Head of Creative (Performance Marketing Agency)

Full-time contract-to-hire · Remote · UK / Europe preferred

We’re looking for a hands-on creative leader with exceptional ideas, excellent taste and the ability to make great work happen.

You’ll lead creative at Ladder: originating concepts, shaping campaigns, directing designers and copywriters, and setting the standard for the work we put into the world.

You should have a portfolio that makes us want to meet you—and be able to explain what you personally brought to the work.

This is a full-time role, starting with an initial Q4 contract and the intention to convert to a permanent position. We’re looking for someone who can start quickly. Please only apply if you have full-time availability.

About Ladder

Ladder is an adaptive growth agency bringing together strategy, performance marketing, creative and technology to help ambitious brands grow.

We work across the customer journey, turning audience insight into ideas, campaigns and experiences—and using what we learn to make the next round of work better.

We’ve won a substantial new Q4 engagement with one of the world’s leading technology companies, and we’re investing in senior creative talent to match the opportunity.

The opportunity

Your first focus will be leading creative for this major technology client: turning complex products into compelling stories and delivering a substantial programme of digital work.

The broader opportunity is to help shape creative across Ladder. You’ll have real influence over our standards, how we develop ideas, how we present and sell the work, and how we grow our creative team.

This is a hands-on leadership role. You’ll be expected to come up with the idea, write a headline, sketch a direction or work through an execution with the team. You’ll also need the judgement to recognise a strong idea in someone else’s work and help make it better.

What you’ll do

• Originate strong creative ideas. Turn client briefs, audience insights and product truths into distinctive concepts, campaign ideas and compelling stories.
• Bring ideas to life. Show how a concept translates across ads, video, landing pages and the wider customer journey.
• Lead designers and copywriters. Give clear, specific direction that strengthens the idea and improves the finished work.
• Set the creative standard. Take responsibility for concept quality, copy, art direction, storytelling and execution.
• Present and sell the work. Help clients understand the idea, why it fits their audience and how it supports their business.
• Connect creativity with performance. Work closely with our strategy and paid media teams, using results to inform what we develop and test next.
• Build a stronger creative team. Improve how we brief, collaborate, review work and develop our people.
• Help shape our use of AI. Explore how it can support research, creative development and production, with strong human judgement guiding the output.

Who we’re looking for

You’re an experienced creative with a strong foundation in copywriting or art direction, and a track record of leading others to produce excellent work.

You’ll bring:

• A portfolio of compelling campaigns and digital creative, with a clear explanation of your personal contribution.
• Strong conceptual ability: you can find an interesting idea in a complex brief and express it simply.
• Excellent creative judgement across words and visuals, with the ability to explain what makes the work stronger.
• Experience developing work for digital channels, including paid advertising.
• The ability to balance brand quality, audience relevance and commercial objectives.
• Confidence presenting to senior clients and responding constructively to feedback.
• A collaborative approach and the ability to give useful, actionable creative direction.
• The pace and ownership needed to move from brief to finished work in a busy agency.
• Curiosity about AI and a willingness to explore how it can improve the creative process.

You may already be a Head of Creative or Creative Director, or an Associate Creative Director ready to take on broader ownership. Your work, judgement and ability to lead matter more than your current title.

Why join Ladder?

• A significant creative opportunity with a leading global technology client.
• Ownership of the creative work and the chance to influence the wider agency.
• A multidisciplinary team spanning strategy, creative, media and technology.
• The opportunity to help shape an agency investing in its people and AI capabilities.
• Remote working, with UK / Europe preferred for collaboration.
• An initial contract with the intention of building a longer-term, permanent role.