---
title: 'Performance Creative Strategist at Pearmill'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/performance-creative-strategist-pearmill-united-states-z8mrkjh5kwt4'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-17'
---

# Performance Creative Strategist at Pearmill

- **Company:** Pearmill
- **Location:** United States
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** remote
- **Posted:** 2026-09-03
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-17
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/pearmill/6c70da2c-6952-4b57-8e65-c31476a3a728

## Job description

Location: Remote — US or Canada Type: Contract to start (month-to-month), with the intent to convert to full-time as we grow The role in a nutshell: Pearmill is a performance creative agency that works with startups, scale-ups, and mid-market brands — with a client roster that skews B2B, SaaS, and tech (alongside fintech, healthcare, and more). Our clients trust us to be the engine behind their paid social and search creative, and our strategists are the people making that engine run. In this role, you'll own the creative thinking on multiple accounts at once — concepting ads, writing briefs, studying what's performing, and pushing the next round to be smarter than the last. You'll work across Meta, TikTok, YouTube, Google, and more. You'll collaborate daily with media buyers, designers, and motion artists. You'll use AI tools every day to move smarter and faster — from audience research and competitive analysis to concepting, generation, and iteration. And you'll see your ideas go live with real budgets behind them, reaching millions of people. If you like the intersection of creativity, data, and speed, this is the role. This is a role for someone who can hit the ground running — an experienced strategist who's done this at an agency and doesn't need much ramp time to start shipping strong briefs. Summary: The Performance Creative Strategist is where the work lives. They own the day-to-day creative thinking on their accounts — concepting, scripting, building creative frameworks, and partnering with designers and motion artists to bring ideas to life. They study what's performing, develop hypotheses, and push the next round of creative to be smarter than the last. Critically, the Creative Strategist is the bridge between media buying and creative execution. They sit between the Growth team (who owns channel performance) and the Design/Motion team (who builds the assets) — translating insights from performance data into actionable creative direction, and translating creative ideas into clear briefs that execution teams can run with. If a Paid Social Manager says "CPAs are rising and hook rates are dropping on Meta," the Creative Strategist knows what that means creatively and can brief the next round accordingly. If a designer has a strong visual instinct, the Strategist helps frame it as a testable hypothesis. This is also a client-facing role. Creative Strategists are expected to communicate directly with clients — presenting creative rationale, walking through upcoming rounds, explaining testing strategies, and fielding feedback in real time. You're not waiting for a CD to relay the message; you're in the room (or on the call) owning the conversation on your accounts.

## Key Responsibilities

Brief Writing & Concepting

- Write clear, actionable creative briefs — the primary deliverable of this role. Briefs include ad concepts, copy direction, visual/stylistic references, scripts or storylines, and format specs
- Concept, script, and build creative frameworks for multiple client accounts
- Develop hooks, ideas, and test concepts grounded in performance data — every idea should have a "why"
- Frame creative ideas as testable hypotheses: "We think [concept] will outperform [current] because [insight]"
- Use AI daily to deepen and accelerate concepting — conduct audience research, collaborate on new angles, draft copy options, explore potential visuals and concepts, and pressure-test ideas before they go into a brief

Creative Analysis & Testing

- Conduct asset-level creative analysis: what worked, why, and what to do next. Tag winning elements (hook type, CTA style, format, visual approach) to build a learning library over time
- Monitor key creative metrics — hook rate, hold rate, CTR, CPA, ROAS — and know the difference between a hook problem and a hold problem, for example
- Maintain creative velocity — consistently ship new concepts each sprint, balancing quality with the volume needed to fuel a structured testing program
- Own a structured testing methodology: define hypotheses, set success criteria before launch, and make clear calls on whether to iterate, scale, or kill each concept
- Use AI tools to streamline creative analysis — summarize performance data, identify patterns across rounds, and draft insights faster so more time goes into strategic thinking

Cross-Team Collaboration

- Serve as the connective tissue between Growth (media buying) and Execution (design, motion, video). Translate performance data from the Growth team into creative direction, and translate creative ideas into briefs the execution team can build
- Partner with Paid Social and Paid Search Managers to understand channel-level performance, audience behavior, and what the algorithm is rewarding
- Work closely with designers, motion artists, and video editors — not just handing off briefs, but collaborating on how ideas come to life visually
- Coordinate with Production on UGC and creator briefs

Client Communication

- Own creative communication on your accounts — present upcoming rounds, explain the strategic thinking behind concepts, and walk clients through testing plans and results
- Participate in recurring client calls alongside Growth Managers; come prepared with creative updates, learnings, and recommendations
- Field client feedback in real time — know when to push back with data and when to adapt
- Build trust with client stakeholders by being responsive, proactive, and transparent about what's working and what isn't
- Manage creative timelines and expectations with the client, flagging risks early and proposing solutions

Research & Inspiration

- Regularly mine the Meta Ad Library, TikTok Creative Center, and competitor channels for inspiration and competitive intelligence
- Study channel trends, platform changes, and emerging formats to bring new thinking to the team
- Use AI for audience research, competitive intelligence, and trend analysis — quickly synthesize large amounts of information into actionable creative direction
- Maintain a swipe file of strong creative references

Misc.

