Join The Crew - Social Media Lead

Come join our pretty fun crew! We're always looking for hard-working, motivated talent to work alongside our team and grow our brand.  

Social Media LeadLocation: In-Office, Chicago
Reports to: Founder / Owners
Brands: Alice & Wonder + Mini Wonder

About the Role

Alice & Wonder is looking for an experienced Social Media Lead to own the creative vision, strategy and day-to-day leadership of social across Alice & Wonder and Mini Wonder.

This role is for someone who has spent 7+ years building brands through social and content and is ready to take meaningful ownership of a growing social function. You know how to pair exceptional creative instincts with the systems, leadership and discipline required to execute at a high level.

We’re looking for someone with a highly developed visual eye and a deep understanding of brand storytelling—someone who knows how to turn a product, launch, partnership or cultural moment into a compelling story and build a social presence that feels distinctive, cohesive and unmistakably ours.

Just as importantly, you’re a strong operator and natural leader. You’ll manage and develop our social team, establish the processes and rhythms that keep content moving, and create clarity around calendars, briefs, approvals, shoots, reporting and execution.

Working closely with the founders and creative team, you’ll help define how Alice & Wonder and Mini Wonder show up in the world—from the big-picture brand narrative down to the details of what makes a single piece of content feel right.

This is not simply a social media management role. We’re looking for someone who can see both the art and the architecture of social: a creative leader with exceptional taste, a strategic thinker who understands what drives growth, and an experienced operator who knows how to turn ideas into consistent, excellent execution.

What You’ll Do

Creative Vision & Brand Storytelling

  • Own the creative vision and storytelling strategy for Alice & Wonder and Mini Wonder across social.
  • Translate seasonal campaigns, product launches, collaborations, events and everyday brand moments into compelling social narratives.
  • Establish and maintain a clear visual point of view across photography, video, graphics, styling, copy and creator content.
  • Protect and evolve each brand’s distinct voice while ensuring every social touchpoint feels cohesive and recognizable.
  • Lead social concepting for major launches and campaigns in partnership with founders, Creative and Marketing.
  • Develop thoughtful storytelling arcs that build anticipation before a launch, create excitement in the moment and extend the life of a campaign afterward.
  • Maintain a high creative bar and have the confidence and taste to recognize when work is, or isn’t, strong enough to represent the brand.
  • Ensure our social presence continues to evolve while staying true to what makes each brand special. 

Social Strategy & Growth

  • Own and evolve the overarching organic and paid social strategy across both brands.
  • Define platform strategy, content pillars, channel roles and publishing cadence.
  • Build strategies that balance brand building, community growth, engagement, traffic and conversion.
  • Stay deeply connected to culture, platform behavior, emerging formats and how our customer consumes content.
  • Identify relevant trends and opportunities while knowing when not to participate because something doesn’t feel right for the brand.
  • Identify high-performing organic concepts and translate them into paid creative opportunities.
  • Partner with Marketing and E-commerce to ensure social supports broader brand and business goals.
  • Use performance data to continually refine creative strategy, content mix and storytelling.
  • Balance creative intuition with analytics: understanding that the numbers should inform great creative, not replace it. 

Team Leadership

  • Lead and manage the social/content team, establishing clear expectations, priorities and standards for execution.
  • Provide thoughtful creative direction, actionable feedback and ongoing coaching to help team members grow.
  • Delegate effectively while maintaining accountability and a consistently high creative bar.
  • Create clarity around roles, ownership and deadlines so the team can operate confidently and independently.
  • Build a culture of creativity, accountability, collaboration, curiosity and ownership.
  • Lead freelancers, creators, photographers, videographers and other external partners as needed.
  • Partner cross-functionally with Creative, Marketing, E-commerce, Buying, Retail and other teams to ensure social is integrated into the broader business.
  • Serve as the clear owner of the social function: bringing recommendations, solutions and a point of view rather than waiting for direction.

