What are the responsibilities and job description for the Creative Director position at POLA Marketing?
Overview
POLA Marketing is hiring a Creative Director to lead, elevate, and scale our creative output across brand, digital, and production. This is not a “big ideas only” role—you will be responsible for both the vision and execution quality across every deliverable that leaves the agency.
You will oversee a team of designers and creatives, own creative standards, and work directly with leadership and clients to ensure the work is strategically sound, commercially effective, and consistently high-level.
If you need hand-holding, this is not the role. If you can push teams, defend decisions, and deliver better work under pressure—keep reading.
What You’ll Own
Creative Leadership
Send:
POLA Marketing is hiring a Creative Director to lead, elevate, and scale our creative output across brand, digital, and production. This is not a “big ideas only” role—you will be responsible for both the vision and execution quality across every deliverable that leaves the agency.
You will oversee a team of designers and creatives, own creative standards, and work directly with leadership and clients to ensure the work is strategically sound, commercially effective, and consistently high-level.
If you need hand-holding, this is not the role. If you can push teams, defend decisions, and deliver better work under pressure—keep reading.
What You’ll Own
Creative Leadership
- Set and enforce creative direction across all client work (branding, campaigns, digital, social, video)
- Raise the bar on design, concepting, and execution—consistently
- Ensure work aligns with strategy, not just aesthetics
- Lead, mentor, and develop a team of designers and creatives
- Review and approve all major creative deliverables
- Give direct, actionable feedback (not vague opinions)
- Identify skill gaps and elevate team performance
- Collaborate with account and strategy teams on campaign direction
- Present creative concepts to clients with confidence and clarity
- Push back when necessary—internally and externally
- Work closely with our in-house studio team (photo/video)
- Ensure creative translates properly from concept → shoot → final deliverable
- Maintain quality control across all formats and platforms
- Build and refine creative workflows
- Establish brand and design standards across accounts
- Improve efficiency without sacrificing quality
- 6–10 years in a creative role, with agency experience required
- Prior experience leading a team (this is not an IC role)
- Strong portfolio showing real client work, not just passion projects
- Ability to move between high-level concepting and detailed execution
- Comfortable in fast-paced, multi-client environments
- Strong opinions backed by reasoning—not ego
- Experience across:
- Branding & identity systems
- Paid social & digital campaigns
- Production (photo/video) workflows
- Bonus: experience working with consumer brands and product-based businesses
- You meet deadlines
- You can take and give criticism without spiraling
- You don’t blame the team—you fix the problem
- You understand that “good enough” isn’t good enough here
- Not a purely conceptual role detached from execution
- Not a “design everything yourself” position
- Not a passive leadership role
- High-growth agency with a strong creative reputation
- In-house production studio (you’re not guessing how things get made)
- Direct access to leadership and real influence on direction
- Opportunity to shape the creative culture—not inherit a broken one
- Competitive salary based on experience
- Performance-based incentives
- Full-time
- Benefits package available
Send:
- Portfolio (required — no portfolio, no review)
- Resume
- Short note on how you approach leading creative teams