Introduction
During the coronavirus pandemic, something remarkable happened: people slowed down. Kitchen tables transformed into puzzle stations. Living rooms into studios, and creativity was given new space.
SMT Group didn't just respond to this; it accelerated along with it. With accessible creative formats like “Paint by Numbers” and “Diamond Painting,” it brought millions of people worldwide back to something simple: creating something in peace, focusing on one thing, and taking a moment for yourself.
The ambition is very high, but what's still missing is a clear structure in which learnings are systematically recorded and successful approaches are translated into repeatable formats.
To successfully scale the organization to the next phase, they are now seeking an experienced Head of Creative.
About SMT Group
SMT Group was founded in 2016 after one of the founders discovered a creative product his mother-in-law was experimenting with. What began as curiosity grew into an international e-commerce player in the arts & crafts market, now active in more than 20 countries and with a turnover of €20 million.
The IJsselstein office houses a small team and also collaborates with external parties. The culture is characterized as accessible, open, and ambitious. A hybrid working method is used: 2 to 3 days a week at the IJsselstein office. Ownership, speed, and results are central.
In recent years, the company has scaled rapidly, with 2025 as its acceleration year: 200% growth and acceleration every month. New markets, new product categories, millions of customers worldwide. However, further growth requires something different than what has worked so far. Less reliance on isolated successes. Less ad hoc. More structure. More predictability. That's why a key role is now being created within the organization: Head of Creative. This role is for someone who will transform creative performance into a scalable and structural capability.
What will you do as Head of Creative?
As Head of Creative, you will be ultimately responsible for creative performance. You will work directly with Sil and Marck, the CEO and COO.
Your responsibilities:
- You will build a structured creative testing framework. You will develop a clear angle and hook structure to systematically test creatives. Not based on isolated ideas, but through hypotheses and iterations. You will ensure that new variations go live every week and that learnings are captured. You will introduce a rhythm into testing: how many new creatives per week, which angles, which target groups. You will translate one-off wins into repeatable formats.
You will manage hit rate, weekly winners, and fatigue management.
You will analyze performance based on CTR, CPA, hold rate, hooks, and creative fatigue. You will identify patterns in which angles work and which don't. You will determine when something is scaled up, further developed, or discontinued. You will work closely with the external media buyer, but you will own the creative input. Creative performance will become a predictable KPI, no surprise there.You will build and lead a creative team of 6 FTEs within 6 months.
You will create a concrete hiring plan: which roles are needed (e.g., creative strategist, video editor, concept developer)? What should be internal, and what can remain external? You will ensure clear role allocation and protect the team's focus. Designers will no longer be managed ad hoc, but will work within a clear structure with priorities.You will eliminate founder dependency in operations.
Currently, founders and the designer are deeply involved in creative and data analysis. You will take over. You will create dashboards and regular evaluation moments so that decisions no longer depend on a single person. Founders will move to a strategic level; you will be ultimately responsible for daily creative performance.You will professionalize reporting and feedback loops.
You will ensure that learnings from campaigns are directly fed back into new concept development. You will work with clear dashboards (Motion, Meta Ads Manager, performance dashboards, internal reporting). Not just numbers, but also interpretation: why did angle A work better than angle B? You develop an intuition for what works—and make it transferable within the team.
What do you bring to the table as Head of Creative?
We're not looking for a traditional content manager, nor a pure brand thinker. We're looking for someone who understands that in a DTC environment, creativity and performance are inextricably linked. Someone who sees that advertising wins not just on aesthetics, but on sharp angles, psychology, and rapid iteration.
You:
Have experience in DTC or e-commerce and have worked in an environment where paid social media is a crucial growth engine. Meta holds few secrets for you; you see TikTok as a logical extension. You have previously worked in a setting where extensive testing is performed, where speed is crucial, and where creative output directly impacts revenue.
Have previously scaled or managed a creative or ads team. You know how to set up and maintain testing frameworks. You work with data—CTR, CPA, hooks, angles, fatigue—and translate insights into concrete creative directions. You are comfortable working with performance dashboards and understand how to organize UGC workflows.
You can create structure without stifling creativity. You protect your team's focus and dare to make decisions based on impact.
Over time, you naturally transition from a tactical to a strategic level: you empower the team to execute, while you maintain direction and priorities.
What do you get as Head of Creative?
You'll have the opportunity to play a key role within an international DTC scale-up that's in its next phase of growth. You'll also receive:
- A management team position with the opportunity to directly impact a multi-million dollar turnover
- Full ownership of creative performance
- Budget and mandate to build a team
- A work environment where speed, responsibility, and initiative are rewarded
- An annual salary between €75,000 and €95,000, depending on experience.
Are you the perfect candidate for this vacancy and do you meet the requirements? Then click the 'Apply now!' button and we'll contact you as soon as possible!