Systems & Execution

  • Build and maintain a clear, forward-looking content calendar across Alice & Wonder and Mini Wonder.
  • Establish and continually improve systems for briefs, content development, approvals, asset management, scheduling and reporting.
  • Create repeatable workflows that allow the team to move quickly without sacrificing quality.
  • Ensure launches, campaigns and key brand moments are planned well in advance with clear deliverables, owners and deadlines.
  • Oversee social shoots from concept and shot lists through execution, asset selection and final delivery.
  • Create visibility across departments so teams understand what is launching, what content is needed and when.
  • Develop processes that allow founders to remain closely connected to brand storytelling without needing to manage the day-to-day social operation.
  • Proactively identify bottlenecks, gaps and opportunities to make the social team more effective.
  • Keep the team organized and moving forward in a business where there is always something new to talk about.

Brand & Community

  • Ensure brand integrity, consistency and authenticity across all social platforms.
  • Shape how Alice & Wonder and Mini Wonder engage with and grow their communities.
  • Develop a deep understanding of our customer: what she responds to, what makes her laugh, what makes her share and what makes her want to be part of the brand.
  • Help determine when, how and why our brands participate in conversations and cultural moments.
  • Protect the humanity and personality behind our brands as we continue to grow.
  • Ensure community insights and customer feedback make their way back into our broader content and brand strategy. 

Analytics & Optimization

  • Own regular social performance reporting across channels.
  • Go beyond reporting numbers to identify why content performed and what we should do differently as a result.
  • Establish meaningful KPIs and benchmarks across organic and paid social.
  • Identify patterns across creative, messaging, formats and platforms.
  • Translate performance insights into clear recommendations for the social, creative and marketing teams.
  • Continually test, learn and optimize while protecting the long-term strength of the brand.

What We’re Looking For

  • 7+ years of professional experience in social media, content or brand marketing, ideally within a consumer, retail, fashion, lifestyle or culturally relevant brand.
  • Demonstrated experience managing and developing team members and/or leading a social or content function.
  • Proven experience owning social strategy for an established consumer-facing brand—not simply managing a content calendar or publishing posts.
  • A strong portfolio demonstrating exceptional visual taste, creative direction and brand storytelling.
  • Demonstrated experience developing social campaigns around product launches, brand moments, collaborations and cultural moments.
  • Experience creating and implementing systems, workflows and processes for a high-volume content team.
  • Deep understanding of Instagram, TikTok and emerging social platforms, including organic content and paid creative.
  • Strong understanding of what makes content perform and the ability to translate performance data into better creative.
  • Exceptional editorial judgment and cultural fluency.
  • Strong project-management skills with the ability to manage multiple brands, campaigns, launches and priorities simultaneously.
  • Experience directing photographers, videographers, creators or other creative partners.
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills with an instinctive understanding of brand voice.
  • A confident, decisive leader who is comfortable making recommendations and championing a point of view.
  • Collaborative and low-ego, with the ability to work closely with founders while independently owning their function.
  • Highly organized, proactive and comfortable operating in a fast-growing entrepreneurial environment. 

You’ll Thrive Here If

You can zoom all the way out and ask, “What story should this brand be telling?” and then zoom all the way in and notice that the first frame of a Reel, the crop of an image or the order of a carousel doesn’t quite feel right.

You love great creative, but you also love the systems that make great creative possible. You don’t wait for someone else to create structure. You build it. You see a bottleneck and think about how to fix it. You enjoy leading people, giving clear feedback and helping a team produce its best work.

You understand trends without being ruled by them. You know that great social isn’t about participating in every conversation, it’s about knowing which conversations make sense for the brand and bringing a distinct point of view to them.

Most importantly, you’re excited by the opportunity to take meaningful ownership. You want to build something, lead a team and help shape what two growing brands look, sound and feel like as they enter their next chapter.

How We’ll Make It Pretty Fun

Alice & Wonder is a Chicago-based shop curating and designing pretty fun things, from apparel to gifts. We’re a female-led team that values creativity, collaboration and building something meaningful together.

You’ll get a front-row seat to a growing founder-led company and, more importantly, a meaningful voice in shaping where it goes next.

Compensation & Growth

Salary: $90,000–$110,000, depending on experience, plus benefits.

This is a full-time, in-office position based in Chicago.

Additional Perks of the Gig

  • Health benefits, paid time off and 401(k)
  • Employee discount
  • Creative, collaborative and team-forward environment
  • Meaningful ownership over the future of two growing brands 

Interested?

Please click here to apply, upload your resume, and portfolio.

A portfolio is required for consideration. We’d especially love to see examples that demonstrate brand storytelling, creative direction, social campaigns and work you personally led or directed.