Head of Community & Advocacy

The Head of Community & Advocacy will lead FitFlop’s global Community & Advocacy function, building brand relevance, participation, trust and external influence through community, creators, ambassadors, organic social and advocacy. This role will be critical to how FitFlop builds a more agile, digital-first brand. It will connect global brand stories, creative output, commercial priorities and local market opportunities into an always-on ecosystem that grows audience, engagement and demand. A key priority will be driving Community & Advocacy activation across our owned markets, initially the UK, Germany and the US together with our owned e-commerce business.

The role will build a modern, scalable advocacy model that creates meaningful relationships with consumers, creators, communities and cultural voices, enabling FitFlop to participate more actively in the places and conversations that matter to our audiences. This requires an entrepreneurial, culturally connected leader who is comfortable building new capability, experimenting with new models and operating effectively in a fast-moving environment where the answer will not always be predetermined. The role does not own global brand strategy, strategic brand partnerships, PR strategy, digital marketing, or customer lifecycle and loyalty. Its responsibility is to work seamlessly with those teams, using community, creators, social and advocacy to amplify the brand, accelerate demand and bring audience and cultural learning back into the wider organisation.

The Responsibilities:

Global Community & Advocacy Strategy:

• Lead the global Community & Advocacy strategy, translating brand, consumer and commercial priorities into clear audience, community and advocacy plans.
• Build a significantly more scaled advocacy ecosystem across creators, customers, ambassadors and community voices, moving beyond traditional campaign-led influencer activity towards always-on participation. Working where necessary with global teams and agencies to deliver market-specific creator activation or partnerships.
• Establish clear priorities across audiences, platforms, markets and opportunities, focusing resource and investment where it can create the greatest impact.
• Build a globally connected approach while allowing sufficient flexibility to respond to local culture, consumer behaviour and opportunity.

Priority Markets & E-commerce:

• Lead Community & Advocacy activation across FitFlop’s priority owned markets, initially the UK, Germany and the US.
• Work closely with local teams to identify creators, communities, cultural moments and opportunities that accelerate brand relevance and commercial performance.
• Connect community and advocacy activity closely with FitFlop’s owned e-commerce business, using content, participation and recommendation to support traffic, acquisition and conversion.
• Develop the appropriate market capability as the strategy grows, using agencies, external partners or local community resource where this creates greater impact.
• Bring market learning back into global planning so the model evolves based on real audience response.

Creator, Social & Advocacy Ecosystem:

• Build and scale a diverse global network of creators, ambassadors, customers and advocates who authentically connect with FitFlop and its audiences.
• Establish effective frameworks for creator identification, relationships, briefing, compensation, seeding, usage rights and measurement that can operate at significantly greater scale.
• Lead the approach to organic social and community engagement, ensuring FitFlop participates meaningfully in the conversations and cultural spaces relevant to its audiences.
• Build stronger systems for UGC, participation and long-term advocacy rather than relying primarily on transactional campaign relationships.
• Work closely with PR teams to extend earned influence while PR retains ownership of media strategy and press relationships.

Integrated Growth & Collaboration:

• Act as a key connector across Brand Marketing, Creative, Growth, CRM, Digital, Affiliate, Commercial and local market teams, bringing capabilities together around shared audiences and opportunities.
• Work seamlessly with teams responsible for affiliate growth, recognising creators, advocates and affiliates as interconnected parts of the future audience and commercial ecosystem.
• Partner with Growth teams to identify where successful organic and creator activity should be amplified through paid channels.
• Work closely with CRM & Insight to connect community and advocacy behaviour into broader audience understanding, while CRM retains ownership of customer data, loyalty and lifecycle strategy.
• Partner closely with Creative teams to ensure community, creator and social opportunities are understood early and translated into relevant, channel-appropriate content.

