Art Director

IWCO•Chanhassen, MN

About The Position

The Art Director provides creative guidance, project oversight, and mentoring to creative team members while supporting the Creative Director in workload planning, resource allocation, and management of freelance resources. The role partners in concepting, creating, and delivering direct response marketing, particularly direct mail and multichannel marketing communications. It combines hands-on design execution with day-to-day creative workflow coordination to help ensure projects are appropriately prioritized, resourced, and delivered on time. The Art Director works with Marketing & Creative Services clients to understand their industry verticals, brands, competitors, and historical campaigns. The role develops and adapts layouts and copy, owns files against project briefs in partnership with copywriters and production artists, and ensures work follows client brand guidelines and production requirements. It also coordinates creative workflows and resources, supports estimates and onboarding, oversees samples and file organization, and helps teams meet deadlines. The position requires 7–10 years of experience in layout and design of advertising and direct response communications, as well as 3–5 years in a printing or agency environment. A degree in graphic design or art, portfolio school training, or equivalent is preferred. The starting salary range is $105,000–$120,000. IWCO offers benefits that may include health, dental, and vision insurance, life insurance, wellness programs, a 401(k) plan, paid holidays, vacation time, and sick leave. Authorization to work for any employer in the United States is required; IWCO will not sponsor a work visa for this role.

Requirements

3–5 years of experience in a printing or agency environment.
7–10 years of experience in layout and design of impactful advertising and direct response communications.
Previous experience managing a team and project workflow through a project management tool.
Proven experience presenting creative concepts, campaigns, and design solutions to clients in partnership with internal stakeholders.
Proficiency in macOS, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Acrobat, MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, FTP, and project management platforms, including Monday.com.
Ability to develop or rebuild illustrations, logos, and similar items in vector- or raster-based programs as project needs require.
Ability to build strong working relationships and collaborate across roles and departments.
Excellent listening skills and ability to identify the root of a change request or tweak.
Flexibility to adapt processes and systems to support smooth project completion.
Ability to work well under pressure and meet tight deadlines.
Demonstrated initiative, conscientiousness, and exceptional follow-through.
Willingness and ability to learn executional needs for color separations, including spot-color and CMYK printing, and file-building requirements for four-color and/or black/spot-color plate changes on press.
Ability to develop creative work in print, direct mail, digital, and video.
Authorization to work for any employer in the United States; visa sponsorship is not available.
Ability to work 8 hours consecutively and sit at a desk and work on a computer for prolonged periods.
Availability to work occasionally after hours to meet deadlines.

Nice To Haves

Degree in graphic design or art, portfolio school training, or equivalent.
Familiarity with direct mail and digital printing.

Responsibilities

Provide day-to-day creative guidance, feedback, and mentoring to creative team members to ensure quality and consistency.
Coordinate creative project workflow, resource allocation, and freelance team members.
Administer Monday.com project workflow, creative team engagement, time cards, and creative team oversight.
Consult with the Creative Director and Account Director on estimating.
Participate in onboarding new creative employees.
Learn MCS clients, their industry verticals, brands, competitors, and historical campaigns.
Create original layouts and modify existing layouts and copy using Adobe Creative Suite and related tools, following client and team direction and brand guidelines.
Own project files in partnership with copywriters, production artists, and others; meet timelines and make changes through handoff for execution.
Ensure ideas and layouts comply with color palette, font, link, file format, layer, and brand requirements.
Oversee creation of physical and electronic samples for presentations and client needs.
Organize server files, follow naming conventions, and move files efficiently through the process.
Meet deadlines and adjust to changing timelines as needed.
Support estimates for creative deliverables by providing input on scope, effort, timelines, and resource requirements.
Stay apprised of production equipment and new formats.
Collaborate with cross-functional teams to create new formats and apply creativity across work.
Perform other related duties as assigned.