Associate Creative Director, Copy Writing

Strava•San Francisco, CA

1d•$205,000 - $215,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Strava's Creative Team is responsible for the brand's presence across various platforms including brand campaigns, go-to-market strategies, social media, partnerships, product, and paid media. This team operates within Marketing and collaborates closely with departments such as Marketing, Product Marketing Management, Growth, Brand, and Product to scale one of the most recognized active lifestyle brands globally. The team is characterized by its high standards for quality and its mission-driven approach. As the Associate Creative Director, Copywriting, you will be instrumental in defining Strava's voice across all communications, from major brand campaigns and key moments to paid social content and product marketing. This role involves direct management of a small team of experienced copywriters, leading copy direction for significant workstreams, partnering with the Executive Creative Director on conceptual strategy, and shaping the overall tonal and verbal identity of the brand. It is a player-coach position, requiring both hands-on creative production and leadership of a team, providing creative credibility and direct feedback. The role uniquely blends strong personal creative skills, people management, and marketing collaboration.

Requirements

10+ years experience of substantial experience in copywriting and creative concepting, with a background spanning both agency and in-house environments.
A portfolio with exceptional craft across brand campaigns, social, and multi-format work, writing that's conceptually strong, tonally specific, and built for how people actually read
Proven experience upleveling a creative team, you've managed experienced copywriters with a genuine standard for what great looks like, and you enable your teams to grow and develop through successful mentorship
A strategic mindset: you can develop a campaign concept as fluently as you can write the headline, and you connect every copy decision to brand and business impact
Deep understanding of platform-native writing; you know how voice adapts across TikTok, Meta, YouTube, email, and in-product, and why it matters
Experience developing and stewarding brand voice and tone frameworks, not just applying them
Comfort with ambiguity and pace: you've built in fast-moving environments and you're energized by the challenge of producing great work quickly and at scale
Experience collaborating with visual designers and art directors in integrated concepting; you think in campaigns, not just copy
Success record of mentoring and developing creative team members in their craft and grow to the next level

Responsibilities

Own copy direction across brand campaigns, paid social, GTMs, and tentpole activations, from brief through final delivery, ensuring every word earns attention and ladders up to Strava's brand strategy
Directly manage 2–3 experienced copywriters and content creators: regular 1:1s, career development, project feedback, and performance conversations
Partner with the ECD and Associate Creative Director, Visual Design to develop integrated campaign concepts, bringing a sharp verbal POV to early ideation and an editorial eye to execution
Shape and evolve Strava's verbal identity: brand voice, tonal guidelines, headline frameworks, naming conventions, and how we talk across contexts and audiences
Translate cultural signals, sport moments, and audience insights into ideas that connect, on social, in campaigns, in product moments, and beyond
Write and direct copy across formats: long-form and short-form, social-native, editorial, video scripts, app store copy, partnership creative, and more
Present work to cross-functional partners and leadership with clarity and conviction, connecting creative decisions to strategy and business outcomes
Partner with external agencies and vendors to ensure voice and tone standards are upheld across all external creative production