Job Description

Senior Social Creative

About VML

At VML, we are a beacon of innovation and growth in an ever-evolving world. Our heritage is built upon a century of combined expertise, where creativity meets technology, and diverse perspectives ignite inspiration. With the merger of VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson, we have forged a new path as a growth partner that is part creative agency, part consultancy, and part technology powerhouse.

Our global family now encompasses over 30,000 employees across 150+ offices in 64 markets, each contributing to a culture that values connection, belonging, and the power of differences. Our expertise spans the entire customer journey, building connected brands that drive growth for our clients. We do this by leveraging our three core practices: Brand Experience, Customer Experience and Commerce. Within these practices we offer expertise across communications, commerce, consultancy, CRM, data, production and technology. We deliver end-to-end solutions that result in revolutionary work.

The Role: Senior Social Creative

We are looking for a Senior Social Creative who doesn't just understand social They help define what great social creativity looks like.

This is a copy-led creative role for a writer who can turn cultural insight into compelling language, distinctive brand voices and original social-first ideas. You should be as comfortable writing a six-word hook or reactive comment as you are developing a campaign platform, creator script or global social narrative.

This role is for someone who lives and breathes social culture, has exceptional creative instincts, and knows how to develop ideas that genuinely earn attention in today's fast-moving social landscape. You understand that the strongest social ideas aren't adapted from bigger campaign thinking. They're born from culture, communities, creators and platform behaviours

As a senior member of the creative team, you'll lead the development of bold, social-first concepts across always-on content, campaigns and reactive moments, helping shape the creative direction for one of our flagship client accounts. You'll partner closely with Creative Directors, Strategists, Designers, Producers and Account teams to create work that is culturally relevant, platform-native and commercially effective.

You will originate ideas through language, lead copy development from concept to execution, and help define how the brand sounds across platforms, audiences and cultural moments.

You'll also play an important role in elevating the creative output of the wider team by bringing fresh thinking, inspiring those around you, and maintaining a consistently high creative standard across everything we produce.

Key Responsibilities

Social-First Ideation

• Lead the development of original ideas that are born in social, not adapted into it

• Translate strategic insight and audience understanding into breakthrough social-first creative

• Originate campaign platforms, recurring formats and reactive ideas through strong conceptual and verbal thinking

• Drive creative thinking within brainstorms, workshops and concept development

• Push creative ambition whilst ensuring ideas remain executable across platforms

• Express ideas simply and persuasively, from a single-line proposition through to a fully developed creative narrative

Copywriting & Verbal Craft

• Lead copy development across social campaigns, always-on content, reactive moments and creator-led work

• Write compelling hooks, headlines, captions, scripts, supers, voiceovers, dialogue, comments and community responses

• Develop distinctive campaign platforms, naming systems, recurring formats and social series

• Define, evolve and protect a distinctive brand voice, adapting tone intelligently across platforms, audiences, markets and cultural moments

• Turn complex strategic, product or technical messages into simple, culturally relevant and highly shareable creative

• Write natural, believable language for creators and talent that feels platform-native rather than overly scripted or advertising-led

• Maintain exceptional standards of grammar, rhythm, clarity and verbal craft across every output

• Present and defend copy choices with confidence, clearly explaining the strategic and creative thinking behind them

Platform-Native Thinking

• Bring an expert understanding of how audiences behave across TikTok, Instagram, X, YouTube and emerging platforms

• Understand how language behaves differently across platforms, from immediate hooks and on-screen copy to captions, comments, scripts and community responses

• Stay ahead of trends, creators, platform innovations and cultural shifts, identifying opportunities before they become mainstream

• Champion ideas that enable brands to participate authentically in culture rather than simply reacting to it

• Recognise the difference between following a trend and creating something distinctive and ownable for the brand

Content Creation & Craft

• Lead the development of compelling creative concepts across copy, visual direction, storytelling and content formats

• Collaborate closely with designers, motion creatives, editors and producers to bring ideas to life with exceptional craft

• Write sharp, natural scripts for creators, talent, social films and platform-native entertainment

• Shape the relationship between words, visuals, sound and edit so every element strengthens the core idea

• Ensure every piece of work feels platform-native, culturally relevant and creatively distinctive

• Be ruthless in the edit, making work shorter, clearer, sharper and more memorable without losing meaning

