Unit role, with a salary range of$$84,835- $103,687.Placement in the salary range will be based on factors such as market conditions, internal equity, and candidate experience, skills, and qualifications relevant to the role.

We are committed to providing an accessible, equitable and inclusive candidate and employee experience. We provide reasonable accommodation throughout the recruitment process and in employment. If you require an accommodation please let us know, we will work with you to meet your needs.