Director, Paid Creative Strategy

lOCATION: London, Hammersmith

WORKING PATTERN: Mon - Fri (37.5 hours) and eligible for virtual working / flexible working

reports to: Senior Vice President, Global DTC

Role Purpose

The Director of Paid Creative Strategy (DTC) is the creative strategy layer that sits above paid media execution. This role is responsible for defining the creative vision for paid media, owning the channel-level brief architecture, and building a disciplined testing framework that compounds learning across campaigns. This position will work closely with the Performance Content Producer, the Director of Acquisition, and media buying partners to ensure creative strategy and spend strategy are fully aligned.

This is not a production role but rather a strategic leadership position for someone who understands how great paid creative is built, tested, scaled and can translate that understanding into a repeatable, data-driven capability for Funko DTC.

What You’ll Do:

Creative Strategy & Channel Direction

• Own the paid creative strategy across all DTC paid channels — Meta, TikTok, Google/PMax, programmatic, and affiliates. Set a clear creative direction per platform based on audience stage, algorithm dynamics, and spend efficiency
• Translate business objectives and trading priorities into channel-level creative briefs with precision. Definie hook type, format, offer framing, talent vs. product approach, and messaging hierarchy
• Build and maintain a deep understanding of platform creative best practices, creative fatigue cycles, and format innovation across all paid channels
• Act as the creative authority within DTC paid media. Ensure creative decisions are grounded in both commercial data and brand integrity

Testing Framework & Performance

• Design and own a structured creative testing framework including a hypothesis bank tied to audience segments and funnel stage, a variable matrix, and defined statistical confidence thresholds before scaling winners
• Set the creative testing roadmap and priorities, briefing the Performance Content Producer to execute tests against a clear plan
• Run a regular creative performance review with the Acquisition team and media buying partners, translating performance signals (CTR, CVR, ROAS, creative fatigue rate) into a rolling brief for production
• Ensure insights compound across campaigns building a living knowledge base of what works by channel, audience, and product category

Agency & Stakeholder Management

• Own the creative brief into and feedback loop out of any external creative agency or media buying partner
• Work closely with the Director of Acquisition to align creative strategy to media investment decisions and channel budget allocation
• Partner with the Retention + Content team to ensure paid creative and owned channel creative are complementary and consistent
• Collaborate with Integrated Marketing to align paid creative with broader campaign narratives and product moments
• Be a clear and confident communicator of creative strategy to senior stakeholders, including the SVP of DTC

Team & Capability Building

• Act as the strategic lead for the Performance Creative pillar, providing direction and creative leadership to the Performance Content Producer
• Build the processes, tools, and ways of working that make the Performance Creative function a genuine competitive advantage for Funko DTC
• Stay ahead of trends in paid creative, AI-powered production tools, and platform innovation — bringing new thinking into the function

What You’ll Bring:

• Extensive experience in paid media creative strategy, performance creative, or creative direction — ideally from a high-volume DTC brand or performance marketing agency
• Proven track record of building or leading a paid creative testing function with measurable impact on ROAS, CAC, or CVR
• Deep platform expertise across Meta, TikTok, and Google/PMax — understanding not just formats but algorithm dynamics, creative fatigue, and spend efficiency thresholds
• Experience owning or managing creative agency relationships and translating business goals into effective creative briefs
• Strong analytical capability — comfortable working with performance data to generate creative hypotheses and measure outcomes
• Ability to operate at both strategic and executional levels: setting direction clearly and guiding a producer to deliver against it
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills — able to build credibility with both commercial and creative counterparts
• Familiarity with AI-driven creative tools and emerging production technologies
• Experience in or genuine passion for pop culture, collectibles, or fandom-driven brands is a strong plus

Funko is an equal opportunity employer. We know that every superhero has a unique origin story and the diversity of these stories enrich what we do. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, colour, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin or disability status.

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by this role holder.  They are not to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required and all employees may be required to perform duties outside of their normal responsibilities from time to time, as needed.