POSITION DESCRIPTION 

Creative Director, Marketing

(New York, NY)

Organization Overview 

REFORM Alliance is a national organization seeking to safely reduce the number of people on probation and parole and create real pathways to work and wellness for people who have been supervised instead of supported. In 2022 our focus is on state and federal probation and parole policy reform. 

REFORM was launched in 2019 by award-winning recording artist Meek Mill; Philadelphia 76ers co-owner and Fanatics executive chairman Michael Rubin; entrepreneur and business mogul Shawn “JAY-Z” Carter; Kraft Group CEO and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft; Brooklyn Nets co-owner and philanthropic investor Clara Wu Tsai; Galaxy Digital CEO and founder Michael E. Novogratz; Vista Equity Partners founder, chairman, CEO Robert F. Smith, and CNN host and activist Van Jones. 

We are using all the resources we have to help fix the flawed criminal justice system in the United States by changing laws and policies, and building a movement of Reformers to help change hearts and minds. 

Job Description

Reporting to the Chief Marketing Officer, the Creative Director serves as the brand steward to elevate the standard of creative, build processes, guidelines and identify areas for creative improvement. Reform seeks a Creative Director with an entrepreneurial, strategic mindset, eagerness to build, and a reputation as an innovative, adaptive, and proactive “doer”. The right candidate will possess a strong brand vision, excellent communication, organizational, problem-solving skills, with the ability to meet tight deadlines. They will have a passion for design, video, storytelling, and content creation that serves to change the nationwide narrative around criminal justice reform.

Description of Key Job Functions

• Oversee design, creative strategy, style/content guides, production, visual standards, and art direction

• Communicate brand vision and aesthetic; update materials as needed and use this knowledge to prepare comprehensive briefs, guidelines, and co-branded materials to share with stakeholders and external partners. Confidently present concepts and vision as needed, execute across channels 
• Assess gaps in photography and video production and ensure easy org-wide access to assets 
• In partnership with the CMO and cross-functional teams, develop engaging concepts, creative, videos, collateral, and experiential for campaigns, events, social, growth, membership, and presentations
• Create and implement a project workflow, formal request process, and system of prioritization 
• Manage multiple projects, ensuring they are on time and on budget, executing quickly and optimally under tight deadlines without sacrificing design quality, project, and organization goals
• Review all creative requests to ensure scope is clear and priority overflow requests are resourced 
• Create a roster of talent and agencies. Recruit, manage and oversee freelancer resources as needed
• Work with program managers to ensure creative deliverables across traditional, digital, social, and experiential, are produced as concepted and brand vision/DNA is upheld through assets
• Drive creative management process for art direction, translate critiques and feedback into edits
• Research and analyze industry trends, social media trends and maintain knowledge of emerging technologies and latest creative and high performing techniques, tools, and best practices 
• Support teams across all channel needs from website development to microsites and stories 
• Concept still and motion imagery, communicate vision through sketch/storyboard and swipe as needed, make selects, trouble-shoot and keep the post-production process moving
• Lead and collaborate with cross-functional teams on video needs. Review edits in a timely fashion, support process; collaborate and provide feedback/examples, perform re-touching/edits as needed
• Develop variety of ideas and concepts, provide guidance in pre-shoot meetings, on site, and in post-production and support team on cataloging video archive, addressing requests, securing back up
• Work with executives to design presentations, BOD collateral and deliver strong visual storytelling 
• Create and edit templates and collateral to ensure teams can modify branded materials independently 
• Review and share final assets with requestors. Determine appropriate system to ensure all documents are systematically organized and final files are available for easy future referencing.
• Oversee and manage departmental budget and budget tracking 

Qualifications

• Undergraduate degree, preferably with focus in Graphic Design
• 8 years of related experience with strong design background, including concept development, digital design, campaigns, short-form social videos, other video production and/or fundraising appeals and portfolio to show for it 
• At least 3 years of managing creative resources 
• Well organized with ability to prioritize and effectively manage multiple projects simultaneously in a fast-paced environment; can adapt quickly to changing priorities
• Strong aesthetic sense, excellent attention to detail and meticulous typography skills
• Highly creative and results-driven with a proven track record of success 
• Full awareness of creative processes and techniques - including digital and experiential platforms, social, apps, websites and creative technologies
• Experience managing production budgets, timelines and identifying requirements for and working with external partners, production houses, design freelancers, photographers, AV, and videographers
• Must have a passion for the digital and social media space with strong social content design skills, including motion and photography; significant experience with Instagram, YT, TikTok and Twitter 
• Demonstrated experience leading conversations with agencies for assets, campaigns and websites
• Wizard in Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign), Adobe After Effects, MS PowerPoint, Google Suite and other creative tools. Asana, JavaScript, HTML, & UX tools a plus 
• Entrepreneurial spirit: not afraid to get your hands dirty, make quick spot edits as needed
• Expert visual storyteller (including charts, graphs etc.) who is solutions-driven and has experience working with executives to build presentations 
• Highly knowledgeable in understanding online consumer behavior, functionality, usability and can incorporate into designs and content that meet website and social best practices 
• Ability to bring a highly stylized brand campaigns to life across channels & adapting based on data
• Deep seeded knowledge of the digital landscape and unique elements of each video and social platforms and what makes videos successful on those platforms. 
• A commitment to identifying and elevating stories; Someone who can navigate complexity and ambiguity to get to the heart of and cultivate a great story
• Mission-driven with a strong desire to contribute to the brand ethos and grow with the brand
• Prior start-up and/or non-profit experience a strong plus 

At REFORM Alliance, we strive to move hearts and minds to create a more humane criminal justice system. This requires us to maintain a company culture that values employee individuality and community development. We are committed to fostering an environment that is inclusive, empowering and globally minded. We firmly believe that diversity in gender, race, ethnicity, sexual identity, cultural background, religion, disability and age produces ideas and perspectives that make our efforts stronger for people unjustly in the system and make our company a better place to work. Our leadership team is committed to embedding diversity and inclusion into everything we do and how we lead.