Senior Social Commerce Strategist

Senior Social Commerce Strategist needed to join our Global Social Commerce Team on a permanent basis.

We are looking for a commercially minded Senior Social Commerce Strategist to join our Global Social Commerce Team. This is a senior role for someone who thinks like an operator as much as a strategist: you will own the strategic and commercial thinking behind how some of the world’s biggest brands build, launch, trade and scale on social – with TikTok Shop at the centre – and you will be accountable for the quality of that thinking in front of senior clients.

You will translate client business objectives into social commerce strategies that hold up commercially: channel economics that work, forecasts that are defensible, measurement that proves incrementality, and operating models that can be exported market to market. You will be the connective tissue between strategy, creative, media, data and platform partners – and the person clients call when they need a point of view on where social commerce goes next.

You will also lead people: line-managing a small team of strategists, setting the standard for the craft, and raising the commercial literacy of everyone around you. Depth across the social platforms and their commerce ecosystems – TikTok Shop above all, alongside Meta, YouTube and emerging AI-led discovery – is essential.

What you’ll be doing:

Commercial strategy & value creation

Channel Economics & Business Case: Build and own the commercial case for social commerce investment – channel P&L modelling, unit economics (COGS, commission, fulfilment, returns, promotional depth), contribution margin and payback – so recommendations are grounded in what actually makes money for the client.

Trading & Forecasting: Set and pressure-test the numbers behind the plan: GMV, AOV, conversion, basket and attach rate, CAC, ROAS/MER and repeat rate. Build forecasts and scenario models across always-on trading, LIVE, affiliate and peak moments, and diagnose performance against them.

Investment & Mix Strategy: Advise clients on where budget works hardest across paid, organic, affiliate/creator and platform tooling (GMV Max, Spark Ads, retail media), making the trade-offs explicit – including what to stop doing.

Margin & Pricing Discipline: Protect client margin as volume scales – promotional architecture, discount dependency, bundling and pack strategy, and repeat-purchase mechanics.

Strategic leadership

Channel & Category Strategy: Develop social commerce strategies aligned to client business objectives and category dynamics – defining role of channel, audience and demand strategy, portfolio and SKU selection, and the route from discovery to conversion.

Operating Model & Market Expansion: Design the operating model that makes the strategy deliverable – crawl/walk/run sequencing, roles and responsibilities across client, agency and platform partners, governance, and blueprints that export into new markets rather than being rebuilt each time.

Launch & Commerce Readiness: Own the go-to-market gate: fulfilment and 3PL models, dispatch SLAs, customer service, returns and Shop Health – ensuring commercial ambition is matched by operational readiness.

Paid & Organic Integration: Build strategies that unify paid, organic, creator and affiliate activity into a single commercial system rather than parallel channels with separate objectives.

Content & Creator Strategy: Work with client editorial, creative and marketing teams to define content-to-cart strategies, creator and affiliate programmes (including commission architecture and creator economics), and LIVE formats that convert.

Platform & Ecosystem Expertise: Maintain authoritative depth across TikTok Shop, Meta, YouTube and emerging social and AI-led commerce surfaces – including partner ecosystems, betas and platform roadmaps – and translate it into first-mover advantage for clients.

Client & business leadership

Senior Client Counsel: Act as trusted strategic advisor to senior client stakeholders up to Marketing Director, Commercial Director and GM level – as credible in a commercial conversation as a creative one, and able to disagree well when the data says so.

Scoping & Commercial Shaping of Work: Interrogate and shape briefs, define scope and approach, input into resourcing, estimates and statements of work, and ensure what we sell is what we can brilliantly deliver.

Growth & New Business: Identify and shape opportunities to extend the work – new markets, brands and workstreams – and bring senior strategic firepower to pitches, RFPs and capability sessions.

Presentation & Persuasion: Build and deliver arguments that land in the room – clear narrative, sharp commercial framing, and the confidence to present to senior executives and defend the recommendation.

Thought Leadership: Develop points of view, frameworks and IP that position VML as the leading end-to-end social commerce partner, and represent the agency externally with clients, platforms and at industry events.

Team & delivery leadership

People Leadership: Line-manage and develop a small team of strategists – setting objectives, coaching, reviewing work, and raising the commercial literacy and craft standard across the team.

