About the Associate Creative Director Role at Strava

This is the Associate Creative Director, Copywriting role on Strava's Marketing Creative team, the group behind how the brand shows up across brand campaigns, GTMs, social, partnerships, product, and paid media. Sitting inside Marketing and partnering closely with PMM, Growth, Brand, and Product, you'll define how Strava sounds across everything it makes, from tentpole moments to paid social and product marketing. It's an explicit player-coach role: you directly manage 2 to 3 experienced copywriters while remaining a significant producer yourself, own copy direction on major workstreams, and partner with the Executive Creative Director on conceptual strategy.

Strava is looking for a senior writer-leader with 10+ years across both agency and in-house environments, a portfolio of conceptually strong, tonally specific, multi-format work, and a track record of upleveling experienced copywriters. They want someone who thinks in campaigns not just copy, understands platform-native writing across TikTok, Meta, YouTube, email, and in-product, and can develop and steward brand voice frameworks rather than merely apply them. This is a hybrid role requiring more than half your time on-site in San Francisco or New York (three days per week).

Quick Stats

* Typical process: 4 to 5 rounds, roughly 3 to 5 weeks

* Format: Recruiter phone screen, then video and likely one on-site round; includes a portfolio walkthrough and possibly a creative exercise

* Core focus: Copy craft, campaign concepting, verbal identity and brand voice, people leadership, cross-functional partnership, platform-native writing

* Difficulty: Hard, because you must prove elite personal craft, campaign-level strategic thinking, and credible people leadership all at once, to a high-craft team

What Strava Looks For

* 10+ years in copywriting and creative concepting spanning both agency and in-house work

* A portfolio that is conceptually strong, tonally specific, and built for how people actually read across brand, social, and multi-format work

* Proven experience upleveling and mentoring experienced copywriters with a genuine standard for great

* Deep platform-native fluency and experience developing and stewarding brand voice and tone frameworks

Round 1: Recruiter Screen (~30 minutes)

What to Expect

A recruiter or talent partner opens the process with a call to confirm your background against the bar the posting sets: 10+ years across agency and in-house, experience managing copywriters, and comfort in fast-moving environments. Expect questions about your motivation for Strava specifically, your portfolio at a high level, your fit with the hybrid three-days-on-site model in SF or NYC, and early compensation alignment against the $205K to $215K range plus equity.

Example Questions

* "Walk me through your career so far and what draws you to Strava's Creative team."

* "This is a player-coach role. How do you split your time between producing and leading?"

* "Are you able to work on-site in San Francisco or New York three days a week?"

* "What are your compensation expectations for this role?"

Tips

* Have a crisp two-minute pitch that connects your agency and in-house background to Strava's mission of motivating people to live their best active lives.

* Be ready to name one or two portfolio pieces that show brand-campaign and social range, since the recruiter will flag standouts to the hiring team.

* Practice this quick, high-level story with Nora's Standard Mode so your pitch, motivation, and logistics answers land smoothly and concisely.

Round 2: Hiring Manager and Portfolio Walkthrough (~60 minutes)

What to Expect

Likely with the Executive Creative Director, this round centers on your portfolio and how you think. You'll walk through a few campaigns end to end, from brief to final delivery, explaining the strategy behind the words, not just showing the work. Expect deep probing on concept development, tonal choices, how you adapt voice across contexts, and how a copy decision laddered up to brand and business impact. This is where Strava tests whether your craft matches their high-craft standard.

Example Questions

* "Take me through a brand campaign you owned from brief to final delivery. What was the core idea?"

* "Show me a piece where the voice had to flex across platforms. How did TikTok differ from email or in-product?"

* "Tell me about a headline or concept you fought for. Why did it matter and what was the outcome?"

* "How do you make sure every word earns attention and ladders up to a brand strategy?"

Tips

* Curate three to five pieces that prove range: brand campaign, social-native, and multi-format work, and rehearse the strategic story behind each, not just the execution.

* Connect creative decisions to outcomes: engagement, brand lift, launch results, or how the work moved the business.

* Rehearse narrating your work aloud with Nora's Behavioral Mode so your portfolio stories are structured, confident, and tied to impact rather than rambling.

Round 3: Creative Exercise or Live Concepting (~60 to 90 minutes)

What to Expect

Most senior creative roles include a hands-on component. You may receive a take-home brief or a live prompt to concept and write for a Strava-style moment, such as a tentpole activation, a paid social series, or a product-launch line. The goal is to see how you develop a concept as fluently as you write the headline, how you translate cultural or sport signals into ideas, and how you present and defend your thinking to a room. Expect an editorial eye on both the big idea and the line-level craft.