- Mentor Associate Creative Strategists when paired
- Contribute to new account audits and pitches

Who you've worked with Most of our clients are B2B, SaaS, and tech brands. The strongest fit is someone whose recent roster reflects that — you understand considered purchases, longer funnels, and how to make performance creative work for a business buyer, not just an impulse ecommerce shopper. If your background is primarily ecommerce/CPG, this particular role may not be the best fit right now, but we’d still like to meet you! Required Skills

- 2+ years working as a Performance Creative Strategist at an agency — agency experience is required, and you should be able to step in and contribute from week one
- Recent experience on B2B, SaaS, and/or tech client rosters
- Genuine AI proficiency — you already use AI tools daily for ideation, research, iteration, and production acceleration, and can show us how
- Strong concepting and brief writing ability — the brief is the primary deliverable, and it needs to be clear, actionable, and grounded in data
- Fluency in creative performance metrics: hook rate, hold rate, CTR, CPA, ROAS. Know what each one tells you creatively and what to do about it
- Comfort with creative analytics tools and research platforms — Motion, Foreplay, Meta Ad Library, TikTok Creative Center
- Understanding of paid social channels and how media buying decisions affect creative strategy (audience targeting, placements, bid strategies)
- Cross-team translation ability — speak the language of both media buyers and designers. Turn performance data into creative direction and turn creative instincts into testable hypotheses
- Quick ideation and iteration speed — ability to generate high volumes of concepts without sacrificing strategic thinking
- Clear communication in written briefs and verbal presentations. Able to present creative rationale to clients with confidence and field live feedback without losing the thread
- Mentorship ability — coaching Associates, giving feedback on briefs, and helping junior team members develop their creative POV

Flourishing at Pearmill We get an unreasonable amount of satisfaction out of making the things around us better at their jobs. Clients who arrived wanting a channel fixed and left with a system. People who joined to run ad accounts and left able to build a team that runs global strategy. And most recently, our little AI agents running around our Notion docs and giving us super powers. We're a fast growing, diverse group of goofy yet dedicated marketers, creatives, engineers, and analysts, running over $500M in ad spend across 15+ platforms. Join us!

## About Pearmill

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Pearmill is an AI-native creative and performance marketing agency that helps fast-scaling startups and category creators achieve exponential growth through data-driven insights, beautiful advertising, and a tech-company culture.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Operating as an Agency / Partnership)
- **Headquarters**: New York, New York, United States
- **Founded**: 2018
- **Founders**: Nima Gardideh (Co-founder, President, CTO), Mary Boyagi (Co-founder, Creative Director), Donovan McKnight (Partner, Head of Creative), Leala King (Partner, Head of Creative)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Advertising Services, Digital Performance Marketing, Creative Production, Growth Analytics
- **Target customers**: B2B and B2C startups, fast-scaling brands, and category creators in fintech, DTC, consumer goods, healthcare, and B2B.
- **Mission or purpose statement**: "To shift advertising towards a more trustworthy industry by producing beautiful, honest, and high-performing ads, while creating a healthier and more transparent environment for our people." [pearmill.com](https://pearmill.com/careers)

## Products & Services
For each major offering:
- **[Full-Funnel Performance Marketing]**: End-to-end management of paid social and paid search campaigns across platforms like Meta, Google, and TikTok, focused on delivering measurable ROAS.
- **[Data-Informed Creative Production]**: A specialized service combining creative strategy, copywriting, and design to produce high-performing ad assets that are "beautiful and honest."
- **[Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) & Analytics]**: Services that help clients optimize landing pages and user flows, paired with advanced growth analytics and attribution modeling to understand campaign effectiveness.
- **[Proprietary AI & Tech Stack]**: An "AI-native" approach where the team integrates data engineering and proprietary technology to automate workflows and enhance human judgment, setting them apart from traditional agencies. [pearmill.com](https://pearmill.com/blog/agency-culture)

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly available (Privately held).
- **Key Metric**: Annual Recurring Revenue / Run Rate not disclosed; workforce of **24-30 employees**; reported to be growing faster than traditional agencies, achieving a run rate that most agencies require over a decade to reach within 5 years. [pearmill.com](https://pearmill.com/blog/agency-culture)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Not publicly disclosed. The company is structured as a partnership (Pearlstein McCullough, LLP) rather than a VC-backed startup. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/pearmill)
- **Growth Signals**: 
    - Reports helping clients **3x their ROAS** on average.
    - Operates in **10 countries** with a highly distributed team.
    - Has strong LinkedIn follower growth (+18.0% yearly, total 1,630 followers). [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/pearmill)
    - Identifies as a "fastest-growing performance marketing agency in the US."

