Creative Strategist (Performance Creative)

MediaNug; Hermosa Beach (CA); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

401(k) matching

Paid time off

Paid holidays

Hybrid work model

Job summary

MediaNug in Hermosa Beach, CA, is hiring a Creative Strategist (Performance Creative) to bridge performance data and creative execution. You will analyze campaign metrics across Meta, TikTok, and YouTube, translating insights into precise briefs and collaborating with producers and editors to optimize assets for high performance.

This hybrid role requires 3 days in-office and 2 remote, located in the Greater Los Angeles area.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of direct experience handling creative strategy for paid media (Meta, TikTok, YouTube).
• Strong portfolio demonstrating direct-response copywriting and social ad concepts.
• Deep knowledge of social media trends and consumer psychology.

Responsibilities

• Audit campaigns and creative performance to identify fatigue and growth opportunities.
• Translate insights into precise creative briefs and scripts for production teams.
• Collaborate with Producers and editors to guide post-production and optimize assets.
• Lead rapid iteration cycles to improve performance and maintain learning velocity.

Skills

Paid social

Analytical

Copywriting

Storytelling

Systems thinking

Growth mindset

Tools

Meta Ads Manager

TikTok Ads Manager

YouTube Ads Manager

Job description

WE ARE HIRING: Creative Strategist (Performance Creative)

About MediaNug

At MediaNug, we don't treat creative as subjective design execution---we treat it as infrastructure. We are an award-winning performance creative agency that builds, tests, and optimizes data-driven video systems to unlock scalable revenue for growth-driven brands like Nike, L'Oréal, Coinbase, and Bumble.

In high-spend ad accounts, creative is responsible for the majority of performance variance. We run a highly structured, hypothesis-based testing framework to ensure our clients' performance becomes predictable. We are badged agency partners of Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, and Vibe. We are scaling fast, and we're looking for a Creative Strategist who bridges the gap between cold paid media metrics and thumb-stopping, high-converting creative execution.

The Role

As a Creative Strategist at MediaNug, you will own the "Why" and the "What" behind our creative production. You are the connective tissue between performance data and production. You will spend your days analyzing campaign metrics on Meta, TikTok, and YouTube, translating those insights into hyper-specific creative briefs, and working side-by-side with our production producers to build continuous, anti-fragile optimization loops.

You aren't a traditional media buyer, nor are you a full-time video producer---you are a data-fueled creative architect who understands consumer psychology, platform-native trends, and conversion design.

Workplace Structure & Location Policy

• Structure: Hybrid (Mandatory 3 days in-office, 2 days remote).
• Schedule: Monday through Wednesday in-office at our creative studio in Hermosa Beach, CA. Thursday and Friday are remote.
• Applicant Requirement: Must be currently located in the Greater Los Angeles area. We are not offering relocation assistance for this role. Remote applicants living outside commuting distance will not be considered.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Diagnosis & Media Audits: Audit clients' active ad accounts, testing cadences, messaging hierarchies, and hook distributions to uncover exactly where creative fatigue is limiting scale.
• Data Analysis & Tracking: Mine creative-level analytics (CTR trends, thumb-stop rates, hold rates, and CPA movement) to diagnose exactly why an asset won or lost.
• Hypothesis-Based Test Frameworks: Design data-backed creative roadmaps, structural Angle Maps, and controlled variable test matrices.
• Rigorously Detailed Briefing: Write exhaustive, actionable creative briefs and conversion-focused scripts that outline precise 3-second psychological hooks, visual styles, and platform-native CTAs.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner hand-in-hand with our Producers to launch briefs to our NugVerse creator network and guide editors during post-production to preserve strategic integrity.
• Rapid Iteration Loops: Lead our continuous optimization cycle. Use performance signals to map out fast asset recuts---such as splicing winning hooks onto different video bodies---ensuring learning velocity beats creative fatigue.

What We Are Looking For (Requirements)

• Paid Social Expertise: 3+ years of direct experience handling creative strategy, copywriting, or growth marketing specifically for paid media (Meta, TikTok, YouTube).
• Analytical Fluency: You know your way around Meta Ads Manager, TikTok Ads Manager, and ad intelligence tools. You can look at a dashboard and instantly spot the creative variable that caused a drop in ROAS.
• Master Storyteller & Scripter: A strong portfolio demonstrating direct-response copywriting and conversion-focused social ad concepts (UGC scripts, product demos, etc.).
• Internet Culture Native: Deeply embedded in social media trends, native features, and shifting consumer psychographics. You know what makes people scroll vs. what makes them stop and buy.
• Systems Thinker: Excellent organizational skills to handle high-volume creative production, asset management, and rapid feedback loops.
• Growth Mindset: You want to build performance creative infrastructure that compounds over time, rather than just delivering a random batch of videos every month.

Compensation & Benefits

• Base Salary Range: $90,000 -- $130,000/year (Dependent on experience, portfolio depth, and direct-response performance track record).
• Healthcare: company-paid medical and 100% dental and vision insurance premiums for employees.
• Retirement: 401(k) matching program.
• Paid Time Off: 15 days of structured PTO per year, plus 12+ paid annual agency holidays and winter break closure.
• The Hybrid Perks: Thursday and Friday remote flexibility, working Monday-Wednesday out of our premium beachside studio in Hermosa Beach, CA.