Example Questions

* "Concept a campaign that turns a cultural or sport moment into a Strava idea. Walk us through it."

* "Write three headline directions for this brief and explain the tonal difference between them."

* "How would you adapt this concept for TikTok versus YouTube versus in-app?"

* "Defend your favorite direction. Why is it the strongest, and what would you cut?"

Tips

* Show your thinking, not just the answer: articulate the insight, the concept, and why the words work for how people actually read.

* Build in platform-native variations to prove you think in integrated campaigns, not standalone copy.

* Use Nora's Technical Mode to rehearse defending creative choices under questioning, so you can explain concept-to-execution reasoning calmly and with conviction.

Round 4: Leadership and Cross-Functional Partnership (~45 to 60 minutes)

What to Expect

Because this is a player-coach role managing 2 to 3 experienced writers, Strava will test how you lead and partner. Expect behavioral questions on mentorship, giving direct feedback, running 1:1s and career development, and upleveling experienced people. You may also meet partners from PMM, Growth, or Brand to gauge how you present work, connect creative to strategy, and steward voice standards with agencies and vendors. Comfort with ambiguity and pace comes up here too.

Example Questions

* "Describe how you've upleveled an experienced copywriter. What changed in their work?"

* "Tell me about a time you gave hard feedback on creative you disagreed with. How did you handle it?"

* "How do you present and defend creative to leadership or a skeptical cross-functional partner?"

* "How do you keep voice and tone consistent when working with external agencies at pace?"

Tips

* Prepare STAR stories that show a genuine standard for great alongside empathy: how you grew people, not just corrected them.

* Have an example of aligning cross-functional partners around a creative decision by tying it to business outcomes.

* Run these mentorship and partnership scenarios in Nora's Behavioral Mode to tighten your STAR structure and land specific, memorable examples.

Round 5: Offer and Salary Negotiation (~30 minutes)

What to Expect

If selected, you'll discuss the offer with the recruiter or hiring manager. The posted range is $205K to $215K with equity. Conversation will cover base, equity, benefits, and start date, along with confirming the hybrid on-site expectation. Strava has a defined band, so anchor your ask with market data and the seniority of a player-coach ACD role that blends elite craft with people leadership.

Example Questions

* "What base and equity mix are you targeting?"

* "How does this offer compare with others you're considering?"

* "What would make this an easy yes for you?"

* "Can you confirm your availability for three days on-site per week?"

Tips

* Know the band ($205K to $215K plus equity) and justify your number with your years, agency-plus-in-house background, and leadership scope.

* Weigh the full package: base, equity, and benefits, rather than negotiating base in isolation.

* Practice the back-and-forth with Nora's Salary Negotiation Mode so you can advocate for your value without underselling yourself or sounding rigid.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1) How many rounds are there?

Expect roughly 4 to 5 rounds: a recruiter screen, a hiring manager and portfolio walkthrough (likely with the Executive Creative Director), a creative exercise or live concepting round, a leadership and cross-functional partnership round, and an offer and negotiation conversation. Strava does not publish its exact process, so treat this as the typical structure for a senior in-house creative leadership role.

2) What topics are most common?

* Copy craft and campaign concepting shown through a portfolio, plus platform-native writing across TikTok, Meta, YouTube, email, and in-product

* People leadership (upleveling experienced writers, feedback, mentorship) and cross-functional partnership with PMM, Growth, Brand, and Product

3) How long does the process take?

Typically about 3 to 5 weeks end to end, depending on scheduling and whether a take-home creative exercise is involved. Senior creative loops can run longer when multiple leaders and cross-functional partners need to weigh in.

4) How should I prepare?

* Curate a portfolio that proves conceptual strength, tonal specificity, and multi-format range, and rehearse the strategy and outcome behind each piece.

* Prepare leadership STAR stories on mentoring experienced copywriters, giving direct feedback, and stewarding brand voice frameworks.

* Study Strava's brand voice and recent campaigns so you can speak fluently about how you'd evolve its verbal identity across contexts.

* Use Nora's Standard Mode for the recruiter pitch, Behavioral Mode for leadership and portfolio stories, Technical Mode to defend creative choices in the exercise round, and Salary Negotiation Mode to lock in the offer.