Head of Creative Strategy, Football Culture and Branded Content

London | Hybrid Working, 3 days in the office | £80,000 to £90,000

Football is no longer just a sport.

It shapes music, fashion, gaming, entertainment and the way a new generation builds identity and community. For brands, that creates an enormous opportunity, but only if they understand how to participate in the culture without forcing their way into it.

This influential sports media business has built its audience by understanding that difference.

Sitting at the intersection of football and youth culture, it creates editorial, entertainment and social content that reaches highly engaged fans across the platforms where they actually spend their time.

Now the business wants to take its creative proposition even further.

They are looking for a Head of Creative Strategy to define how cultural insight becomes bigger ideas, stronger partnerships and more ambitious branded content.

This is a senior role, but it is not one where you disappear into management.

You will stay close to the work, taking major briefs from the first conversation through to the final pitch. You will uncover the audience insight, find the strategic territory, shape the creative platform and build the story that makes a client want to buy it.

The opportunity goes well beyond responding to briefs.

You will be expected to understand where football culture is moving next. Which players, creators, communities and cultural moments matter. How football is intersecting with music, fashion, gaming and entertainment. And where brands have a credible opportunity to become part of those conversations.

You will work closely with editorial, creative, commercial and production teams, connecting what audiences care about with what clients are trying to achieve.

A major part of the role will also be leadership.

You will manage and develop a team of Creative Strategists, helping them become stronger thinkers, storytellers and presenters while setting a consistently high standard across pitches and client work.

You will also help strengthen the way the wider creative function operates, improving processes, creating better collaboration between teams and building a strategic capability that can scale as the business grows.

The right person will come from a publishing background and be comfortable working within editorial frameworks. That experience is essential.

You will have senior experience across creative strategy, branded entertainment, content partnerships or integrated planning, alongside a portfolio that shows how you have turned insight into ideas and ideas into successful client work.

You will understand football deeply, but just as importantly, you will understand the culture around it.

You should be fluent in how younger audiences behave across YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, know what makes an idea travel socially and be able to distinguish between something culturally interesting and something a brand can genuinely own.

Strong writing, deck building and presentation skills are important. So are commercial judgement, confidence with senior clients and the ability to influence creative thinking without ego.

You must also have experience managing and developing a team.

For someone who loves football, understands modern publishing and wants to shape the creative output of a culturally relevant media brand, this is an opportunity to have real influence on both the work and the people creating it.

£80,000 to £90,000 | London | Hybrid working, 3 days in the office

Interested? Get in touch for a confidential conversation and the full brief.

Ultimate Asset is proud to be an equal employment opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, colour, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status, origin, disability, or any other basis covered by law. All employment is decided on the basis of merit, qualification, and business need. We celebrate diversity and encourage you to apply to opportunities here at Ultimate Asset.

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