Dynamic, Exceptional Creative Specialist

*This is a fully remote contract position. While hours may fluctuate, we’re seeking someone with the ability to work full time hours on a regular basis as needed.*

We are searching for a dynamic and exceptionally creative individual to join The Shelf’s Creative department. Someone who can blend Picasso’s 🎨 creativity with the viral touch🤳🏽  of a TikTok creator. Someone who can not just think outside the box, but join us in redefining it completely. In this role, you will spearhead the ideation and development of concepts to empower influencers in crafting extraordinary content. You will play a key role in driving creative direction. 

So, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to supercharge influencers with brilliant ideas that make their content pop, sizzle, and explode across TikTok and Instagram.

At The Shelf, influencer marketing isn’t just a buzzword—it’s an art form. We craft highly strategic campaigns that are not just data-driven, but scream creativity and whisper “watch this again” into the ears of social media scrollers. When you join our team, you become a pivotal player in painting the digital skies with content that’s as engaging as it is exceptional.

Whether it’s beauty, bites, or boutique fashion, your playground at The Shelf spans diverse domains. Got a knack for skit-based humor or pulse on Gen Z’s heartbeat? Regardless of the campaign type, The Shelf’s ultimate goal is to create captivating content that compels viewers to watch repeatedly.

🧠 Creative Brainstorming: Develop cutting-edge ideas for both macro and mega influencers, with a strong focus on video content that trends. You’re already on top of what’s hot on social media and ready to translate that into our campaigns.

🔍 Performance Analysis: Analyze influencer feeds thoroughly to decode the secrets behind their most successful posts. Use these insights to enhance our content strategies.

📝 Content Brief Crafting:  Construct detailed and innovative content briefs that not only spark creativity but also set the stage for influencer success.

🤝 Client Collaboration: Occasionally present your brilliant concepts to clients to ensure everyone is on the same page and excited about our direction.

📞 Influencer Interaction: Support account managers by joining creative calls to finesse ideas with influencers, ensuring our strategies resonate with their audiences and avoid potential pitfalls.

✏️ Concept Refinement: Evaluate concepts suggested by influencers, refining them to align perfectly with brand objectives, products, and creative vision. Be proactive in spotting and resolving any issues before they impact the campaign.

🎬 Content Oversight: Assist in reviewing and approving influencer content, providing detailed and helpful feedback and using your video editing skills to polish the final products if you’ve got the chops.

🌟 Extra Creative Mile: Take on additional tasks from coordinating photo shoots and experiential events to helping with award submissions, all in the spirit of pushing creative boundaries and enhancing our agency and client presence.

Now that you’ve got a glimpse of what the day-to-day looks like, let’s talk about what it takes to really shine ✨ in this role. We’re looking for someone who’s not just talented, but also fully equipped to handle the whirlwind of creativity and strategy that this job demands. Here are the key qualifications that will help you nail it and make your mark in the digital storytelling world.

• Years of Experience: 3-5 years of relevant work experience
• Creative Insight: Exceptional ability to generate captivating and effective ideas that resonate with audiences on social, steering away from run-of-the-mill influencer content.
• Social Media Expertise: Proficient use of social media, with a keen understanding of the latest trends on platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
• Industry Knowledge: Deep understanding of current social trends and the ability to spot emerging ones, such as popular video concepts and thematic content.
• Attention to Detail: Rigorous attention to detail to ensure precision in every aspect of your work.
• Written Communication: Strong ability to articulate ideas clearly and persuasively in written form. Ability to art direct video content.
• Visual Acuity: A sharp visual sense to develop compelling visuals for content briefs.
• Client Communication: Comfortable and skilled in client interactions, ensuring clear and effective exchanges.
• Adaptability: Thrives in a dynamic, fast-paced agency setting, handling multiple projects effectively and efficiently.
• Video Editing Proficiency is an asset: Skilled in video editing, particularly adept with transitions and quick cuts, enhancing social media content.

Here is a fun visual breakdown of the qualities and characteristics (related to this role) that we find important when hiring. (There are more qualities listed below that we feel are more global… these are specific to the Strategist role.)

• We provide the usual benefits: 👩🏽‍⚕️ Medical, 🦷 Dental, and 👁 Vision. (The medical insurance is through Aetna, which is really pretty good.)
• We just started doing 401K’s (with a pretty sweet match, too)! Yay!
• We are all remote now, thanks to COVID-19… so that might be a perk if you hate commuting.
• If we ever decide to have an office again, you can be darn sure it’ll be super cool-looking and dog-friendly! 🐶
• We’re a small company without the typical corporate hoops… People who perform well end up advancing quickly.

• We’re a team of more than 80.
• We’re growing.
• We’re about as scattered as a team can be… East Coast, West Coast, the middle of the country… a bunch of us are in Canada, 1 in Ukraine, 1 in Russia… we like to keep our options open in terms of company retreat locations.
• About half of us are really funny.
• We’re currently working with some pretty amazing brands: Famous Footwear, Sam’s Club, UMG, ROAR, Peelz… just to name a few.

