Associate Creative Director

Associate Creative Director (ACD), Design

Role Summary

We’re looking for an Associate Creative Director with a strong design foundation to help lead the creative output of the agency across brand, campaign, content, and integrated projects. This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who can think big, design beautifully, pitch confidently, and guide teams to great work.

You’ll partner closely with senior leadership and cross-functional teams, shaping ideas from early strategy through execution, while mentoring designers and helping elevate the overall creative culture.

What You’ll Do

Creative Leadership & Design Excellence

• Lead design-driven concept development across campaigns, brand systems, digital, social, experiential, and pitch work.
• Set a high bar for craft, ensuring work is smart, aesthetically strong, and on-brand.
• Be hands-on when needed—able to jump into layouts, direction, or production to bring an idea home.
• Provide clear, constructive creative feedback that improves the work and grows the team.

Ideation & Concept Development

• Drive and participate in brainstorming sessions, turning insights into bold, relevant creative.
• Translate strategy into concepts that are visually distinctive and idea-led.
• Explore multiple routes quickly, encouraging range and risk-taking in early stages.
• Collaborate with copywriters, producers, and account teams to build cohesive ideas.

Presentation & Client Communication

• Present work confidently and clearly to clients and internal teams.
• Tell a compelling story: insight → idea → execution → why it works.
• Handle Q&A and feedback with composure, diplomacy, and solution-orientation.
• Help shape decks and pitch narratives that close the gap between “good idea” and “sold idea.”

People Management & Team Development

• Manage and mentor designers and junior creatives, helping them build skills and confidence.
• Support resourcing and workflow with thoughtful planning and prioritization.
• Encourage an environment of collaboration, accountability, and creative ambition.
• Help recruit, onboard, and grow design talent as needed.

Must-Have Skills & Experience

• Design-first background with 6–10+ years of professional experience in agency, brand, or studio environments.
• A portfolio that shows high-level design craft + idea-led thinking across multiple media.
• Fluent in core tools, including:
• Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign)
• Figma (or equivalent UI/UX tools)
• Presentation tools (Keynote / PowerPoint / Google Slides)
• Bonus: motion basics (After Effects, Premiere, etc.)
• Excellent presentation skills—you can pitch to a room and make people believe.
• Strong ideation ability: you bring concepts, not just comps.
• Proven experience leading or mentoring teams (formal or informal).
• Calm under pressure, organized, and able to juggle multiple projects.
• Great instincts for culture, trends, and what makes work feel fresh.

Nice-to-Haves

• Experience in integrated campaigns across brand, digital, social, and experiential.
• Motion/design for content (short-form, titles, sizzle, etc.).
• Ability to collaborate on strategy and help shape briefs.
• Comfort with fast timelines and iterative processes.

What Success Looks Like in This Role

• The work feels sharper, more confident, and more idea-led.
• Designers feel supported, challenged, and clearly directed.
• Presentations land well and clients buy the thinking—not just the visuals.
• You help raise the pace, quality, and ambition of the whole creative group.

Why Join In

• You’ll have real influence over the work and creative direction.
• You’ll collaborate closely with leadership and help shape agency output.
• You’ll work on a wide range of brands and challenges.
• We value smart thinking, strong craft, and kind, straightforward collaboration.