Creative Strategist Freelance (NYC Based)

Monthly retainer: $20,000–$25,000 USD depending on experience and track record.
Structure: freelance contract, invoiced monthly
Availability: full-time, 5 days per week availability & commitment (no other clients)
Location: NYC-based
Start: as soon as possible
About Amata

We are on a mission to change how people fall in love and reshape our (toxic) modern dating culture. We need you to help us.
We are backed by top-tier European & US VC firms and are building the next-generation dating experience by blending human intuition with cutting-edge AI technology. After 3 years of R&D and $15m raised, our app is live in NYC and is already creating meaningful connections.
We are looking for a Creative Strategist to own and drive Amata’s paid social performance and organic content, engineering the creative systems, scripts and formats that turn attention into acquisition & brand awareness.
The Role

This is a role for someone who has spent years reverse-engineering why certain ads stop the scroll and who has the track record to prove it. We need someone who understands social media as a performance system: hooks, formats, editing patterns, psychological triggers, and the creative iteration loops that compound into real growth.
Beyond paid, you will own the creative direction for Amata’s organic brand content, briefing awareness videos, feed content and the short‑form series that build the brand between campaigns and keep our audience coming back.
You will own the full creative strategy for paid and organic social. You will work with external video editors, motion designers, UGC actors and street interview resources. Your job is to engineer what gets produced, and to make sure it performs — whether it runs as an ad or lives on our feed.
You will also be the guardian of what is on‑brand and off‑brand. Performance and brand are not opposing forces here — the best creative at Amata converts and represents who we are. We expect you to hold both lenses at all times.
You will work directly with the CEO.
If you have scaled a DTC brand’s paid social, built and run a creative testing system, and managed a team of external creative resources, this was written for you. If you haven’t, this is not the right role.
What You Will Do

Own Creative Strategy for Paid Social
Define the creative direction, angles, hooks and formats for all paid social assets across Instagram, TikTok, and Youtube.
Develop and maintain a rigorous creative testing system — hypotheses, variables, iteration velocity, learning loops
Translate audience insights, platform data and competitive intelligence into concrete creative briefs
Identify what is working, kill what isn’t, and scale what converts. Fast
Engineer Scripts, Hooks and Formats

Write or oversee the writing of all scripts for video ads: UGC/facecam, street interviews, motion design…
Create a static design iteration machine system
Design the hook, structure and pacing of every creative concept before production begins
Stay ahead of editing trends, format shifts and platform algorithm changes that affect creative performance
Build a library of proven creative frameworks that can be iterated and scaled
Identify what can be systematised with AI tools, externalise the rest
Brief, direct and manage video editors, graphic designers, motion designers, UGC actors and street interview talent
Ensure every external contributor understands the performance goal — not just the aesthetic
Build a fast, repeatable production pipeline that delivers volume without losing quality
Own the feedback loop with our paid media agency: review, critique, and push external output to the standard required
Monitor paid social trends, competitor creative, top‑performing DTC ads and emerging formats constantly
Benchmark Amata’s creative output against the best in consumer apps, dating and lifestyle
Bring specific, actionable intelligence — not general observations — to every creative decision
Build the team’s collective knowledge of what works and why
Direct Organic Brand Content

Brief and oversee awareness video production for Amata’s Instagram feed and short‑form channels
Define the creative direction for organic content that builds brand between paid campaigns
Own the creative production of Amata’s social media show — scripts, format, talent direction and editing briefs
Ensure organic and paid creative are coherent — same brand, same voice, different objectives
Maintain a consistent publishing rhythm without sacrificing creative quality
What We Are Looking For

You are a proven creative performance operator. You have spent years in the trenches of paid social — not as a generalist marketer, but as someone obsessed with the craft of making ads that work. You also have the instinct to build content that earns an audience organically.
You have done this before. You have the results to show it.
The non‑negotiable: you have scaled a DTC or consumer brand through paid social creative, measurable results, real spend, real ROAS.
Creative Performance Expertise

Deep, hands‑on experience running paid social creative strategy on Meta and TikTok at meaningful scale
Proven ability to build and run creative testing systems that generate compound learnings over time
Track record of identifying winning creative angles, hooks and formats — and scaling them
Ability to write high‑converting scripts and briefs, not just review them
Strong command of what makes a hook work, what kills retention, and what drives action
You think about social media as a performance system, not a content calendar
You can reverse‑engineer why a piece of content performs — algorithmically, psychologically, contextually
You monitor competitors, top‑performing ads and platform shifts with genuine obsession
You have a strong, specific point of view on what is working right now — and why
You know the difference between a trend worth chasing and noise worth ignoring
Organic & Brand Creative Thinking

Ability to think & brief content that converts as well as content that builds a brand.
Experience directing organic social content with a clear editorial POV, not just repurposing ads
Ability to brief and oversee short‑form series or social media shows with consistent format and voice
Thinks about organic as a long‑term brand asset, not an afterthought to paid
Brand Sensibility

Strong instinct for what is on‑brand vs. off‑brand — visually, tonally and culturally
Ability to brief and evaluate assets that serve brand‑building objectives, not just conversion
Understands that the best performance creative is also brand‑consistent creative — not a trade‑off
Can hold both lenses simultaneously: does this convert and does this represent who we are?
Experience managing a creative team or external creative resources at pace
Ability to give sharp, specific creative direction that makes external contributors better
High bar for quality — you know when something is not good enough, and you can articulate why
Strong feedback instinct: you improve output through clarity, not vague dissatisfaction
You have operated in fast‑moving environments where speed and judgment matter more than process
You take full ownership of outcomes — not just outputs
You are proactive, direct, and comfortable with ambiguity
You want to build a creative performance machine, not maintain one
Nice to Have

Experience specifically in dating, social, consumer apps, communities, or lifestyle brands
Founder or operator experience: you have built something from scratch
Requirements

Proven track record scaling paid social creative for a DTC or consumer brand. Please include results in your application
Native English, written and spoken
NYC-based with full-time availability, this is a primary engagement, not a side retainer
Portfolio of paid social creative work with performance context: what ran, what spent, what worked

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