Creative Director hybrid 2 days in-office in Washington, DC or Alexandria, Va:
*This person will oversee the creative team, including designers, art directors, and copywriters.
*Looking for someone who has led teams before, has agency experience (a must), and whose work is more than just graphic design and branding it needs to be about campaign/concept development.
*2 days at either the Washington DC or Alexandria, VA offices (may be flexible on this if need be, but this is the expectation). This is a new role and will likely only have 1-2 direct reports to start. This person will oversee the creative team, including designers, art directors, and copywriters. Whose work is more than just graphic design and branding it needs to be about campaign/concept development.
The Creative Director will play a critical role in shaping the future of the agency. He/She will serve as the agency's creative lead, translating strategy into campaigns designed to deliver results. More than a graphic designer, this person will be instrumental in delivering creative ideas, leveraging new technology in the creative process, and mentoring the creative team on the latest design trends, best practices, and innovative solutions. He/she will act as primary liaison between designers, copywriters, members of the leadership team and other departments, and support the design and copy teams by maintaining an eye on big picture department growth and profitability. Additionally, he/she will perform concept development and execute design deliverables as needed.
Key Responsibilities
Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the key responsibilities.
Creative Leadership
- Drive the agency's creative vision, elevating creative output, streamlining workflows, and integrating AI and other technology into the creative process.
- Participate in client engagements, including new business pitches, client onboarding/campaign kick-off meetings, strategy sessions, and concept presentations.
- Drive the creative strategy for client campaigns, ensuring a cohesive, creative, and compelling brand experience across all channels and touchpoints.
- Provide hands-on art direction, including design refinement and quality control, when necessary.
Team Management and Mentorship
- Manage a multidisciplinary team of designers, copywriters, and other creatives, offering mentorship and constructive feedback throughout the creative process.
- Periodically perform skill set assessments on the creative team to identify any gaps that need to be filled, best align scopes of work, and expand our design services (e.G., video) to remain on the leading edge and cater to new trends.
- Identify opportunities for team growth and professional development, maintaining high morale as well as retention of top talent.
- Perform managerial duties related to his/her team, including addressing employee concerns and performance issues; reviewing work; approving time sheets and paid time off, work from home and out of office requests; and conducting interviews and employee reviews.
Cross-Department Collaboration
- Act as a liaison between the creative team and other departments such as account services, paid media, web, and agency operations to ensure effective communication and collaboration.
- Work with the agency operations team to proactively forecast the creative pipeline and prioritize/delegate design and copy workflows, ensuring deadlines are met and resources are used efficiently.
- Consult with account circle leads and business development specialists to hone and align creative scopes of work with appropriate budgets that factor both the value of the deliverable and the actual time needed for execution.
- Engage in brainstorming and strategy sessions with internal teams to ideate creative solutions to client objectives.
Innovation and Quality Assurance
- Stay informed about the latest design trends, tech, and techniques to ensure the team remains at the cutting edge of creative development.
- Establish and maintain quality assurance processes to guarantee all deliverables meet the highest standards.
- Evaluate and recommend improvements to existing creative processes, fostering innovation and excellence.
Qualifications
- 10 or more years of recent agency and/or marcom experience in a creative role.
- 5 or more years of leadership/management experience.
- Strong portfolio showcasing campaign strategy, design, and art direction.
- Advanced knowledge of the disciplines of graphic design, print production, and multimedia.
- Proficiency in Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and Adobe Creative Suite and fluency in Microsoft Office Suite are required.
Additional Eligibility Qualifications
- Knowledge of After Effect is preferred.
- Experience with creative AI tools preferred.
- Experience as a web designer a plus.
- Interest in and aptitude for creative business and marketing solutions.
- Self-motivated and willing to expand knowledge.