Managing Director, Performance Content (Head of Social Creative Studio)

New York, NY (Hybrid)

Department: Content Studio / Social Creative Studio

About Darkroom

Darkroom is the leading next-generation growth marketing firm engineering the brands of tomorrow. Founded in 2017, we set out to redefine what a modern agency could be, by replacing the inertia of legacy advertising behemoths with a model built for speed, intelligence, and measurable impact.

At our core, Darkroom is a human services company powered by Matter, a universal AI commerce layer that integrates executive-level strategy with proprietary agentic technology. This fusion enables our teams to deliver outsized returns by enhancing creative output, operational efficiency, and revenue generation across every stage of the customer journey.

Our track record speaks for itself: billions in attributable revenue driven across e-commerce marketplaces, media networks, DTC ecosystems, and social commerce platforms. Every engagement feeds into our proprietary data infrastructure, enabling a continuous feedback loop that accelerates growth, improves margins, and compounds results across our client portfolio.

What began as a boutique design studio has evolved into one of the fastest-growing private companies in America (Inc. 5000) and among the most effective performance media agencies of the 2020s (Varos). Our founders were recognized by Forbes 30 Under 30 for advancing the intersection of technology, marketing, and advertising, cementing Darkroom’s role as a defining player in the future of media innovation.

About the Role

Darkroom is hiring an Managing Director, Performance Content to build and lead our Content Studio / Social Creative Studio — a specialized department focused on becoming world-class at short-form content that sells product and builds brand.

This is not a generalist “creative lead” role. This department exists because great design and great performance content are categorically different crafts. Your mandate is to build the internal muscle Darkroom needs: a performance-first content engine that pairs creative strategy with low-fi production leadership to generate consistent winners for paid and organic advertising.

Day-one focus is performance creative across Meta, TikTok, and AppLovin (Axon). Over time, this function can expand into organic social — but you will build the paid engine for our media clients first.

You will manage a growing team of Creative Strategists and Editors and be the de-facto leader of creating short form content at Darkroom. This is a leadership role but requires someone who is in the weeds of day-to-day content creation for leading paid social and organic social programs. This includes a variety of formats — from man on the street interviews to AI video to statics. You need to know how to make content and sell products. Our goal is to set the tone for short form video creative at Darkroom, creating a culture where creative strategists and team members are actively creating content on a daily basis, producing winning concepts.

What You’ll Do

Own the performance content engine: Build the system for ideation → scripting → production planning → editing → iteration that produces ads with clear value prop, proof, and offer.
Own creative strategy for ads: Define testing roadmaps (angles, hypotheses, batches, iterations, scaling rules) and turn performance data into next-batch decisions quickly.
Build multi-format capability: Expand Darkroom’s output across:
Paid short-form for Meta/TikTok/Axon
AI-generated product video where it increases speed/variant depth
Conversational commerce (street interviews, podcast formats, reactive cuts)
Internal Darkroom-made content (on-camera product use, rapid testing)
Founder capture systems (getting what you need with minimal friction)
Creator partnerships (briefing for angles/style and controlling consistency)
Create operating cadence with Paid Media + Social Commerce teams: Run weekly creative performance reviews; tighten the loop between spend signals and creative iteration; turn UGC volume into strategic UGC usefulness.
Lead, hire, and coach the team: Build a high-output group of creative strategists and editors; create standards, feedback loops, and leadership depth.
Leverage new technology to increase output and effectiveness: have a perspective and curiosity with respect to AI. Integrate new technology to provide best in class quality and output for our performance creative clients.
Partnerships with Production studios: Determine the line where our work ends; we will be delivering high tempo creative strategies for clients that deliver consistent output (per the above formats). Know when and how to tap other production partners for larger scale engagements. Determine the agencies perspective on this.
Design the runway to organic (without derailing paid): Build the blueprint for organic expansion with Oren while protecting execution focus now.

You Should Apply If

You are a short-form performance creative leader whose work sells product, not just tells stories.
You’ve owned Meta/TikTok creative at scale and can point to outcomes (hit rate, scaling winners, efficiency improvement, organic social following, virality, shares/engagement).
You can lead creative strategy and production together: angle → script → edit → iterate → scale.
You’re culturally fluent and format-native, but you operate with rigor and speed.
You can build and run a team with clear standards and high accountability.

Hard disqualifiers

No Meta/TikTok performance creative experience.
Strategy-only or taste-only (can’t translate direction into shipped creative).
No short-form portfolio.
Can’t run iteration cycles tightly with media partners.
Has never built a team
Has never made an ad.

Working at Darkroom

Darkroom is a high-performance environment. We expect ownership, speed, and directness. You’ll have autonomy and real responsibility — and you’ll be measured by what ships and what works.

EEO Statement

Darkroom is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status.