Art Director, Contract

As an Art Director, the conceptual development and execution of creative deliverables is on your shoulders—including creating and communicating concepts, implementing marketing strategies, and developing interactive design solutions. Balancing creative thinking with interpersonal skills, you champion creative concepts to clients and project teams alike. There’s a line between creative expression and commercial reality—but you’ve got that covered. You want to keep learning, but you want leadership experience, too. Good news—you’ll have mentorship from a Creative Director to help you grow, and you’ll lead a team of designers, copywriters, information architects, content analysts, audio designers, and production specialists to excellence. Most importantly, you are driven by a passion for design and visual communication.  
***Automotive experience a plus. 

You Will:  

• Develop concepts and communicate ideas. 
• Balance strategic development with client business objectives. 
• Direct and delegate to core creative services disciplines.  
• Directly contribute to project design and development including creating storyboards and initial graphic concepts, conceive functional design solutions, create site grids and interface demos, and provide QA of all creative deliverables.  
• Mentor and coach teams through project development and performance management.  
• Build relationships with clients, partner agencies, photographers, model agencies, and other vendors. 
• Contribute to the innovative development of the creative department. 
• Lead and partner with designers, production artists, writers, content analysts, planners, and Information Architects. 
• Participate in strategic brainstorming, concept development, creative brief development, and creative execution. 

You Have:  

• 4+ years education, 2+ years experience in design and interactive, preferably with the automotive industry.
• Strong design portfolio.  
• Experience leading a team of designers, production specialists, and writers.  
• Experience meeting clients and presenting your work.  
• Experience with strategic brainstorming, campaign development, creative brief development, and creative execution. 
• An ability to work on multiple projects simultaneously.  
• A proven aptitude for quick creative thinking with acute attention to detail within demanding deadlines. 
• Knowledge of the latest versions of Mac OS, Photoshop, and Illustrator. 
• Understanding of the strengths and limitations of Flash, After Effects, QuickTime, Director, ImageReady, and Final Cut Pro.  
• Efficient organizational skills and a motivated dedication to the creative team.  
• Eagerness to collaborate with other creative people. 
• Leadership abilities to foster learning and excellence among team members. 
• Illustration skills in both electronic and traditional media. 

What We Offer:

• Maternity and parental leave extra days
• Competitive benefits packages
• Vacation, compassionate leave, sick days, and flex days
• Access to online services for families and new parents
• Diversity and Inclusion Board with 13 affinity groups
• Internal learning and development programs
• Enterprise-wide employee discounts
• And more…

The Talent Team at Critical Mass is focused on ensuring we provide the best training, onboarding, and employee experience possible! Our new hires & employees are the future of our organization, and we want to set you up for long-term success. To do so, we expect our team to 3 days per week in our office. 

The ask stems from our want to:

• Strengthen opportunity for continuous learning
• Improve collaboration and team relationships.
• Increase employee engagement

This work model balances the need for individual flexibility while maintaining the relentless customer focus we provide at CM. We understand that not everyone may feel comfortable with this expectation, so we ask that you please let us know immediately if there are any concerns so we can help navigate accordingly.