Cross-Functional Leadership: Lead multi-discipline pods across creative, media, data, technology and delivery, ensuring social commerce strategy is integrated with the wider marketing and commerce agenda.

Delivery Accountability: Lead projects end to end – on time, on budget and to the standard we want to be judged by – managing dependencies, risk and scope in a fast-moving environment.

Client Location Work: Willingness to work at client locations and travel to key markets as the work requires.

What we want from you:

• Substantial experience in social, digital or commerce strategy – typically 7+ years, with meaningful time spent on social commerce specifically, agency or brand side.

• Genuine commercial fluency: comfortable building and defending a channel P&L, unit economics and a forecast, and as confident in a model as in a deck.

• Demonstrable experience setting KPIs and being held to them – you have owned the performance of a channel or programme, not just the plan for it.

• Deep, current expertise across social platforms and their commerce ecosystems, with hands-on TikTok Shop experience (Seller Centre, Affiliate Centre, GMV Max, LIVE, Shop Health) strongly preferred, alongside Meta.

• Experience designing operating models and launching or scaling a social commerce programme, ideally across more than one market.

• Experience line-managing or formally mentoring strategists, and raising the standard of a team rather than only your own output.

• Track record with global brands and senior client stakeholders, leading workstreams independently and owning relationships at a senior level.

• Experience in consumer packaged goods or a related sector (personal care, household, food & beverage) is highly desirable – including the realities of regulatory constraints, retailer relationships, brand reputation and margin pressure.

• Strong measurement and analytical instincts: able to interrogate data, find the story, and be honest about what a number does and does not prove.

• Excellent presentation and written communication skills, making complex commercial and technical concepts land with non-specialist audiences.

• Proven ability to digest, interpret and respond to briefs at pace, and to bring structure to ambiguity.

• Consultative, pragmatic and creative – sees challenges as opportunities and brings solutions, not just analysis.

• Customer-first mindset, with the maturity, judgement and initiative expected of a senior member of the team.

• Degree qualified, ideally in Marketing, Business, Economics, Communications or a related field (subject specific is not essential).

• Passionate about social, commerce and the possibilities of reinventing how people discover and buy.

If you know this, even better:

• Experience with retail media and marketplace channels (Amazon, Tesco and other grocers) and how they coexist with social commerce.

• Experience with social listening and analytics platforms (Sprinklr, Brandwatch, NetBase Quid, Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics).

• Experience with social advertising and commerce platforms (TikTok Ads Manager, Meta Ads Manager, GMV Max) and affiliate or creator management tooling.

• Working knowledge of ecommerce and fulfilment infrastructure – Shopify, Commercetools, 3PL models and the operational realities behind them.

• Experience with influencer and creator marketing, including commercial models and contracting.

• Understanding of search, SEO and emerging AI-led discovery and agentic commerce.

• Experience with structured test-and-learn programmes, A/B testing and optimisation.

• Multi-market or multi-language experience across EMEA.

• Excellent organisational skills and the ability to work independently and as part of a senior team.

What we can offer you

Alongside the opportunity to work with some of the most exciting brands around the world, we’ll also prioritise your career development and help you grow your skills. We’ll empower you to make a difference, allow you to be yourself, and respect who you are.

Permanent only:
We offer a great benefits package including a discretionary bonus scheme, training opportunities, competitive pension, medical insurance, life assurance, social events, opportunities to buy and sell holidays, family friendly policies, discounts with hundreds of retailers and much more.

Our culture thrives on our core values, designed for impact-driven individuals: Heart, Brains and Courage.

We lead with Heart, fostering empathy and trust where genuine connections and human-centric work flourish.
We empower your Brains for innovation, valuing relentless curiosity and collaborative intelligence to solve complex challenges.
And we champion Courage, inspiring you to speak up, embrace experimentation, and advocate for bold solutions that push our thinking to be better than yesterday.

How we use AI in the recruitment process:To ensure more focused and engaging conversations, we leverage AI in our recruitment process exclusively for secure, objective note-taking, never for evaluative judgments. This allows our team to be fully present with you. You are always welcome to request a transcript of these notes or opt out of this feature at any time. Opting out will not impact  the outcome of the interview process"

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