Sr. Art Director

Position Summary

An Associate Creative Director helps to establish the conceptual and stylistic direction for AKA clients and directs their work, as well as the work of Art Directors, Graphic Designs freelancers, photographers, illustrators, printers and anyone else who is involved in the development of a project. An Associate Creative Director works closely with the Executive Creative Director, Client Service and the client to help articulate a client's message and then works closely with the creative team to translate that message. This individual establishes and maintains high internal quality by originating creative ideas, managing project time lines, adhering to Creative Briefs and ensuring the consistency of a client's strategic branding. An Associate Creative Director manages the work flow ensuring that AKA is balancing capacity versus need.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Becomes knowledgeable about clients and their industries. Develops and maintains a working-level understanding of assigned clients' culture, product/services, competition, target audiences and strategy.

• Translates marketing strategy into persuasive creative deliverables. Designs ads, websites and collateral materials, making sure the client's marketing materials are visually engaging and the message is clear and expresses the client's brand strategy.

• Manages projects from concept development to final production. Functions as Print Production Manager, when necessary, selecting papers, inks, vendors, talent and all outside source/purchases needed to fulfill production of each project. Attends press checks, as required.
• Acts as a client liaison by presenting various stages of work product to the client and effectively responding to client requests or inquiries in a timely manner.
• Acts as a mentor to departmental employees by providing developmental opportunities, responding to questions, providing direction on resource utilization (internally and externally), etc.
• Provides supervision and oversight to freelance staff by determining appropriate project assignment based on individual skill sets, orienting new employees to agency SOPs, providing necessary resources and direction, and responding to questions.
• Maintains consistently high executional excellence by ensuring appropriate resources are assigned to projects, time lines are managed and strategic brand objectives are promoted.
• Works closely with the Executive Creative Director to establish creative direction for each client.
• Helps manage the daily work flow. Provides quality control over concepts and projects. Assigns available resources based on availability and skill level. Ensures jobs are on target and on budget.
• Member of Management Team - identifies opportunities to grow assigned accounts. Helps manage new opportunities and the growth of AKA. Supports new business efforts by taking on a leadership role on new business presentations.
• Works with senior leadership to deliver AKA's mission of making extraordinary things happen for our clients and their customers. Connects meaningfully with clients to build emotional engagement while integrating internal efforts to deliver an optimal client experience.
• Leads by example to cultivate AKA's culture of Passion, Innovation, Stewardship, Others focused, Collaboration and Results. Help leads initiatives to build agency culture and reputation in the marketplace.

Abilities Required

• Highly conceptual, resourceful, independent thinker who can take an idea and run with it. Ability to bring smart, unexpected ideas to the table. Strong communicator who can interpret creative briefs, develop innovative, fresh concepts and design solutions, and present those concepts to team members and clients.
• Ability to manage multiple projects - both autonomously and collaboratively - in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.
• Proficiency with Adobe Creative Suite (In Design, Photoshop, Illustrator) and Microsoft Office Suite.
• Ability to manage accounts and build and nurture relationships that foster a partnership-like attitude between AKA and the client.
• Entrepreneurial attitude with proven success in business development and new business strategies. Strong presentation skills.
• A relentless attention to detail and a passion for quality; strong organizational skills, excellent problem-solving and critical thinking skills.

Administrative Responsibilities

• Time Sheets - Completes daily timesheets, accounting for a minimum of eight hours per day, accurately reflecting all billable and non-billable time.
• Expense reports - Completes expense reports in a timely and complete manner (within 7 days of occurrence of expense).
• OOP Costs - Promptly approves all outside vendor invoices and provides those invoices to Accounting for processing.
• Other Duties - Wears a lot of different hats and may be asked to perform duties and responsibilities outside the normal scope of an Associate Creative Director's job responsibilities.

Disclaimer

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this position. They are not to be construed as an exhaustive or all-inclusive list of the responsibilities, duties and skills required. From time to time, Associate Creative Directors may be required to perform duties outside of their normal responsibilities, as required.

In order to perform this job successfully, an Associate Creative Director must be able to perform each essential duty and responsibility satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential duties and responsibilities of this position.