Reactive, Community & Editorial Creativity

• Identify creative opportunities within comments, community conversations, creator interactions and live cultural moments

• Write with the speed, judgement and confidence required for reactive social, without compromising brand voice or quality

• Bring strong editorial judgement, identifying which ideas should become posts, formats, recurring series or larger campaign platforms

• Exercise sound cultural judgement, understanding when a brand has a credible role in a conversation and when it should remain silent

• Help build a brand presence that feels consistent, human and recognisable across both planned and unplanned moments

Collaboration & Leadership

• Partner with multidisciplinary teams to develop integrated creative solutions

• Work confidently with Creative Directors and senior stakeholders to shape and refine ideas

• Present and sell creative ideas clearly to internal teams and clients, responding constructively to feedback while protecting the strength of the work

• Provide guidance, inspiration and constructive feedback to more junior creatives where appropriate

• Support the development of junior writers by raising standards of concept, copy and presentation craft

• Thrive in a fast-paced environment, balancing multiple projects while maintaining creative excellence

Executional Standards

• Set a consistently high standard of creative quality across all social outputs

• Ensure ideas are strategically sound, creatively ambitious and flawlessly executed

• Help shape content calendars, campaign rollouts and reactive opportunities with creative leadership

• Use audience response, platform signals and performance data to sharpen creative thinking without allowing optimisation to flatten originality or brand distinctiveness

• Champion innovation, experimentation and continuous improvement across the team

• Take ownership from first thought through to final delivery, maintaining the integrity of the idea across scripts, decks, production and publishing

The Ideal Candidate Will

• Be a writer first, with a sharp eye for visual storytelling and an instinct for how words and images work together in social

• Live and breathe social media, internet culture and digital creativity

• Have significant experience in a creative, social or digital agency environment developing social-first campaigns

• Be an exceptional ideas person with the confidence to lead creative conversations and influence stakeholders

• Be able to express a strong idea in one line, one frame or one compelling opening hook

• Have an instinctive understanding of platform-native storytelling and audience behaviour

• Be deeply connected to creators, trends, internet culture and emerging social behaviours

• Be equally comfortable writing polished campaign language, natural creator dialogue and fast, culturally fluent reactive copy

• Be able to shift tone confidently across humour, entertainment, utility, emotion and more elevated brand worlds

• Have an outstanding portfolio demonstrating exceptional social-first copy, original campaign thinking, distinctive brand voices, scripts, reactive work and creator-led ideas across multiple platforms

• Be comfortable leading projects from concept through to execution in collaboration with multidisciplinary teams

• Be comfortable originating ideas independently rather than waiting for a visual route or format to define the concept

• Be passionate about mentoring others, raising creative standards and continuously pushing the quality of the work

• Have strong editorial and cultural judgement, with a clear point of view on what a brand should say, make or leave alone

Desirable (but not essential)

• Experience leading creative development for global or large-scale brands

• Experience presenting and selling creative ideas to senior clients and internal stakeholders

• Strong understanding of content production, motion, design and creator-led workflows

• Experience working across integrated campaigns where social is the lead creative channel

• Experience defining or evolving brand tone of voice across multiple platforms and markets

• Experience writing for creators, talent, entertainment formats or real-time social environments

We'd love to hear from you if this sounds like the right next step.

What's in it for you?

Aside from a generous annual leave allowance and pension allowances, you will have access to a whole host of other benefits and activities such as:

• Life Assurance

• Permanent Health Insurance

• BUPA

• Flexible hybrid-working schedule

• Enhanced family friendly policies

• Well-being Programme

• Employee Assistance Support

• Cycle to Work Scheme

• Eye Care and Glasses Vouchers

• Season Ticket Loans

• WPP Discounts

You will also have a clear long-term career development plan and access to our learning and development activities and online learning platforms.

Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

VML is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without regard to race, colour, religion or belief, sex, age, national origin, citizenship status, marital status, military/veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical or mental disability. We believe in creating a dynamic work environment that values diversity and inclusion and strive to recruit a diverse slate of candidates to help us achieve that goal.

If you are unable or limited in your ability to access our career site as a result of a disability, we will be happy to assist you. Please contact our People Team at melissa.morton@vml.com to request an alternate accommodation. Please note that only requests for an employment application accommodation will be returned.