Creative Director

Industrial Color New York, NY Hybrid Full-Time

If you're a creative leader who wants to do more than inherit someone else's vision, we'd love to see your work.

The Opportunity

We're looking for a Creative Director with an exceptional creative eye, a strong point of view, and the ambition to build something.

This isn't a role where you'll inherit a fully staffed department, step into an established process, and simply oversee the work. We're rebuilding our creative team, and we're looking for someone who sees that as an opportunity.

You'll help shape the creative direction of Industrial Color, lead concept development and pitches for our clients, and build a talented, collaborative team around you. You'll have the freedom to influence how the department operates, the talent we bring in, and the kind of work we're known for.

You'll also be hands-on. Particularly in the beginning, you'll be developing ideas, shaping pitches, working alongside production, and helping turn compelling creative concepts into work that can actually be made.

We're looking for someone who is as excited about building the team as they are about making the work.
What You'll Do
Lead the Creative

• Develop original, compelling creative concepts for brand campaigns, pitches, and productions across photography, film, digital, social, and other platforms.
• Take creative ownership from initial brief and ideation through presentation, production, and final delivery.
• Bring a distinctive creative perspective that challenges conventional approaches while remaining true to each client's brand and objectives.
• Lead the development of multiple creative directions, balancing bold thinking with the practical realities of budgets, timelines, and production.
• Collaborate closely with producers, directors, artists, retouchers, and post-production teams to ensure creative ideas translate into exceptional finished work.
• Contribute creative thinking and direction across Industrial Color's broader capabilities, including retouching, motion, AI-driven content, and emerging technologies.
• Help define and elevate Industrial Color's creative identity and the work we bring to market.

Build the Team

• Help rebuild and shape Industrial Color's creative department, identifying the talent, structure, and capabilities needed for long-term success.
• Partner with Talent Acquisition to recruit Art Directors, Designers, Copywriters, and other creative professionals.
• Identify and develop relationships with freelance creative talent to support pitches, productions, and evolving client needs.
• Create an environment where collaboration, curiosity, feedback, and creative excellence are part of how the team works.
• Mentor and develop creative talent, helping individuals strengthen their skills, confidence, and creative judgment.
• Establish processes, templates, and ways of working that enable the team to operate efficiently without sacrificing creativity.
• Help determine how best to deploy internal and freelance resources as the department grows.

Connect Creative Thinking to the Business

• Work closely with production leadership from the earliest stages of creative development to ensure ideas are achievable within client budgets and timelines.
• Partner with account, sales, and business leaders to develop compelling creative responses to new and existing client opportunities.
• Build strong relationships with clients, understanding their brands, audiences, objectives, and creative challenges.
• Contribute to pitches and client presentations, communicating the thinking behind creative concepts and helping bring clients along on the journey.
• Bring a resourceful, commercially minded approach to creative challenges, understanding when to push an idea further and when to find a smarter way to execute it.
• Help identify opportunities to expand Industrial Color's creative offerings and strengthen its position in the market.
• Embrace new tools and technologies, including AI, as opportunities to expand creative possibilities and improve how work gets made.

Requirements
What You Bring

First and foremost, an exceptional portfolio.

We're interested in creative thinkers whose work feels relevant, distinctive, and intentional. We're drawn to ideas that are clever, visually compelling, unexpected, or that make us look at something familiar differently.

Beyond that, we're looking for:

• A strong background in creative direction, art direction, or concept development within an agency, creative production company, or brand environment.
• Experience developing and directing work across photography, video, and digital platforms.
• A portfolio demonstrating a sophisticated understanding of beauty, fashion, luxury, lifestyle, or related categories, ideally with work spanning more than one industry.
• Strong conceptual thinking and the ability to translate a client brief into multiple compelling creative directions.
• An understanding of how creative ideas move through production, from initial concept to execution.
• Experience collaborating with multidisciplinary creative and production teams.
• A willingness to roll up your sleeves and contribute directly to the work, particularly while building the team.
• The ability to navigate a fast-moving environment, balance competing priorities, and bring structure where it doesn't yet exist.
• Curiosity about AI and emerging creative technologies, and an openness to incorporating them into the creative process.
• A collaborative, low-ego approach to creative leadership and an interest in helping other creatives do their best work.

You Might Be a Great Fit If...

• You've worked in a larger creative environment and are ready for the opportunity to build something of your own.
• You're currently an Associate Creative Director or senior creative leader who's ready to take on broader ownership.
• You've worked at a boutique agency or creative studio where you've had to be resourceful, hands-on, and adaptable.
• You have a strong creative perspective but don't believe your idea always has to be the winning idea.
• You're comfortable switching between conceptual thinking, hands-on execution, and developing the people around you.
• You're energized by possibility and don't need every process, role, or answer to be fully defined before getting started.

Benefits

The anticipated base salary range for this role is $185,000-$220,000 annually, subject to final approval.

We know that great creative talent doesn't always follow a traditional career path. Some of the most compelling creative leaders have built their careers at boutique agencies, worked across disciplines, or taken on responsibilities well beyond their titles. We're interested in the work you've created, the thinking behind it, and what you're ready to build next.

Where an offer falls within the range will reflect your creative experience, portfolio, leadership capabilities, and the scope of responsibility you're prepared to take on, alongside internal equity and business considerations.

Here's how we think about the range:

• Closer to $185K - The Emerging Creative Leader: You have an exceptional portfolio, a distinctive creative point of view, and experience owning creative concepts and executions. You may be an accomplished Associate Creative Director or senior creative ready to step into broader leadership and build a team.
• Middle of the range - The Established Creative Director: You've demonstrated the ability to lead creative work from concept through execution, collaborate across disciplines, develop talent, and consistently deliver compelling work for recognizable brands.
• Closer to $220K - The Creative Visionary & Builder: You bring an outstanding body of work, a proven ability to build and inspire creative teams, and the experience to shape a department's creative direction while balancing ambitious ideas with commercial and production realities.

We care more about what you can create, how you think, and what you can build than the titles you've held along the way. If this opportunity excites you and your work speaks for itself, we'd love to see it.
Life at Industrial Color

Great creative work happens when people have the space, support, and inspiration to do their best thinking.

Our benefits include medical, dental, and vision insurance, an FSA, paid time off, summer Fridays, and regular opportunities to connect with colleagues.

Our Tribeca workspace offers an open gallery, two outdoor patio decks, and a place to collaborate with the creative and production teams bringing ideas to life.