Creative Director

Agency Overview

Marks is a brand design and experience agency constructed to meet the unique and dynamic conditions of today’s market.  As a full-service agency, our expertise extends across all facets of the branding spectrum.

Born of five separate agencies within the sgsco umbrella, we are building on the expertise in brand design and design adaptation of our agency namesake and combining that with Webb deVlam’s strategic muscle and upstream capabilities, 3D contextual art creation born of Armstrong White, Traffik’s integrated experiential marketing expertise, and the delivery strength of 5Crowd. Together, we are 600 people across 12 studios and 8 countries. A super-charged brand design and experience powerhouse — ready to take on the biggest opportunities that lay ahead for our clients.

Dynamically structured, we deliver the dual perspectives of both Insider and Outsider– fluid, day-to-day brand guardianship and design leadership coupled with the game-changing provocation and fresh thinking that enables brands to uncover and calculate their next move, big or small. Combining divergent perspectives and experiences into a single seamless methodology fuels their clients to move fast, move forward, and move confidently.

Position Overview

As Creative Director, you will foster creative excellence within the team across the full spectrum of design. You’ll lead projects and client relationships, ensuring that the creative vision solves a business problem successfully, on budget, and on time. You will uphold the agency’s position as a strategic and collaborative subject matter expert for our clients. You will also invest in overall team growth and individual mentorship. Creative Directors are responsible for guiding the team and crafting an approach that sets them up for success– but we’re also a hands-on agency. There is a continued hunger and need to lead-by-example in creating beautiful work that rises the benchmark. So yes, you may need to/get to design!

Critical Skills & Behaviors

Leadership

With Clients

• Presents themselves and the agency as a trusted expert, collaborative partner, and an extension of the client’s team and business needs
• Demonstrates empathy and prioritizes the client’s specific business objectives
• Is not afraid to push and challenge client to see a new or better way of approaching a brief or project

With the Brand Design team

• Leads a core team of designers with agility, resourcefulness, and compassion– ensuring they are set up for success from end-to-end
• Mentors the team to foster best practices and improve design processes
• Engages design team to keep them inspired, motivated and challenged
• Responsible for staff performance, growth and development

With Marks at large

• Collaborates with and supports other design groups on key client accounts and internal initiatives
• Supports the development of new business and brand tools which elevate our position and drive our business forward
• Identifies when and how to engage other areas of expertise (e.g. photography, CGI, strategy)

Strategic Design Solutions

• Takes client direction, consumer insights, trends, competitive landscape and strategic foundations and translates them into design solutions
• Partners with and leverages Strategy, Graphic/Communication Design, Industrial Design, Engineering, and Adaptive Design teams to develop holistic design solutions
• Oversees strategic and thoughtful design solutions from inception through adaptive program rollouts
• Challenges project expectations, reframes problems and scrutinizes project assumptions while showing sensitivity to the client’s needs
• Demonstrates expertise in branding and packaging design
• Experience across other channels and disciplines is an asset
• Strives to elevate the creative quality of the studio

Communication

• Confidently and compellingly conveys ideas and design concepts to clients, articulating and defending rationale behind designs
• Leads internal review meetings with strategic insights that keep work focused and on track for successful project delivery
• Provides constructive feedback and design critiques that are honest, direct and actionable
• Maintains consistent oversight and brand guardianship through adaptive program rollouts
• Closely communicates with Client Services partners to craft project approach, proposal, and navigate any roadblocks with confidence and clarity

Project Management

• Develops organizational strategies with adjacent teams to maintain timelines for multiple projects simultaneously
• Works closely with Client Services to provide insight into project timing as it affects proposals and estimates
• Aids in managing priorities and resourcing to ensure the team has a balanced workload, and that creative quality is upheld

Growth & Development

• Works in conjunction with Group Creative Director to create compelling pitches that pair the Marks unique design approach to the client's specific business challenges
• Demonstrates design thought leadership that presents the company as an expert in brand-led design and consumer experience
• Demonstrates deep understanding of clients’ needs and how Marks can deliver results against them
• Identifies organic growth opportunities to grow revenue for the company and the rest of the collective

Target Profile

• Bachelor’s Degree in Communication Design, Graphic, Packaging, or related field. Minimum 8 years of experience in branding and packaging design at a director or senior level
• Well-rounded portfolio showcasing deep understanding of Mac OS, Adobe Creative Suite (Expert knowledge of Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign), Keynote, Microsoft Word, Excel,