The Manager, Multimedia Design & Art Direction reports to the Head of Creative and leads the day-to-day operations of the Creative Studio. This role brings creative vision to life by leading the design team, providing art direction across multidisciplinary projects and building the operational structure that allows creativity to thrive.
Working closely with the Head of Creative, the Manager balances creative excellence with operational efficiency by establishing production standards, improving workflows, managing team capacity and creating the bandwidth needed for both daily production and larger conceptual opportunities.
Success in this role comes from building talented teams, strong creative processes and an environment where people are challenged, supported and inspired to do their best work.
WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE- Build and manage a high-performing creative team that continues to grow in confidence, craft and collaboration.
- Raise the creative standard through thoughtful art direction, constructive critique, mentoring and coaching.
- Create efficient production workflows that give the team more time for design and creative thinking.
- Build trusted relationships that make collaboration easier across the organization.
- Help evolve the Creative Studio into a modern, innovative, world-class, empowered, and inspired creative team.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIESMultimedia Design & Art Direction- Bring the creative vision established by the Head of Creative to life through exceptional design, art direction and execution across multimedia projects that include, but are not limited to - advertising, print, digital, e-mail, social, landing pages, logo creation, branding, presentations, environmental graphics, photography, video and motion graphics.
- Lead creative reviews that strengthen concepts, elevate execution and help designers communicate the rationale behind their work so that it clearly demonstrates how it connects with briefs and brand standards, while also moving the work forward.
- Develop presentation decks that clearly communicate creative concepts, design recommendations and visual direction for stakeholders and executive leadership.
- Partner with photography and video teams to create cohesive visual storytelling across campaigns and marketing initiatives.
Studio Operations- Partner with Project Management to prioritize work, manage team capacity and balance production demands with opportunities for larger conceptual work.
- Establish production standards, workflows and quality control processes that improve consistency, efficiency and scalability.
- Track workload, studio capacity and operational performance, recommending improvements that strengthen productivity and creative impact.
Team Leadership- Coach, mentor and develop designers through thoughtful feedback, creative critique and measurable performance conversations.
- Foster a collaborative, accountable and solutions-oriented culture where creativity, curiosity and continuous improvement are expected.
- Help identify future talent potential while supporting individual growth and career development.
Brand, Systems & Innovation- Help evolve the UVA Health visual brand while maintaining consistency across all communications.
- Develop and maintain brand style guides, design systems, presentation templates and creative standards.
- Champion ADA accessibility standards, Digital Asset Management (DAM) best practices and scalable file organization.
- Leverage Adobe Creative Cloud, Figma and AI-assisted creative tools to improve ideation, collaboration and production efficiency.
Collaboration- Build strong partnerships across Marketing, Communications, Photography, Video, Project Management and other stakeholders.
- Collaborate with the Head of Creative to refine concepts, strengthen creative execution and identify opportunities to elevate the Creative Studio.
- Support emerging communication channels, technologies and creative opportunities as organizational needs evolve.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS- Education & Experience: Bachelor's degree in Graphic Design, Visual Communications or a related discipline, or equivalent experience, with at least seven years of progressive creative leadership experience in an agency or in-house creative environment.
- Creative Leadership: Demonstrated success leading designers through art direction, coaching, creative critique and performance feedback while building collaborative, high-performing teams.
- Design & Technical Expertise: Portfolio demonstrating conceptual thinking, integrated campaign development, branding, typography, presentation design and visual storytelling. Advanced proficiency in Adobe Creative Cloud and Figma is required. Experience incorporating AI-assisted creative tools into professional workflows is expected.
- Studio Operations: Experience partnering with Project Management to prioritize work, manage creative capacity and improve production workflows. Experience with Digital Asset Management (DAM), file governance, ADA accessibility standards and scalable creative systems.
- Communication: Excellent presentation, communication and relationship-building skills with the ability to confidently present work, articulate creative rationale and build trusted partnerships across multidisciplinary teams.
- Industry Experience: Agency experience is strongly preferred. Experience working in healthcare, higher education or another complex enterprise marketing environment is a plus.
- Leadership & Innovation: Experience developing enterprise design systems, brand style guides and multidisciplinary creative teams. Familiarity with creative operations, workflow optimization, AI-enabled creative technologies and modern production processes
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:
Education: Bachelor's Degree required.
Experience: 7+ years of relevant professional experience, to include 2+ years formal managerial experience required.
Licensure: None.
PHYSICAL DEMANDS:
This is primarily a sedentary job involving extensive use of desktop computers. The job does occasionally require traveling some distance to attend meetings, and programs.
The pay range for this role is $87,755.20 - $127,890.00 annually. Individual compensation will be determined by the selected candidate's qualifications, previous work experience, and/or education.
Benefits- Comprehensive Benefits Package: Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance
- Paid Time Off, Long-term and Short-term Disability, Retirement Savings
- Health Saving Plans, and Flexible Spending Accounts
- Certification and education support
- Generous Paid Time Off
UVA Health is a world-class Magnet Recognized academic medical center and health system with a level 1 trauma center.
