Senior Digital Strategist

We are looking for a new key person to join our small but mighty team at Tuckshop. We are a team of food-obsessed creatives helping the FMCG industry thrive, and our goal is to have a first class integrated high-performance social media offering where real-time insights fuel our creative output.

We pride ourselves on being nimble and reactive, giving us the freedom to pivot quickly and double down on what's actually performing.

As our Senior Digital Strategist / Social lead, you will be the architect of this vision. This role is a blend of strategic planning, paid social ad management, data analysis, execution and creative collaboration. You will ensure that all media efforts not only look good but drive tangible business results, working closely with the Creative Director, Head of Operations, and the wider team to bring food-centric ideas to life for our clients.

1. Strategic Planning & Execution

Your primary role is to develop and execute comprehensive social media strategies that align with the client's business goals.

• Developing Social Media Strategy: Independently design a plan that outlines objectives to solve our client briefs and a roadmap for how social media will achieve them, focusing on everything from brand awareness to sales.
• Platform Selection & Optimisation: Determine which social platforms are best suited for the brand's goals and audience, and develop a tailored strategy for each.
• Content Strategy: Create content plans and calendars, collaborating with the creative and copywriting teams to ensure a consistent and effective message.
• Social Media Timelines and Calendars: Oversee our social media manager to take full ownership of social media calendars and production needs. Your responsibility is to ensure the creative team is briefed on content needs, overseeing timelines for monthly documents, social testing, insights, and all social media-related activity.

2. Research & Insights

This is where you go beyond metrics to understand the "why" behind performance.

• Owning the Reporting Process: Take ownership of the monthly reporting process, extracting genuine insights that tell a story about performance, not just presenting raw numbers.
• Identifying Success & Failure: Analyse data to identify winning formulas and content formats, as well as recognising what is underperforming and why.
• Translating Insights into Recommendations: Use findings to formulate clear, data-backed recommendations that directly inform and improve future campaigns.
• Content Testing & Learning Framework: Develop and implement a robust testing framework for social content. You will deliver insights on what resonates with audiences and collaborate with creative teams to brief new content for a continuous "test and learn" cycle.
• Creating Audience Insights: Conduct deep-dive analyses to build rich insights, developing audience personas and mapping digital behaviours (especially during key campaign periods) to inspire the creative process.
• Competitive Benchmarking & Trends: Regularly analyse competitor strategies to identify threats and opportunities. Proactively identify emerging cultural moments or platform features, working with the Social Media Coordinator to activate these in the moment.

3. Integrated Media Thinking

A key area of growth for this role is broadening your strategic thinking beyond the social realm. You will bridge the gap between digital and traditional media.

• Expanding Strategic Scope: Apply knowledge of the full media landscape (Social, Programmatic, TV, Radio, OOH, Print) to contribute to comprehensive, channel-agnostic media plans.
• Connecting Channels: Align social and programmatic strategies with traditional media to create cohesive, multi-channel plans.
• Holistic Campaign Ideation: Consider how social media content can complement, react to, or extend a brand's traditional media presence.
• Customer Journey Orchestration: Map the consumer journey across all touchpoints to ensure consistent messaging, whether a customer sees a billboard or engages on TikTok.
• Strategic Media Recommendations: Formulate bespoke media recommendations with clear rationale based on audience insights, client objectives, and budget.

4. Influencer Marketing & Earned Media

You will architect and execute campaigns that leverage third-party credibility to build brand love.

• Integrated Campaign Development: Devise "earned-media" concepts, including influencer-led activations, digital PR campaigns, contests, and promotions that generate authentic engagement.
• End-to-End Influencer Management: Lead the full lifecycle of partnerships—from vetting to strategic briefing, content approval, and performance analysis.
• Digital Event Amplification: Develop social/digital strategy for PR events (pre-event hype, live coverage, post-event amplification). Note: This role requires availability for occasional evening or weekend event attendance.
• Campaign Framework & Process: Establish best-practice frameworks for influencer execution to ensure seamless delivery and measurable results.
• Performance Measurement: Define success metrics (e.g., Earned Media Value (EMV), reach, sentiment) and report on campaign impact.

5. Collaboration & Communication

Your role is to act as a central hub of information and strategy.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with the wider team to ensure social efforts are cohesive with other marketing channels.
• Wider Team Updates: Keep the entire team updated on agency social performance to ensure internal alignment and shared learning.
• Mentorship: Mentor the Social Media Coordinator to better understand platform nuances and evolving features.

• Experience: 4+ years in a Social Media or Digital Strategy role (Agency experience preferred).
• Paid Media Fluency: You have expert, hands-on fluency in Meta Business Suite (Ads Manager) and TikTok Ads Manager. You are comfortable setting up campaigns, managing audiences, and interpreting paid data to optimize creative performance.
• Programmatic Knowledge: Experience with programmatic booking and buying platforms is a strong bonus.
• Strategic Mindset: Proven ability to translate business goals into digital roadmaps. You understand the difference between a "viral post" and a "brand strategy."
• Data Literacy: Expert proficiency in social listening and reporting tools. You can turn data into a narrative.
• FMCG/Food Experience: A passion for food marketing and experience managing FMCG brands is highly desirable.
• Leadership: Experience mentoring junior team members or managing stakeholder relationships.

Please note: As part of the interview process, shortlisted candidates will be asked to complete a strategic task (reviewing real data and proposing a campaign pivot) to demonstrate their analytical and creative thinking.