## Competitive Advantages
- **Tech-Company Culture vs. Agency Model**: Pearmill explicitly designs itself to operate more like a tech company than a traditional agency. They focus on hiring "outliers" and providing extreme autonomy rather than relying on junior talent arbitrage. [pearmill.com](https://pearmill.com/blog/agency-culture)
- **Long-Term Client Relationships**: They are highly selective about client partnerships and are willing to "fire clients" who are not a good fit, fostering deep, long-term engagements. [pearmill.com](https://pearmill.com/blog/agency-culture)
- **Profit Sharing & Talent Retention**: A significant differentiator is their profit-sharing model, which ties team member compensation directly to the success of the business. This is rare in the agency world and aligns incentives. [pearmill.com](https://pearmill.com/careers)
- **Integrated AI & Human Judgment**: They combine human creativity with proprietary data engineering and AI tools, claiming this blend allows them to outperform competitors who rely solely on one or the other. [pearmill.com](https://pearmill.com/blog/agency-culture)

## Strategic Focus
- **Scaling an "Outlier" Team**: The company is focused on recruiting "outliers" from unconventional backgrounds who thrive on autonomy and designing new solutions, rather than fitting a typical corporate mold. [pearmill.com](https://pearmill.com/blog/agency-culture)
- **Building a Global, Remote-First Infrastructure**: With people across New York, Bay Area, Kiev, Minneapolis, Berlin, and Skopje, they are actively building a distributed and global culture.
- **Productizing Agency Services**: They are moving toward a more tech-centric model by building AI tools and frameworks that can be reused and scaled, moving beyond one-off project work.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture & Transparency**: Pearmill emphasizes a "healthier and more transparent environment." They are open about their compensation philosophy, profit sharing, and even their willingness to fire incompatible clients. [pearmill.com](https://pearmill.com/blog/agency-culture)
- **Distributed, Remote, and Global**: The company is fully setup for remote work, providing a "remote work budget" and allowing staff to work from wherever they are most productive. [pearmill.com](https://pearmill.com/careers)
- **Exceptional Perks & Benefits**:
    - 99% coverage for Health Care, Dental, and Vision. [pearmill.com](https://pearmill.com/careers)
    - 16 weeks of fully paid parental leave and 6 weeks of fully paid parental leave. [pearmill.com](https://pearmill.com/careers)
    - Profit Sharing (compensation tied to client success).
    - Unlimited vacation with a mandatory 3-week minimum.
    - 401k with 100% matching up to 4%.
    - Matching charitable donations and budget for activism.
    - Budget for learning (books, seminars, courses) and equipment (laptop, indoor plants). [pearmill.com](https://pearmill.com/careers)
    - Unlimited mental or physical health leave.
- **Autonomy & Impact**: Employees are given extreme autonomy and are expected to act as "outliers" with outsized impact, similar to early hires at tech giants like Stripe or Airbnb. [pearmill.com](https://pearmill.com/blog/agency-culture)
- **Engineering & Tech Focus**: While an agency, they hire engineers and data scientists to build their internal tech stack, appealing to those who want to work on ad-tech and data engineering challenges. [pearmill.com](https://pearmill.com/blog/agency-culture)

## Sources
1. [pearmill.com Careers](https://pearmill.com/careers)
2. [linkedin.com Company Profile](https://www.linkedin.com/company/pearmill)
3. [builtin.com Company Overview](https://builtin.com/company/pearmill)
4. [theorg.com Org Chart](https://theorg.com/org/pearmill)
5. [pearmill.com Blog: Agency Culture](https://pearmill.com/blog/agency-culture)

## Other roles at Pearmill

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- [Growth Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/growth-manager-pearmill-canada-8qs0znabwbvp) — Canada
- [Junior Growth Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/junior-growth-manager-pearmill-remote-eh7w5eb9vd9a)
- [Senior Paid Search Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-paid-search-manager-pearmill-remote-cq7vp5qp1ndk)
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