Senior Director, Industry Strategy (Creative Effectiveness)Application Deadline: 20 November 2026
Department: Marketing
Employment Type: Full Time
Location: United States (East Coast)
Reporting To: Melissa Coito
Compensation: $180K-$200K Base + up to $10K bonus
DescriptionZappi is looking for a senior advertising effectiveness and creative development expert to help strengthen our authority, differentiation, and commercial success in the advertising research and creative effectiveness space.
This person will serve as both:
- A trusted expert, educator, and industry advocate externally
- A strategic, cross-functional SME and connective layer internally
We are looking for an experienced advertising and marketing professional with a strong understanding of creative development and advertising program building. The ideal candidate will bring a marketing-led perspective, with experience working in/with brands, agencies or advertising platforms, and understand how data and technology can be leveraged to inform better advertising decisions.
While an understanding of consumer insights and advertising effectiveness is valuable, this is not primarily an insights or research methodology role.
You should be credible with senior Marketing, Brand, Media, Creative, Commercial, Strategy and Insights leaders, and able to connect a practical understanding of advertising with a modern, scalable approach to advertising research and creative effectiveness.
What you'll do:Build external credibilityInfluence product and strategyWhat success looks likeWhat we're looking for:- 10+ years of experience in advertising, marketing, creative development, brand strategy, campaign strategy or advertising effectiveness, ideally gained within an agency, advertising platform, ad tech business or in-house brand or marketing team.
- A strong understanding of how advertising is developed and how creative development and advertising programmes support broader marketing objectives.
- Experience working with brands, agencies, advertising platforms or marketing teams, with an understanding of their priorities, workflows and challenges.
- An understanding of how data, consumer insights and technology can be leveraged to inform creative development and improve advertising decisions, without being primarily focused on research methodology or data analytics.
- Experience working with enterprise brands and senior stakeholders across Marketing, Brand, Media, Creative, Commercial, Strategy or Insights teams.
- Strong understanding of how enterprise teams make advertising decisions, manage creative risk, and connect consumer insight to campaign performance.
- Ability to translate complex advertising concepts and capabilities into clear commercial narratives, sales guidance, executive-level storytelling, and customer-facing POVs.
- Experience supporting strategic sales, enterprise customer conversations, thought leadership, or consultative growth motions.
- Exceptional communication, presentation, and storytelling skills, with comfort representing a company externally as a senior industry expert.
We are particularly interested in candidates with backgrounds in advertising and marketing, rather than those whose experience has been predominantly focused on consumer insights or research methodology. Relevant backgrounds include:
- Creative, advertising or media agencies, with experience in advertising strategy, creative development, campaign planning or effectiveness.
- Advertising and media platforms, such as TikTok or YouTube, with experience understanding advertiser needs and how platforms support advertising development and performance.
- In-house brand, marketing, media or creative teams at major advertisers.
- Ad tech or marketing technology businesses, particularly where the role involves helping brands or agencies leverage technology to improve advertising.
- Advertising research, market research or creative effectiveness businesses, where the candidate also brings a strong practical understanding of advertising, marketing and creative development.
Why join us:- Three company-paid mental health days of rest per year (these are pre-scheduled, so the entire company can take the same days off regularly to reset)
- Generous PTO policy - Minimum of 20 days of paid time off per year, plus national holidays. Leave over 30 days requires manager and People team approval.
- Private medical healthcare cover
- Group risk, life & disability contributions
- Flexible working arrangements, including remote (unless otherwise specified)
- Thoughtfully designed offices to support both individual work and collaboration without interrupting others
- Wellbeing benefits such as free yoga and access to trained therapists / counsellors
- Enhanced parental leave policies
- Free lunch in the office Tuesday-Thursday
- Tax efficient pension contributions via salary sacrifice scheme
- Salary sacrifice cycle to work scheme
- Salary sacrifice nursery scheme
- Tailored personal development through training allowances, coaching, mentorship and career frameworks