We’re a pretty down-to-earth bunch, so if you’re interested in applying, in lieu of an elaborate cover letter, you can email me at sabrina@theshelf.com, and include bullet points with the info requested in the next section…

• Link to your LinkedIn profile.
• Your location.
• Overview of your experience in the influencer marketing space, including any work with influencers or client engagements.
• Summary of why you believe you are suited for this role, highlighting your experience in ideation, concept development, or guiding influencer content creation, as well as any video direction, scripting, or overall editing experience.
• Overview of your agency experience and why you thrive in a fast-paced environment. If no agency experience, explain why you excel in such settings.
• Salary expectation.
• Relevant samples of your work.

Tips on how to get your application noticed (assuming that’s what you’re shooting for):

• Applications that are submitted using a job site (instead of being emailed to the above email address) will not be considered.
• Please don’t have typos. (#FunLittleTip: Install Grammarly. It’s a game-changer.)
• It would be great if you could try to sound cool. We write in a colloquial, one-with-the-people-while-still-being-basically-grammatically-correct style. And, while this style of writing is not a requirement, keep in mind that we receive a decent number of applicants every day, and 90% of those applications are boring AF. The ones that have a fun “voice” and quirky writing style immediately stand out. In a good way.
• Lastly, put yourself in the shoes of the person in charge of interviewing… What do you think that person would want to hear? Talk about that stuff and leave off anything that isn’t super relevant.

🎉 Let’s Make Some Noise in the Influencer World Together! 🎉

A quick note from one of our Founders…

Generally speaking, a lot of you will probably find this job post in line with your skill set, and I bet a lot of you probably have the skills necessary to perform the requirements of this role. But… the characteristics that define what it’s like to actually work with you are also very important to us. Think of these requirements more in terms of culture-fit requirements:

🕺 Our company has a very fast-paced environment. It might feel disorganized from time to time because we’re also a small company. We need each employee to be the type of person who can go with the flow. Who can adjust quickly. Who is able to embrace chaos with open arms when it decides to waltz through the door.

🏎 Due to the aforementioned fast-paced environment, you should be the type of person who is able to execute quickly… within time constraints. WHILE still maintaining quality. We don’t ask for the impossible. But what we don’t want to see are projects that are slapped together and riddled with issues when we’re in a time crunch. Instead, we’d like to see people make adjustments and figure out how to make it work. We’re looking for resourceful people who approach projects with that there’s-more-than-one-way-to-skin-a-cat attitude.

📈 I’ve never interviewed anyone who has said that they have bad work ethic… but there’s a big difference between people who show up and do what gets assigned to them, and those who take initiative… Those people who take pride in their projects and who go above and beyond because they have that drive for personal achievement and growth. We don’t want to micro-manage. We want to work with self-motivated people who are neurotic about quality.

✅ People who don’t proofread drive me nuts!

👿 While I feel like I shouldn’t have to mention this, we’ve worked with people in the past who ran around like a bunch of crazed loose cannons… yelling at coworkers, constantly complaining, deploying the cold-shoulder on a regular basis… passive aggressive. So if you’re not a nice person… that won’t really work for us. We really need everyone to exude positivity.

👂 You need to be receptive to feedback. This is a quality that we find candidates have trouble self-assessing. But try hard, because we give feedback when needed. We’re too small of a company to just let people do whatever they want to do. (Side-note… no one loves feedback. That’s fine. I don’t either really. But will you take it nicely? Will you incorporate it? Are you going to be passive aggressive while doing it? Have you ever been told not to “cut off your nose to spite your face”? These are questions you should ask yourself).

😺 Influencer marketing is constantly changing, so we’re looking for people who are curious and eager to learn. Let’s say, for example, a client mentions in passing how they’re doing whitelisting on Instagram (and we’ll assume you don’t know what that means). Are you going to just nod your head and say you understand it when you don’t? Or, are you going to jot down a note, do some research, and become a whitelisting expert for the next client conversation? Because we need the latter.

👩🏽‍💻 If you’re working remotely, you need to actually be working. No one likes a freeloader.

👆🏾 Are you ambitious? It’s not a requirement, but if you are… there’s lots of room for career growth. Plus, we like to hire our managers from within the team, so there is a very clear path to the next level (if that’s of interest to you).

Here at The Shelf, we truly believe it’s our differences that have allowed us to come together and form such a cohesive and all-encompassing whole. Our mission as a company is to help our clients stand out amongst the crowd… to be different and impactful. And since we’re a team made up of diverse people with all different backgrounds and experiences, we’re able to do this naturally. 🙋🏽‍♂️🙋🙋🏾‍♀️🙋🏼‍♂️🙋🏼‍♀️🙋🏾‍♂️🙋🏽‍♀️🙋🏾

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and do not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, sex, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, status as a veteran, and basis of disability or any other federal, state or local protected class.

I could honestly go on and on (because I’m long-winded, in case you couldn’t tell that by now), but I’m going to stop here. The point is, you gotta have the chops AND play well with others. And if you’re giddy already, feeling like this job description is just so dead-on-b*lls accurate for you, perfect! We can’t wait to hear from you.

If you’re lacking a skill or two but still feel pumped, feel free to mention it in your cover letter. We’re a small company that’s big into personal growth and supporting up-and-coming go-getters!

It’s also worth noting right here that we have our hands full running campaigns, guys. So, we will only contact those candidates who are most likely to be a good fit for the role. We’ll respond quickly when that’s the case. But if you don’t hear from us, please don’t feel slighted. Rally on – there’s a role out there that’s probably a better fit for your awesome skillset.

Oh, and one last thing… Please add the word Toggle to your subject line when applying so that I know you read this entire post.