Senior Creative Strategist San Francisco

Kikoff; San Francisco, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 127,000 - 145,000; Full time

Job summary

Kikoff is seeking a Senior Creative Strategist to shape and scale the next generation of performance creative. You will own the end-to-end process from concept to production, crafting ads that stop the scroll and drive results across AI-assisted and traditional formats.

You’ll collaborate with Growth, Brand, and Product Marketing, stay ahead of industry trends, and lead with storytelling and analytics to optimize campaigns and experimentation.

Qualifications

• 6–9 years of experience in performance creative strategy.
• Strong writing and storytelling abilities.
• Proven track record of advertising that delivers measurable results.
• Fluent in AI tools for creative production.

Responsibilities

• Lead ideation and development of high-performing creatives.
• Translate growth goals into creative strategies and test plans.
• Monitor performance and iterate based on results.
• Drive testing and scale successful concepts.
• Collaborate with production, growth, brand, and product marketing.
• Stay ahead of AI-driven creativity and trends.

Skills

Performance strategy

Creative storytelling

Advertising production

AI for creative

Tools

Premiere Pro

CapCut

Final Cut Pro

Job description

Kikoff: The Fintech Powering Financial Security at Scale
Kikoff is a profitable, pre-IPO fintech company on a mission to empower everyone to achieve financial security. With record revenue growth in 2025 and a unicorn valuation, we've built a suite of products that help millions of people build credit, access liquidity, and save money.
We're scaling fast. Join us if you want to build something meaningful and help millions of people move forward financially.

Why Kikoff:

This is a consumer fintech startup, and you will be working with serial entrepreneurs who have built strong consumer brands and innovative products. We value extreme ownership, clear communication, a strong sense of craftsmanship, and the desire to create lasting work and work relationships. Yes, you can build an exciting business AND have real-life real-customer impact.

We’re looking for a Senior Creative Strategist to help shape and scale the next generation of performance creative at Kikoff. You’ll own the end-to-end creative process—from concept to production—creating ads that not only stop the scroll but drive real results. You’re as comfortable using AI tools to push creative boundaries as you are producing traditional, high-performing spots that convert—bridging storytelling, strategy, and innovation across every format.

Please include a portfolio of your work.

What You’ll Do

• Lead the ideation and creative development of high-performing creatives across digital and paid channels.
• Translate growth goals and audience insights into compelling creative strategies and test plans.
• Monitor creative performance, analyze results, and iterate quickly based on learnings to surface insights and optimize creative direction.
• Drive testing and experimentation, moving fast to uncover insights and scale what works.
• Build AI-native and human-led workflows for content creation leveraging tools for ideation, scripting, video generation, and editing.
• Partner closely with production and post-production teams to bring concepts to life, ensuring creative excellence and efficiency across both AI-assisted and traditional productions.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with Growth, Brand, and Product Marketing to align creative testing with business objectives.
• Stay ahead of industry and platform trends, acting as a thought leader in AI-driven creativity, emerging formats, and performance storytelling.

Who You Are

• 6–9 years of experience in performance creative strategy, developing creative for channels like paid social, YouTube, CTV, and other performance media.
• A strategic creative thinker and strong writer with a passion for storytelling, experimentation, and solving puzzles.
• Proven track record of concepting, writing, and producing advertising that drives measurable results.
• Creative and analytical in equal measure. You can dig into performance, understand what’s working and why, and turn those insights into the next creative hypothesis.
• Fluent in AI tools for creative production (e.g. Veo, Sora, Higgsfield, Midjourney, or whatever launches next week).
• Deep understanding of performance marketing and how creative works differently across channels, audiences, and formats, with curiosity to explore what’s next.
• Comfortable operating in ambiguity. You don’t need a fully formed playbook before you start experimenting.
• Able to lead brainstorms, sell through ideas, manage projects, and collaborate across creative, growth, and marketing teams.
• Obsessed with culture, trends, technology, and storytelling that connects with real people.

Bonus Points

• Experience with direct response creative, user acquisition campaigns, or B2C brands.
• Experience launching and scaling multiple products, initiatives, or channels within an umbrella brand, with the ability to tailor creative strategy to different audiences, objectives, and business needs.
• Experience building creative strategy for new or emerging channels where the playbook is still being written.
• Familiarity with editing software such as Premiere, CapCut, Final Cut Pro, or similar.

Base Range

$127,000 - $145,000 USD

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

Kikoff Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to complying with all federal, state, and local laws providing equal employment opportunities and considers qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, sex, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, citizenship, or any other legally protected class.

This is a hybrid position and requires being in the San Francisco, CA office three times a week.