Creative Director | Art

Creative Director: Art Direction

Reporting into: Group Creative Director or Executive Creative Director

Location: New York, NY

Your Role:

As a Creative Director at McCann New York, you are the driving force of creativity within the agency. With a passion for both big ideas and the smallest details, you bring originality and innovation to every project. You will lead the development and execution of high-quality creative concepts and content that elevate your clients’ brands and captivate their audiences. Your expertise in art direction spans diverse platforms, enabling you to manage multiple projects while maintaining impeccable standards. Collaborating closely with creatives, strategists, producers, and the account team, you transform insights and briefs into impactful messaging that achieves client goals. As a visionary leader, you influence the creative direction for your clients and guide your team from concept to delivery, inspiring exceptional work every step of the way. Alongside your creative partner, you guide junior talent, fostering a culture of excellence and collaboration while shaping campaigns that delight audiences and reinforce McCann New York’s reputation for innovative work.

What You Do:

Creative Excellence

• Deliver best-in-class work within your discipline, with a strong understanding of the client’s business objectives and McCann’s mission to exceed client expectations while creating culture-defining work.
• Uncover opportunities to produce groundbreaking, award-winning work, across all briefs including complex or briefs with limitations.
• Strive for creative excellence on every brief, energizing teams to stay motivated, aligned with the vision, and inspired to produce innovative, high-impact work.
• Actively hunt, concept and present proactive opportunities.
• Oversee multiple projects at once, effectively managing time, delegating work ensuring delivery of high-quality work.
• Seamlessly manage the creative development process from kickoff to final delivery.
• Understand cost management to ensure creative concepts are both impactful and executable within budget.

Client Relationship

• Act as a consistent voice on client brands by providing the GCD or ECD with recommendations and insights.
• Manage productions of any type, being a partner to the clients and ensuring the successful development of the creative.
• Foster strong client relationships by deeply understanding their business needs and aligning our contributions to their success, earning their trust and confidence in every decision we make together.

People Management

• Manage the assigned creatives on any project by delegating tasks, reviewing creative outputs, and giving specific feedback as you are accountable for the ultimate deliverables/outcome of the project.
• Conduct weekly 1:1s with your assigned direct reports to discuss overall performance, wellbeing, and to provide ongoing feedback, and monitor capacity to ensure their successful progression within McCann.
• Mentor creatives within your portfolio and/or brands.

Collaboration

• Partner with Strategy to shape the strategic approach, offering constructive feedback and inspiring ideas that drive impactful, award-winning, culture-defining work for clients.
• Present creative concepts and materials to Project Leads to gain internal alignment, actively seeking feedback and engaging in progress discussions, prior to presenting the finalized versions to clients.
• Participate in new business efforts and social campaign ideation.

Production

• Work with internal producers and production companies as key point of contact to ensure consistency across project development and post-production to ensure consistency and quality.
• Supervise post-production editing, color correction, sound design, and music development.

Organization and Administration

• Develop file organization system for seamless file handoff
• Complete timesheets accurately and in a timely fashion.
• Be flexible and perform other related duties and projects, as assigned.
• Provide coverage for your fellow art directors on different projects during TWT if needed

What You Bring:

• Experience in a marketing/design/digital agency setting.
• Extensive knowledge of typography, layout, color, all design fundamentals (scale, proportion, rhythm, balance, symmetry, etc.).
• A range of touch points and taste with photography, cinematography, director / production knowledge and experience, as well as storyboarding and set / wardrobe design exposure.
• Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite.
• Strong knowledge of social platforms (TikTok, Threads, Spill, Snapchat, Instagram, X, YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest).
• Knowledge of the latest AI platforms like Midjourney, ChatGPT, etc. with on-going effort to stay informed
• Ability to translate ideas into visually compelling presentations for clients.
• Ability to manage and organize multiple tasks, work on various projects simultaneously, and meet deadlines.
• Ability to work effectively and collaboratively with other departments.
• Strong decision-making skills.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and oral.
• Online portfolio with relevant work examples.

At McCann New York, each team member plays a significant role in our success. We recognize that our team members' contributions may extend beyond this job description. The job description is designed to outline primary responsibilities, qualifications, and role scope. It does not restrict team members or the organization to only those specified duties.

Location:

McCann New York team members must reside in or be willing to relocate to the New York Tristate area unless otherwise agreed upon by their manager and McCann New York’s Human Resources team. McCann New York is a hybrid workplace with three days in-office per week.

Salary Range:

The Salary range for this role is USD 200,000 – USD 250,000. Salary ranges depend on, among other factors, actual ranges for current/former employees in the subject position; the associated discipline market considerations; budgetary considerations; tenure and standing with the company (applicable to current employees); as well as the employee’s/applicant’s background, pertinent experience, and qualifications.

How We Uphold McCann Values:

• Bravery: We embrace innovation and take thoughtful risks to drive bold ideas forward.
• We approach challenges with courage, resilience, and an openness to new ideas. We encourage respectfully pushing boundaries, thinking outside the box, and proposing bold, innovative solutions, even if they come with some risk. Being brave also means standing up for what we believe in, respectfully challenging the status quo when necessary, and speaking up for others.
• Integrity: We are honest, transparent, and hold ourselves accountable in all that we do.
• We consistently follow through on commitments, speak up when something feels off, and communicate openly, even when it’s challenging. We take responsibility for our actions and decisions, are willing to admit mistakes, and are always aiming to do the right thing. By exemplifying integrity, we build trust within our teams and with our Clients, laying a foundation of reliability and respect across all our interactions.
• Generosity: We create a collaborative, inclusive environment by supporting, celebrating, and uplifting each other with kindness, compassion, and empathy.
• We go above and beyond for others, showing kindness and giving time and resources to help our colleagues succeed. This includes sharing knowledge, mentoring, and being a resource for others, as well as celebrating others’ accomplishments and contributions. We believe in creating a collaborative and supportive environment where we lift each other up. Generosity also means being inclusive, welcoming diverse perspectives, and showing empathy for others’ experiences and challenges.

Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion:

The strength of our creative capability and innovative thinking has led to some of the world's most celebrated, effective, game-changing work for top brands. Maximizing that strength means bringing together an extensive mix of socially, culturally, and cognitively diverse talent — and creating conditions where they feel empowered to boldly share the fullest expression of their unique worldview. We fiercely believe in the power of creativity and innovation to positively influence society and inspire greater equity and inclusion within the communities we serve. So, every day we deliberately and intentionally choose to embody our global philosophy of Conscious Inclusion and, in turn, fuel our mission to help brands earn a meaningful role in people's lives.