Culture, Innovation & Future Thinking:

• Keep FitFlop closely connected to shifts in consumer culture, creators, platforms, technology and changing digital behaviour.
• Maintain an active interest in AI, creator technology, social commerce, affiliate models and emerging platforms, identifying practical opportunities for FitFlop.
• Bring relevant external learning and cultural intelligence into the wider Brand organisation, helping teams understand what is changing and why it matters.
• Encourage experimentation, learning quickly from new approaches and scaling what works.
• Continuously evolve the Community & Advocacy model rather than relying on fixed structures or established ways of working.

Leadership & Collaboration:

• Lead and develop the Community & Advocacy team, creating clear accountability while encouraging flexibility, curiosity and collaboration beyond formal role boundaries.
• Build an agile, culturally connected and externally focused team that is comfortable operating with ambiguity and changing priorities.
• Use influence and informal leadership to connect teams, remove siloed behaviour and create momentum across the wider organisation.
• Develop capability across the function and identify where specialist expertise, external support or future resource is required.
• Champion the audience, community and creator perspective within global Brand planning.

Resource and Budget Accountability

• Own and manage the Community & Advocacy budget and resources within the strategic priorities set by the Global Brand Director, ensuring investment, people and external support are deployed where they can create the greatest brand and commercial impact.
• Maintain clear visibility of spend, commitments and resource requirements, proactively redirecting investment as opportunities and performance evolve.
• Ensure creator, agency, partner and programme investment is managed with strong commercial discipline and appropriate measurement of effectiveness and return

The Person

• Significant senior experience across community, advocacy, creator, social or audience-led marketing, ideally across multiple consumer brands and international markets.
• Proven experience building or scaling creator, community or advocacy ecosystems beyond a small number of traditional influencer relationships.
• Deeply culturally connected and personally curious about how people discover, participate in and recommend brands.
• Digitally fluent and actively interested in emerging platforms, AI, creator technology, affiliate models, social commerce and changing audience behaviour.
• Strong understanding of how creators, organic social, affiliates, paid growth, CRM and owned e-commerce can work together around shared audiences.
• Genuinely globally minded, with the judgement to create strong global direction while recognising local cultural and market opportunity.
• Entrepreneurial and comfortable working in the grey, energised by ambiguity, experimentation and rapidly changing environments.
• Highly collaborative and naturally inclined to connect people and opportunities across organisational boundaries rather than protect functional territory.
• Strong informal leader and influencer, able to create alignment and momentum without relying solely on hierarchy or formal authority.
• Commercially astute, able to connect community and advocacy activity to brand impact, traffic, acquisition and commercial performance.
• Proven people leader, able to build capability, raise standards and create a proactive, agile and accountable team.
• Strong personal drive, judgement and problem-solving ability, with the confidence to make decisions without every process or answer being predetermined.
• Experienced in managing meaningful budgets, agencies, external partners and multiple concurrent programmes.

We recognise that not everyone will meet every requirement. If you’re excited about this role and feel like you could add value, we’d love to hear from you.

The Benefits:

• Product Allowance
• Hybrid and flexible working hours
• Summer Fridays (6 ½ days in July and August on Fridays)
• A day off for your Birthday
• 25 days holiday + Bank Holidays
• Work from anywhere for 2 weeks
• WorkPlace Nursery (salary sacrifice scheme to save money on your nursery fees)
• Wellbeing Program – Retail Trust, Sanctus Coaching and Calm App
• Career development allowance ( Personal allowance to use on career development)
• Private health care and or dental care (provided by AXA and DenPlan
• Socials organised by Wellbeing and Feel Good group
• Check out our careers page to learn more!

Equal Opportunities:

FitFlop is an equal opportunities employer. We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace where everyone feels valued, respected, and supported. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, regardless of age, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, neurodivergence, ethnicity, religion or belief, or any other characteristic protected by law.

We actively encourage neurodivergent candidates and individuals with disabilities to apply. If you require any reasonable adjustments during the application or interview process, please let us know. We are committed to providing an accessible and supportive recruitment experience.