Senior Creative Strategist

Location: Preferred on-site in Orange County, CA (Santa Ana office). We're also open to hybrid or remote candidates working on Pacific Time (PT).
Job Type: Full-time
Compensation: $110,000 – $140,000 base salary + quarterly performance bonus

About Us

Shameless Snacks makes low-sugar gummy candy that tastes like the real thing. Every bag has 3g of sugar, is packed with fiber, and is vegan and gluten-free. Our sour and fruit gummies are sold on Amazon, DTC, TikTok, and at major retailers across the country.

We’re not a startup hoping something works. We’ve taken better-for-you candy from an idea to retail shelves nationwide and built a brand that consumers love. We move with the speed of a startup: small teams with real ownership and accountability.

This is the place where you’ll see the entire machine: flavor development, formulation, packaging, co-manufacturing, compliance, marketing, marketplace strategy, retail, all in one team. If you want to build and ship a food brand at scale, there is no better place than this.

The Role

You will own paid social creative for Shameless Snacks. You decide what we test on Meta each week, write the scripts, direct the editors and designers who produce the ads, and read the results to decide what gets made next.

This role is half data, half creative. You read performance data (hook rate, hold rate, CTR, CPA, ROAS) and turn it into the strategy behind the next round of scripts, and you bring a constant flow of new ideas. Meta is the core of the role: we ship a high volume of video and static ads every month, and you should already know how to make an ad that sells to a US consumer in the first three seconds.

Over time the role grows into ownership of adjacent channels and initiatives: TikTok Shop and YouTube creative, creator and whitelisting programs, external agency relationships, and the creative testing roadmap itself.

What You’ll Do

Own creative strategy

• Build and run the weekly creative testing roadmap: which angles, hooks, formats and personas go live, and why.
• Write scripts for video ads and briefs for static ads, and direct freelance copywriters when volume requires it.
• Review every ad before it ships for hook strength, clarity of the offer, compliance, and whether it sounds like a real person talking to a US customer.

Direct the people who make the ads

• Give editors, designers and copywriters briefs with references, visual direction and the reason the ad should work.
• Give fast, specific feedback so iterations ship in days, not weeks.
• Review and approve creator content, and work with freelance creators and external agencies to scale production without lowering the bar.

Read the data and decide what's next

• Review creative performance in Meta Ads every week (TikTok and Google as needed) and identify what is winning and why.
• Turn that into the next round: new hooks on winning bodies, new bodies on winning hooks, new formats for proven angles.
• Kill losers quickly and write down what we learned so the team does not retest it.

Own projects beyond Meta

• Act as project owner for creative initiatives on other channels: scope, timeline, stakeholders and delivery. Examples: a TikTok Shop creative program, a creator whitelisting pipeline, an external agency test.
• Keep your initiatives visible: status, blockers and results live in the team's trackers without anyone asking.

Raise the team's standard

• Contribute to playbooks, brief templates and testing frameworks as the team grows.
• Share what is working with the rest of the creative team, and borrow what is working for them.

Must have

• Able to work Pacific Time (PT) hours. Orange County is preferred so you can work on-site at our Santa Ana office; hybrid or remote is also an option.
• 5+ years in performance creative strategy for DTC brands or performance agencies, with Meta as your primary channel.
• You write ad scripts yourself and direct static ads from day one.
• A track record of Meta ads that scaled, and the ability to walk us through the numbers (spend, CPA or ROAS, hook rate, hold rate, CTR) and the thinking behind them.
• You test multiple variants (hooks, bodies, formats) and use the results to decide what gets made next.
• Direct response fundamentals: hooks, offers, proof, objection handling.
• Native-level fluency in US consumer culture. You know what sounds natural to an American shopper, what reads as an ad, and which references land.
• Experience running a project end to end with several contributors, not only contributing to one.
• Comfortable in Meta Ads Manager and basic performance dashboards without an analyst.

Nice to have

• TikTok Shop experience.
• Experience with food, beverage, snacks or other consumer packaged goods sold to a broad US audience.
• YouTube ad experience.
• Experience with creator content platforms where creators submit videos for review and approval.
• Experience managing creators, whitelisting programs or creative agencies.

• Quarterly performance bonus
• 401(k) plan with company matching
• Comprehensive health benefits including medical, dental, and vision coverage
• Stock option plan so you can share in the value you help build
• Generous paid time off and company holidays
• Real ownership and autonomy to drive measurable growth
• Amazing pet friendly office environment

Why Shameless Snacks

• We operate with speed, ownership, and accountability
• Ideas move quickly from concept to execution
• Every team member has direct impact on company growth
• We value operators who think strategically and execute decisively

Equal Employment Opportunity

Shameless Snacks is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace where all team members feel valued and respected. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability, medical condition, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws.

We believe diversity drives innovation and strengthens our ability to serve our customers. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment based on merit, qualifications, and business needs.