Performance Creative Strategist

PLEASE READ EVERYTHING BELOW

The Worst Agency is looking for a full-time Performance Creative Strategist who can think like a strategist and write like a performance copywriter.

We work across paid advertising, social media, websites, email, branding, e-commerce, events, and lead generation. We are not looking for someone who only comes up with clever ideas. We want someone who understands why an ad works: the hook, the angle, the offer, the audience. Then they turn that into creative that stops the scroll, drives clicks, generates leads, and increases sales.

This person will play a central role across our client accounts, working closely with our designers, marketing associates, and media buying team to plan, brief, write, test, and improve creative.

This is a hands-on, in-office position at our Santa Ana office.

When applying, use the subject line: “I actually read the instructions.”

What You’ll Work On

• Strong understanding of paid media creative strategy, with excellent copywriting fundamentals and the ability to adapt messaging, tone, and creative concepts across multiple channels, including Meta, Google, TikTok, LinkedIn, email, and landing pages
• Ad concepts, angles, hooks, and scripts
• Creative briefs for designers, video editors, and UGC creators
• Creative testing plans and variations
• Performance analysis of creative across client accounts
• Competitor and audience research
• E-commerce and DTC campaigns
• Lead-generation campaigns
• Campaign concepts for launches, promotions, and events

How We Think About Creative

Great creative starts with understanding the customer: what they want, what they fear, what they’ve already tried, and what would make them stop and pay attention. But our work does not stop at the idea. We also want to know:

• Which hook stopped the scroll?
• Which angle got the click?
• Which offer converted?
• Why did one variation beat the other?
• When did the creative start to fatigue?
• What should we test next?

You should be comfortable reading metrics like thumb-stop rate, hook rate, click-through rate, conversion rate, cost per lead, cost per acquisition, and ROAS, and turning that data into your next round of creative.

Consumer Psychology & Customer Research

Great advertising starts with understanding why people buy, what motivates them, and what prevents them from taking action. We’re looking for someone who goes beyond surface-level demographics to uncover customer motivations, emotional triggers, pain points, objections, and buying behaviors. You should be able to:

• Research customer reviews, social conversations, competitor messaging, and audience behavior to uncover actionable insights
• Identify the emotional and rational drivers behind purchasing decisions
• Understand different stages of customer awareness and adapt messaging accordingly
• Translate customer insights into compelling creative angles, hooks, offers, and messaging strategies
• Develop distinct messaging for different customer segments, rather than relying on one-size-fits-all advertising
• Form creative hypotheses based on research and validate them through performance testing
• Recognize the difference between what customers say they want and what actually influences their decisions

Key Responsibilities

• Own the creative strategy process from customer research and concept development through creative briefing, performance analysis, and iteration
• Partner with the team to identify opportunities, develop testable hypotheses, and continuously improve advertising performance
• Write clear creative briefs for designers, editors, and creators
• Analyze creative performance and report on what is working and why
• Collaborate with media buyers to align creative with campaign goals
• Create multiple variations from one concept for testing
• Maintain brand voice and consistency across client accounts
• Manage multiple projects and deadlines in a fast-moving agency environment
• Stay current with advertising trends, platform changes, and AI tools

AI-Assisted Creative Workflows

AI is part of modern creative production, and we expect our team to embrace it. You should be comfortable using AI for research and customer insight mining, angle and hook ideation, copy variations, script drafts, concept exploration, competitor analysis, and rapid testing. We care less about which tools you use and more about whether you know when AI improves the work, when it does not, and how to use it without producing generic creative.

Required Skills

• Strong copywriting skills, especially performance copy
• Understanding of Meta advertising and creative testing
• Ability to analyze creative performance data and act on it
• Ability to write clear, actionable creative briefs
• Strong understanding of consumer psychology, customer research, buying motivations, and audience segmentation, with the ability to translate customer insights into persuasive, performance-driven creative strategies
• Experience with DTC, e-commerce, performance marketing, or paid social advertising
• Experience with email marketing and Klaviyo (flows, campaigns, and segmentation)
• Ability to manage multiple clients and projects at the same time
• Strong organization and attention to detail
• Strong written and verbal communication
• Demonstrated ability to use AI tools to accelerate research, develop creative concepts, produce variations, and improve workflow efficiency while maintaining original thinking and brand quality
• Portfolio or work samples showing real campaigns

Preferred Skills

• TikTok, Google, or LinkedIn advertising
• Landing page copy and CRO
• Shopify
• ClickUp
• Discord
• UGC and creator briefs

Experience

We are looking for someone with 3+ years of relevant experience, with demonstrated creative strategy and performance marketing expertise. Backgrounds in copywriting, email marketing, or paid social are a plus. Agency, in-house, and freelance experience all count.

Copywriters who have moved into a strategy role are especially encouraged to apply.

Who Will Do Well Here

• Takes initiative without waiting for detailed instructions
• Loves testing ideas and learning from the results
• Cares about both great writing and business results
• Handles feedback without ego
• Works well with designers, media buyers, and marketers
• Can own a process and help keep the whole team moving
• Stays organized in a fast-moving agency environment
• Wants their work measured by results, not opinions

Compensation & Details

• Salary: $65,000–$85,000 annually, based on experience, skills, and demonstrated performance
• Employment: Full-time, in-office position
• Time off: Paid vacation annually, accrued according to company policy
• Introductory period: Initial 90-day introductory period
• Benefits: Medical, dental, and vision coverage available after the 90-day introductory period
• Location: Santa Ana, California. This position is not remote or hybrid.
• Office hours: Monday–Friday, 8:30 AM–5:00 PM

If you made it this far, you are on the right track. Good job.

How to Apply

Please send the following to [email protected] with the subject line “I actually read the instructions.”

1. Resume. PDF, named Lastname.Firstname.Creative.Strategist.pdf
2. Work samples. A link to a portfolio or 3–5 examples of ads, scripts, emails, or campaigns you wrote or strategized.
3. Short introduction. Your experience, the brands or industries you have worked with, and the type of work you enjoy most.
4. Show us how you think. Choose 2 campaigns or ads you worked on. For each: What was the goal? Who was the audience? What was the angle or hook, and why did you choose it? How did it perform, and what did you learn?
5. Answer this question. Pick any ad you’ve seen recently that you think works really well. Why does it work?
6. Customer insight. Tell us about a time when customer research or an audience insight changed your creative approach. What did you discover, how did it influence your messaging or creative strategy, and what were the results?