Creative Director

Location: New York

This role is in office 3 days a week, Tuesday-Thursday

Job Summary

SJR Creative Directors will lead SJR’s storytelling with vision and the highest standards, ensuring we are delivering as a premier agency in digital creative content solutions around the world. 

Our Creative Directors are the visual architects of all our output. They are multi-hyphenates, equal parts creative visionary, storyteller, problem solver, manager, mentor, and collaborator. From redesigning brand communications to launching global campaigns across a variety of businesses and industries, they have a proven track record of crafting visions and telling compelling stories in any format and for any medium. They drive brand awareness and engagement and create lasting impact for our business.

They embody and project “creative intelligence” – an ability to strategically create the most impactful content, on brand and for the right channels. Creative Directors approach each brief with a strategic mind and fresh eyes to create work that is truly distinctive. They have a knack for devising and inspiring creative solutions with our cross-functional teams, making our clients’ most complicated storytelling challenges feel simple. Their leadership and design skills push them and their team to deliver an impressive range of thinking and creative currency at every turn, all while consistently meeting and exceeding the expectations of all stakeholders. 

 
With the industry’s focus on AI creation, our Creative Director is expected to be enthusiastic about the use of AI as a tool to create stand-out work. As AI works it’s way into our ways of working as well as our outputs, it is crucial that the Creative Director understands the bigger technical themes and thinks modularly about implementation.

As a manager of our creative team, the Creative Director models the values of the company and is expected to uphold the highest standards for creative excellence and overall experience and value of working with SJR. 

Responsibilities 

Creative Strategy Direction (50%)

• Ensures Creative team(s) create and execute best-in-class visual content from concept to completion (design, multimedia, photography, animation, interactivity, etc.):
• Leads and actively participates in creative ideation and brainstorming sessions
• Pitches breakthrough ideas and inspires high-level conceptual, big thinking
• Oversees translation of concepts into storyboards (media/visual elements)
• Provides visual leadership and shares design best practices throughout work cycle
• Designs a wide range of assets for different formats and channels 
• Develops and edits copy for social posts, infographics, videos and other creative
• Ensures client’s brand and style guidelines are being followed
• Attends and provides creative direction at photo and video shoots
• Presents concepts and creative presentations to client(s) 
• Ensures all output delivers against client brief and creative strategy 
• Executes creative that is innovative, compelling, and inherently sharable
• Leads Creatives on a conceptual level: provides direction and ideas, partners with copywriters and manages the creative process and executions
• Manages the relationships with Client Services, Editorial and Production teams to direct projects on both strategic, optimal process and executional levels
• Successfully communicates (present & sell-in) ideas and the strategic rationale behind them 
• Demonstrates problem-solving skills when dealing with client feedback; provides input and escalates as necessary
• Plans, develops, and defends budget recommendations and creative output to provide quality services to clients
• Works proactively with various teams to review content performance and maximize the potential of the creative strategy and the content created through it
• Actively checks and reviews creative to maintain quality control and ensure all executions meet SJR’s standards

Creative Studio Management (25%)

• Manages the Creative team made up of Designers (visual, motion, UX, illustration, animation) and Art Directors
• In partnership with CCO and Traffic Manager, refines and implements an effective creative process and actively participates in creative process discussions
• Fosters a collaborative team environment and an ambitious creative space
• Serves as an effective role model and mentor to team members, modeling and advocating for SJR’s creative culture and values: 
• Establishes supportive mentorship relationships with individual team members across the organization 
• Creates an environment that gets the best output from the team and encourages them to explore new ideas while remaining focused on the expectations of clients
• Inspires the team to develop creative concepts that will enable the expansion of client relationships and create new business opportunities
• Conducts and manages the annual performance reviews and talent evaluation alongside Chief Creative Officer:
• Provides regular and constructive feedback and career development for performance evaluations 
• Gives team members an opportunity to provide their own feedback on the company
• Represents the team at management meetings when required

Growth Business Development (25%)

• Ideates new creative offerings and identifies opportunities for organic growth within existing clients and new client acquisition as required
• Participates in pitch development and presentations as required
• Monitors news and trends relevant to key clients/accounts to identify risks that may impact current projects and opportunities to pitch relevant new ideas

Qualifications 

• • Minimum eight years of experience in creative content concepting, development and design (advertising or lead design background a plus)
  • Superior portfolio showcasing high-end presentation design skills and clear design aesthetic
  • Strong interpersonal and communication skills
  • Excellent time management skills to manage high volume and produce high-quality work on tight deadlines
  • Natural leadership skills with experience delegating, managing, and mentoring a high-performing creative team 
  • Detail-oriented, organized, and comfortable managing multiple projects and client feedback
  • Flexible, adaptable, and responsive when quick turnarounds are required
  • Experience collaborating with other creative team members and departments 
  • Proven ability to uphold brand and style guidelines
  • Strong command of design principles, typography, color theory and conceptual thinking
  • Expert knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, After Effects, Premier)and Figma
  • Experience using collaborative team communication and project management applications like Monday.com and MS Teams to ensure efficiency
  • Use of specialized AI image generation, editing or augmentation apps a plus
  • Available and able to travel

SJR is dedicated to employment equity and welcomes diversity in the workplace. We also welcome and encourage applications from people with disabilities. Accommodations are available upon request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the recruitment process.

The base salary for this position at the time of this posting may range from $75,000-$180,000. Individual compensation varies based on job-related factors, including location, business needs, level of responsibility, experience, and qualifications. We offer a competitive benefits package, click here(opens in a new tab) for more details.