Senior Digital Creative Manager

Critical Playground LLC; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

Critical Playground LLC is seeking a Senior Digital Creative Manager in London to lead creative responses to paid media strategy. You will translate brand activity into scalable, platform-specific content that drives engagement and performance.

Reporting to the Digital Content Lead, you will collaborate with paid media leads, brand managers and external agencies, guiding asset selection and execution while testing new approaches to improve campaign outcomes.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in creative strategy, digital or performance creative in-house or agency.
• Strong understanding of platform-specific creative best practices.
• Experience mentoring juniors and influencing senior stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Lead the creative response to paid media strategy with scalable platform assets.
• Translate brand activity into channel-ready creative across platforms.
• Collaborate with paid media, brand marketing and external agencies.
• Drive test-and-learn to improve creative performance and asset quality.
• Champion digital best practices and emerging tech in creative delivery.
• Line-manage the Digital Creative Specialist and streamline workflows.

Skills

Creative strategy

Digital creative

Performance creative

Stakeholder management

Mentoring juniors

Motion design

After Effects

Figma

Typography & layout

Tools

Adobe After Effects

Figma

Job description

The Studio

An in-house studio for a well-loved fashion brand bringing together creativity, brand storytelling and digital expertise to deliver impactful marketing content across paid media, organic social, influencer and ecommerce channels. Working collaboratively across brand marketing, paid media and with external creative agency partners, the team is focused on creating high-quality, platform-ready content that balances strong creative execution with commercial performance.

With a culture that values collaboration, agility and continuous improvement, the studio is always looking for smarter ways to work, maximise the value of creative assets and deliver content that resonates with audiences. By embracing emerging technologies, automation and new creative approaches, the team aims to make digital content more effective, scalable and responsive to the needs of the business. This is a 6 month foxed term contract.

The Opportunity

We’re looking for a Senior Digital Creative Manager to lead the creative response to paid media strategy, translating brand and campaign activity into scalable, platform-specific creative that drives engagement and performance.

Reporting to the Digital Content Lead, you’ll work closely with paid media leads, brand marketing managers, internal stakeholders and external agency partners to develop digital content frameworks and oversee the adaptation of creative assets across platforms, audiences and funnel stages. You’ll bring strong creative judgement to asset selection, versioning and execution, ensuring every output is fit for channel, aligned with brand standards and tailored to its intended objective.

A key part of the role will be driving creative effectiveness through a test-and-learn approach. Working alongside paid media teams, you’ll use performance insights and platform learnings to inform creative recommendations, refine content variations and improve future campaign delivery. You’ll also champion digital and platform best practice, exploring emerging social trends, AI-enabled creative solutions and automation opportunities to improve speed, quality and impact.

Alongside this, you’ll line manage and develop the Digital Creative Specialist, providing clear direction, prioritising workloads and establishing robust quality assurance standards. You’ll play an important role in streamlining workflows, reducing duplication and ensuring the studio delivers consistent, high-quality creative at scale.

The Ideal Candidate

• Is an experienced digital creative professional with 5+ years’ experience in creative strategy, digital creative or performance creative within an agency or in-house marketing environment.
• Has strong digital and platform expertise, with a deep understanding of Meta, TikTok and other key digital channels, including platform-specific creative best practice and the relationship between creative execution and performance.
• Has some previous experience managing or mentoring junior team members, setting priorities and supporting development within a fast-paced creative environment.
• Is a strong creative practitioner with strong motion and animation capabilities, including After Effects and Figma, alongside excellent typography, layout skills and a high level of creative judgement.
• Is a collaborative stakeholder manager who can build effective relationships across paid media, brand marketing, creative teams and external agencies, confidently presenting insights and recommendations to senior stakeholders.
• Is highly organised and performance-minded, with exceptional attention to detail, a strong understanding of brand guidelines and a proactive approach to testing, optimisation, emerging trends and new creative technologies.