Associate Creative Director - Art

Cheil

$90K — $120K *
Media
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree in creative, design, advertising, communications, or related field
  • 8+ years of agency or in-house creative experience
  • Proven delivery of high-quality creative work across various formats
  • Strong proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite, Figma, Google Slides, and Microsoft PowerPoint
  • Knowledge of AI-assisted creative tools for storytelling and visual development
  • Ability to shape work across layouts, digital experiences, and visual storytelling
  • Comfortable directing motion and video production teams
  • Strong organizational and communication skills

Responsibilities

  • Lead art direction and visual storytelling across diverse assignments
  • Concept ideas that activate through various formats and platforms
  • Partner with various teams to ensure strong execution of creative ideas
  • Understand production realities, timelines, and budget constraints
  • Direct and mentor creative team members for better overall outcomes
  • Create persuasive materials for client presentations and new business
  • Foster a positive team culture that encourages trust, value, and empowerment

Benefits

  • Collaborative and dynamic work environment
  • Opportunity to mentor and lead a creative team
  • Exposure to diverse and high-profile projects
  • Access to cutting-edge creative tools and technologies
  • Chance to work with culturally relevant and impactful brands
Full Job Description
Creative / Special Projects
Associate Creative Director - Art

About you
Who you are is just as important as what you can do.

  • You are an activation-minded visual creative who knows how to turn ideas into work people actually see, use, attend, watch, capture, share, and remember.
  • You can lead creative across social, digital, launch content, events, experiences, presentations, and integrated campaigns. You are not locked into one format. You understand that a strong idea may become a social series, a launch film, a live activation, a content engine, a branded space, a creator concept, or all of the above.
  • You bring strong conceptual thinking, sharp art direction, and excellent design judgment. You know how to build a visual world, shape a story, guide a team, and make the work feel clear, ownable, and exciting.
  • You think beyond the asset. You understand the audience, platform, environment, timeline, budget, production reality, and client need behind the assignment.
  • You can balance directing and doing. You are comfortable leading the work, giving feedback, building presentations, jumping into the craft when needed, and helping a team move quickly without lowering the bar.
  • You collaborate well with copywriters, designers, strategists, producers, social teams, experience designers, motion artists, CGI artists, editors, account teams, vendors, and clients.
  • You can sell the work clearly. You know how to present an idea, defend the thinking, explain the execution, and bring people with you.
  • You are positive, practical, curious, and solution-oriented. You bring taste, momentum, and good judgment to the room without bringing ego with it.


About the role
Like you, this job is multidimensional. And every aspect is crucial to creating culturally relevant work.
  • This is a versatile ACD Art role focused on activations and integrated content. The work may include social campaigns, launch content, digital extensions, event activations, brand experiences, creator concepts, presentations, new business, and integrated campaign platforms.
  • You will lead art direction and visual storytelling across a wide range of assignments, shaping ideas from early concept through execution. You will help define the creative idea, visual approach, key moments, content opportunities, and how the work should show up across channels.
  • You will concept ideas that activate across formats, from static and motion assets to social-first content, launch moments, digital storytelling, live experiences, and campaign ecosystems.
  • You will partner closely with creative, strategy, production, social, experiential, motion, CGI, account, and client teams to make sure the idea is strong, the execution is realistic, and the final work holds together.
  • You will be expected to understand timelines, budgets, staffing, production needs, vendor realities, client feedback, and how creative decisions affect scope. This role requires someone who can protect the idea while helping make it feasible.
  • You will understand spatial and environmental design well enough to direct concepts involving audience flow, floor plans, branded environments, event layouts, fabrication needs, physical touchpoints, and digital extensions.
  • You will manage multiple projects at once, prioritize clearly, communicate needs early, and keep the work moving in a fast-paced environment with high client expectations.
  • You will direct and mentor creative team members, providing clear feedback that improves the idea, the craft, and the final execution.
  • You will create and present persuasive materials for client work and new business opportunities, making complex ideas easy to understand and hard to ignore.
  • You will help build a team culture where people feel trusted, challenged, valued, and empowered to do great work.


About the requirements
You've got to check the boxes before you can think outside of them.
  • This role requires a bachelor's degree in a creative, design, advertising, communications, or related field, along with 8+ years of agency and/or in-house creative experience.
  • You should have a proven track record of delivering high-quality creative work across multiple project types, including activations, social, digital, launch, campaign, event, experiential, and content-driven assignments.
  • Strong working proficiency is required in Adobe Creative Suite, especially Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign, as well as Figma, Google Slides, and Microsoft PowerPoint.
  • Working knowledge of AI-assisted creative tools is expected, including tools used for concepting, visual exploration, prototyping, storyboarding, and creative development.
  • Strong design and digital craft are required, including the ability to shape work across layouts, decks, social content, digital experiences, campaign systems, and visual storytelling.
  • You should be comfortable working with or directing motion, video, CGI, social production, experience design, and post-production teams.
  • You should also be comfortable working with or directing spatial, architectural, environmental, and fabrication partners when projects involve physical spaces, event builds, branded environments, or audience flow.
  • Excellent presentation, communication, time management, and organizational skills are essential.
  • You should be open to travel, extended hours, and weekend work as necessary.
  • Bonus points:
  • Bonus points for hands-on experience with generative video platforms such as Runway.
  • Bonus points for After Effects, Premiere, DaVinci Resolve, or similar tools.
  • Bonus points for 3D, motion, or spatial prototyping experience, including Blender, Cinema 4D, Unreal Engine, SketchUp, Maya, or similar tools.
  • Bonus points for experience with gaming, entertainment, technology, fandom, creator, or culture-driven brands.

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