Freelance Social Lead with Social and Beauty experience

About the job

Job description: Freelance Social Lead with Social and Beauty experience
Location: Remote – Freelancer needs to be based in SA
Duration: ASAP – 3 months with a possible extension
Industry: FMGC
Timezone: UK

Please note: Proven experience in both the beauty industry and social media is essential. This must be clearly reflected on your CV, and examples of both must be reflected on your portfolio for your application to be considered

THE ROLE

You’ll be the person accountable for the quality, consistency, and impact of everything the client publishes and how the brand engages across social. This is a leadership role that blends hands-on social expertise with people management, client partnership, and cross-functional coordination. You’ll oversee content calendars, community management, reporting, and reactive opportunities, while also shaping the strategic direction of the client’s social presence and developing the team that delivers it.We’re looking for someone who has led social teams before and understands how to get the best from people while maintaining high standards under pressure. Someone who is deeply fluent in social culture, platforms, and audiences, and who can translate that fluency into clear direction for creatives, actionable recommendations for clients, and meaningful growth for the brand. Success means a social operation that runs smoothly, a team that is developing and performing, a client that trusts and values the partnership, and a social presence that positions The client as one of the most distinctive and engaging beauty brands online.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

Team Leadership

Lead, develop, and line manage a team of social media managers, content creators, and community managers, setting clear expectations, goals, and ways of working.
Review and quality-assure the team’s output across content, community engagement, and reporting, maintaining a consistently high standard.
Mentor and coach team members, providing regular feedback from both a professional development and social media discipline perspective.
Manage team operations: workload planning, holiday approvals, performance reviews, and day-to-day prioritisation.
Foster a team culture that is collaborative, curious, and grounded in social expertise.
Social Media Leadership.

Set and evolve the strategic direction for the client’s social content and community across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and emerging platforms, ensuring the brand is reacting to and shaping culture every day.
Act as the studio’s senior authority on social media, advising creative, strategy, production, and client teams on best practices, platform updates, trends, and audience behavior
Oversee all content and community team activities, including content calendars, publishing schedules, community management, reactive content, and campaign support.
Ensure the client’s social voice is consistent, culturally relevant, and true to the brand’s purpose and values across every touchpoint.
Leverage insight and learnings from across the team to identify opportunities, inform strategy, and raise the bar on content and engagement.
Stay ahead of platform innovation, algorithm changes, and emerging formats, translating these into actionable recommendations for the team and client
Client Partnership

Act as the senior point of contact for the client brand team on all social content and community matters, building trust through transparency, expertise, and proactive communication.
Present content strategies, campaign plans, performance insights, and strategic recommendations to senior client stakeholders.
Attend client briefings for campaigns, product launches, and seasonal initiatives, ensuring social is embedded from the start.
Receive and act on client feedback, translating it into clear direction for the team and partnering with account management on any structural or commercial implications
Operations and Reporting

Oversee final deliverables, including content calendars, social snapshots, performance reports, and other regular outputs
Ensure the team’s workflows and processes are efficient, scalable, and suited to the pace of social, refining them as the operation grows
Track social metrics across the team’s output, using data to inform decisions, demonstrate value, and identify areas for improvement
Support cross-department communication between social, creative, strategy, production, and external partners to keep work aligned and on track
Community and Engagement

Oversee the client’s community management, ensuring audience engagement is timely, on-brand, and adds value
Guide the team in identifying and acting on real-time opportunities, cultural moments, and proactive engagement that strengthens the client’s social presence
Ensure community management best practices are documented, followed, and continuously improved.

WHAT YOU BRING

8+ years of experience working in social media, with a strong focus on content and community for consumer brands, ideally in beauty, personal care, wellness, or FMCG
4+ years of demonstrated experience in people management, including line management, mentoring, performance development, and team operation
Deep platform fluency across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and emerging social channels, with a thorough understanding of content formats, algorithms, audience behaviours, and best practices.
A track record of leading social teams that delivered high-quality, high-volume content and community engagement at pace.
Experience working with enterprise social media management tools (such as Sprinklr, Hootsuite, Khoros, or Sprout Social)
Strong client management skills, with experience presenting strategies, plans, and performance data to senior brand stakeholders
Excellent editorial judgement and an instinct for what works on social, with the ability to guide and quality-assure content and copy across platforms
Analytical confidence, with experience using social metrics, listening tools, and reporting to inform strategy and demonstrate impact
Highly organised, with the ability to oversee multiple workstreams, manage competing priorities, and ensure the team delivers on time and to standard
Experience working in an in-house agency, embedded studio, or social-specialist agency environment, ideally within a large corporate or multi-stakeholder structure
A collaborative, steady, and proactive leadership style, with the ability to coordinate across creative, strategy, production, and client services teams
Professional proficiency in English; additional languages are a plus
Gen AI and Agentic Thinking

Working proficiency with Gen AI tools (such as ChatGPT, Claude, Copy.ai, Perplexity) to support content planning, copywriting, trend research, reporting, and team workflows
Agentic mindset: ability to assess complex operational and strategic challenges, identify the most effective path forward, and guide the team to deliver systematically
Experience evaluating and integrating AI tools into social workflows, with a focus on where they add genuine value to content quality, speed, and team efficiency
Understanding of AI capabilities and limitations, with a commitment to human oversight, brand accuracy, cultural sensitivity, and authentic community engagement
Ability to guide the team in the responsible, effective use of AI tools and establish quality standards for AI-assisted social content

QUALIFICATION

Formal degrees are welcome but not required. Equivalent experience counts. Experience can be gained through work, study, volunteering, or self-directed learning

NICE TO HAVE

Experience working on The client or The client brands
Experience managing social across both paid and organic, with an understanding of how they work together
Multi-market or global social media experience, with an understanding of adapting content and community approaches across regions
A network within the social media and community management profession
Experience with influencer and creator strategy as part of a broader social programme
Familiarity with social commerce, advocacy programmes, or earned media approaches
Experience with social content production, including video, motion, and creator-led formats

If you do not hear from us within 3 weeks of the date of your application, please consider your application unsuccessful

All the best.

Freelance Social Lead with Social and Beauty experience