Creative Director

Do you like to tell others what to do and smear your thumbprints all over someone else’s work?

Are you the type of ‘leader’ whose ideas are always the right ones because you’ve been around the block more times than anyone else?

If any part of you said yes to any of the above—even for a split second—stop reading. We don’t want you.

The primary role of Creative Directors at Contravent is to help guide their teams to create the best work possible. When it comes to the work, Creative Directors guide, guard, protect, shepherd and, when needed, do. The ultimate ambition of every Creative Director is to help their teams reach their potential and instill confidence in their abilities. That happens through direct and open conversations which happen through ongoing trust and support.

Creative Directors at Contravent don’t sit in an office and wait for work to pass across their desks. They are actively engaged in as many facets of the clients’ business as possible. This means constant communication and collaboration with their Account Director and Project Manager counterparts. It also means as much direct interaction with their clients. There is a very real expectation that our Creative Directors know as much, if not more, about the clients’ business as anyone else on the team. This knowledge not only instills trust in the entire internal and external team but allows for better, more objective, business-minded creative feedback to their teams. As we say, Creative Directors are ‘working CDs’—meaning everyone is in the work. Our CDs don’t pick and choose the cherry projects they want to work on but work on what needs their attention and their skillset. Sometimes, it does mean a high-profile project at other times it means PowerPoint design at 8:00 pm because it needs to be done by the following morning and the entire team just pulled an all-nighter the day before.

Our CDs are a seasoned group. The average years of experience in the industry is 15. Not everyone will need to have that many years under their belt but s/he will be expected to show the same acumen and leadership skills in order to uphold our standards of quality and mentorship.

What you bring to the party:

-      10 or so years in creative experience

-      Manage teams, clients and internal partners independently

-      Continued creative success

-      Be the authority over the clients’ brand guidelines

-      Ensure cohesiveness and consistency throughout all the work

-      Maintain frequent client contact whether it be through regularly-scheduled meetings or proactive one-on-one calls

-      Proactively concept and present value-add work to their clients

-      Have an opinion and voice it. We are in the service industry but we’re not ‘yes men & women’. Clients are playing for our services and our expertise.

What your day-to-day will look like:

-      Collaborate and helps define the creative vision for our clients and their brands, campaigns and digital work

-      Guide the creative work from project inception to project post-mortem

o  Client input, strategy development, GTM planning, concept, production, execution, delivery, analytics, readout

-      Translate marketing objectives into clear creative strategies

-      Never stop refining their craft but also never stop collaborating with others who have creative capabilities better than their own

-      Never stop learning and developing their ‘weak-hand’ skillset (art direction or copywriting)

What vibe you’ll bring:

-      Never satisfied but realistic when a project needs to leave the nest

-      Work closely with their Account Director and Project Manager counterparts

o  Help guide the overall profitability, deliverables, timelines and budgets

-      Be a constant and open source for dialogue and feedback for each of their creative team members

o  Maintain monthly one-on-ones with each of their creative team members

-      Trust their team members to run meetings and/or projects and give them more autonomy over the work they’re doing. If that occasionally means a stumble or fail, that’s okay. The CD will be there to catch the team member and ensure the project stays/gets back on track.-      Maintain monthly check-ins with the VP of Creative Service

What to do next:

-      Submit your portfolio + resume (no portfolio = no consideration)