Senior Creative Strategist

Hunterlodge is an independent, full-service advertising agency working across Higher Education, B2B and B2C. We combine strategic thinking, creativity and technology to help clients solve business challenges and improve marketing effectiveness.

We are looking for a Senior Creative Strategist who can ask better questions, uncover useful insights and turn them into original ideas with a clear purpose.

The Role

You will lead the thinking behind creative responses to complex client challenges. Starting with the business problem and the audience, you will develop a clear strategic direction and ideas that can change perceptions, influence behaviour and deliver measurable results.

Your focus will be creative strategy, concept development and problem-solving. You will work with designers, copywriters, media specialists and technology colleagues to develop your ideas and guide their delivery.

Technology will be an important part of your thinking. You will explore how AI, data, digital platforms and emerging tools can unlock better solutions, whether through a campaign, an experience, a service or a new way for a brand to connect with its audience.

Key Responsibilities

• Challenge and clarify client briefs, identifying the underlying business problem, audience needs and desired outcomes.
• Build strategies and propositions grounded in research, cultural understanding and commercial insight.
• Develop original concepts and campaign platforms that can work across channels and throughout the customer journey.
• Identify practical applications of technology that strengthen an idea or solve a client problem, working with specialists to assess feasibility and test promising approaches.
• Lead creative thinking and build persuasive stories that connect the challenge, insight, idea and expected impact.
• Run workshops and present strategic recommendations with clarity and confidence, helping clients understand and support the thinking.
• Work across strategy, creative, media, account management and technology, keeping the central idea and strategic intent clear as work develops.
• Apply learning from other industries, mentor colleagues and strengthen the quality of thinking across the agency.
• Define success with strategy and media colleagues, using results and learning to refine future recommendations.

Skills & Experience

• Typically 10+ years’ relevant experience in creative strategy, brand strategy, conceptual creative development or a related discipline, gained in agencies, consultancies or in-house teams.
• A strong track record of turning complex briefs into clear strategic thinking and distinctive ideas.
• Examples of work that show the problem, your insight, the idea, your contribution and the resulting impact.
• Practical understanding of how technology, including AI and digital platforms, can support creative problem-solving, with the judgement to recognise where it adds value.
• Experience developing integrated ideas across channels, with an understanding of how creative, media and audience behaviour work together.
• Strong commercial awareness and the ability to connect recommendations to client objectives and measures of effectiveness.
• Excellent writing, storytelling and presentation skills, with confidence in senior client conversations and pitches.
• The ability to lead discussions, challenge assumptions constructively and work effectively with specialists from different disciplines.
• Experience in Higher Education, B2B or B2C sectors relevant to our clients. Sector experience is beneficial but is not a prerequisite; we actively welcome perspectives and learning from other industries.
• Experience developing technology-enabled campaigns, digital experiences, services or tools.
• Understanding of youth audiences, student decision-making or other complex customer journeys.

What We’re Looking For

You are curious, thoughtful and confident in your ideas. You can see the bigger picture, find a useful connection others have missed and explain it simply.

You enjoy exploring unfamiliar industries and technologies, and you combine creative ambition with sound judgement about what will work for the client.

• Comprehensive CPD programme with IPA recognition.
• An inclusive, supportive culture that values creativity, innovation and professional growth.
• The opportunity to shape creative strategy and the use of technology across a growing independent agency.

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