Creative Director, Design
Leadership Creative role at Kettle. San Francisco · full-time · $200,000–$240,000 base.
Growth Roles summary, based on the employer's posting.
What you'll do
- You'll set the design point of view for digital work and connect it to the client's brand and business aims
- You'll guide concepts through final digital delivery, shifting between creative leadership and hands-on execution as projects require
- You'll work with Copy, Strategy, UX, Production, Design, and executives to build integrated ideas and keep teams aligned
- You'll raise design quality, coach designers and art directors, and create opportunities for career growth
- You'll build trust with senior clients, present and challenge constructively, and keep work focused around a shared creative direction
What you bring
- You bring at least eight years in digital design, art direction, or creative direction, with craft-led interactive brand work behind you
- You can lead digital experiences from initial concept to build, giving clear direction and maintaining consistency across workstreams
- You have strong visual and conceptual design judgment alongside an understanding of detailed digital execution
- You can collaborate across creative disciplines, present effectively to senior clients, and influence executive stakeholders
- You actively use AI and emerging technology in your workflow, and can help teams adapt to new tools
Who this fits
This suits a design leader who can move between strategy, ideation, digital craft, storytelling, and hands-on making. The role is based in San Francisco, with on-site work required five days a week for two to three months at a time on specific projects; the team works remotely during other parts of the year.
From the employer
Kettle is a team of passionate, fearless creatives focused on delivering great products, redefining best-practices, and providing new opportunities for our clients.
We are hiring a Creative Director, Design, to oversee a huge amount of interactive projects for one of our largest clients, a Bay Area based creative tech company. This role is pivotal in shaping the design point of view and bringing our client’s brand and product stories to life across digital experiences. As a leader/doer, you’ll collaborate closely with Copy, Strategy, Production, Design, and Executive stakeholders to deliver relevant, effective, and innovative creative, with a heavy emphasis on elevating the craft of our design teams and the strategic point of view of our agency. Project depending, you’ll both lead and also execute work at least some of the time.
You’ll be expected to champion the craft of design, mentor and grow the creative team, and push conceptual thinking forward to drive innovation and excellence across the account. You’ll also build trust with senior clients, align teams around a clear creative North Star, and ensure the work is consistently moving, focused, and impressing our client. If you thrive at the intersection of strategic thinking, creative ideation, digital design, and impactful storytelling, this opportunity might be for you.
These roles require team members to be onsite 5 days per week, for 2-3 months at a time, for specific projects. At other times during the year, the team is remote.
Candidates should have:
- At least 8+ years of experience in digital design, art direction, or creative direction, with a strong track record of craft-oriented, brand-focused interactive work
- Proven ability to lead from concept through execution across digital experiences, with a natural ability to provide clear, actionable creative direction and ensure consistency across workstreams
- Exceptional visual and conceptual design skills, with the ability to set a clear creative vision while understanding the realities of detailed digital execution
- Experience working closely with Copy and other creative disciplines to develop integrated digital ideas and experiences
- Excellent client collaboration and presentation skills, with the confidence and executive presence to influence senior stakeholders
- Proven experience mentoring designers across levels and creating opportunities for teams to do their best work
- Active use of AI and emerging technology in your creative workflow, and an ability to help teams understand how new tools can change the way they work
We’d like to know that you can:
- Design a Vision: Setting the creative and visual direction for digital experiences, ensuring the work is distinctive, relevant, own-able, and aligned to the client’s broader brand and business goals
- Integrate Creative: Partnering with Copy, Strategy, UX, and other disciplines to develop simple, relevant concepts and digital experiences where the idea is stronger because the disciplines work together
- Team Leadership: Setting the design bar across the account, mentoring Designers and Art Directors at every level, helping them chart their career path, and creating opportunities for them to do their best work
- Client Rapport: Building trust with senior clients, presenting work with confidence, challenging needs where appropriate, and aligning stakeholders around a clear creative North Star
- Creative Quality: Knowing when to lead from the front and when to get into the work, ensuring ideas are thoughtfully designed and beautifully crafted from first exploration through final build
- Future Thinking: Staying ahead of design culture, emerging technologies, and new ways of working, bringing relevant opportunities into the work and helping the team evolve with them
This is a creative leadership role for someone ready to drive digital work that is strategically smart, conceptually rich, beautifully designed, and thoughtfully crafted.
The target range of base compensation for this role is $200k - 240k. Actual compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, and location.
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