Associate Director Creator & AI Studio Network

The Hershey Company•New York, NY

12d•$157,440 - $196,800•Hybrid

About The Position

The Hershey Company is building something new in New York City. Pip & Plume is our new in-house Creator + AI Studio—built to help some of our most iconic brands create at the speed of culture. We’re bringing creators, strategists, designers, media intelligence and emerging technology together to make work designed for how people actually discover, watch, share and engage with brands today. As Associate Director, Creator & Social, you’ll lead our internal creator team and set the creative standard for social-first work across The Hershey Company’s portfolio of 42 iconic brands. You’ll recruit and develop exceptional creator talent, guide teams from idea through execution, and build an engine capable of producing a high volume of outstanding organic and paid social creative. You won’t just understand social. You’ll be fascinated by it. You know what people are watching, sharing, searching for and talking about—and why. And importantly, you’re a maker yourself: you know how to turn an observation into an idea, an idea into content, and content into something people actually want to watch.

Requirements

7 years of experience in Marketing, Strategy, General Management, or related commercial leadership roles.
Bachelor’s Degree required.
Significant experience building and leading teams responsible for best-in-class social-first creative, ideally in a high-velocity agency, creator, platform or brand environment.
Deep experience creating and leading both organic and paid social work—and using performance to improve the next piece of creative.
A creator at heart. You may shoot, write, edit, design, direct, produce or have built an audience yourself; whatever your craft, you understand making because you’ve done it.
An instinctive understanding of platform-native creativity. You know a TikTok isn’t a shorter TV spot—and what works brilliantly on one platform may be completely wrong for another.
A strong eye for creator talent and meaningful experience finding, recruiting, coaching and developing creative people.
A student of culture, platforms and communities. Staying current isn’t a task; it’s how you’re wired.
Deep curiosity about creative effectiveness: not only whether something performed, but what made people stop, watch, engage, share or act.
Comfort moving between culture and data, instinct and evidence, speed and craft.
Energy for AI and emerging technology—not because technology replaces creativity, but because you’re fascinated by what it can unlock for creators.

Nice To Haves

MBA or equivalent marketplace experience preferred.

Responsibilities

Build and lead a world-class creator team in NYC capable of producing content across 42 distinct brands.
Define and elevate social creative standards across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, emerging platforms, and paid media.
Stay hands-on with the work by ideating, creating content, coaching creators, and shaping ideas into high-performing executions.
Develop agile ways of working that enable brands to respond quickly and authentically to cultural moments.
Recruit, develop, and retain exceptional creative talent while building a strong network of emerging creators.
Partner closely with Social Strategy to transform brand priorities, audience insights, and cultural intelligence into compelling content ideas.
Create ideas that drive both organic engagement and paid media performance, collaborating closely with media teams.
Use performance data and audience insights to continuously improve creative effectiveness and accelerate learning.
Lead ongoing experimentation with new platforms, formats, creator partnerships, production approaches, and AI-enabled tools.
Serve as a founding leader for Pip & Plume, helping define its vision, culture, operating model, and future growth.