Associate Creative Director

TrendyMinds•Indianapolis, IN

4d•Remote

About The Position

As an Associate Creative Director, you lead creative concept development and execution for your assigned clients, bridging senior-level craft with strategic creative leadership. You own concepts from brief through delivery, present them to clients with confidence, and shape the creative direction of your accounts — often without needing a Creative Director in the room. You partner closely with our Creative Directors while carrying real ownership of your own work, guiding copywriters, art directors, and other creatives to bring big ideas to life across campaigns, brand work, and integrated programs. This role may cover clients and initiatives across multiple verticals, including healthcare, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, SaaS/technology, not-for-profit, higher education, financial services, and more.

Requirements

5+ years of professional experience in a creative role, with demonstrated growth toward creative leadership
Experience guiding or directing the work of art directors, copywriters, designers, or other creative collaborators
A strong portfolio showing original, strategically grounded concept development across campaigns, brand work, or integrated programs
Confidence presenting and defending creative work directly to clients
Experience mentoring or developing other creatives
Comfort using AI tools to accelerate concepting and production without losing sight of the human judgment that makes work great
Agency experience preferred
Strong collaboration skills across strategy, account, and production teams

Responsibilities

Guide creative concept development. Act as a trusted partner to our Creative Directors and collaborate closely with copywriters and art directors to guide — and often own — creative concepts for assigned clients across campaigns, brand work, and integrated programs.
Contribute to creative briefs and turn audience insights into strategically grounded, visually and verbally compelling ideas that work across every channel, bringing different creative disciplines together rather than defaulting to a single lens like art direction or copy alone.
Direct creative execution. Direct the work of art directors, copywriters, designers, and other collaborators — including video editors and animators — on assigned projects.
Give clear creative direction, review work against the approved brief and concept, and hold the line on quality for everything that ships.
Present and defend creative work to clients. Present creative concepts and campaign work to clients with confidence and strategic rationale.
Defend strong ideas, interpret feedback constructively, and navigate the space between what a client asks for and what the work actually needs, building client trust in both the output and our team.
Mentor and develop creative talent. Mentor and grow the craft of art directors, copywriters, and other creatives on the team.
Give feedback that sharpens both the work and the thinking behind it, helping raise the creative bar across the group alongside our Creative Directors.
Use AI to accelerate concepting through rapid visual and verbal exploration, generate mood boards and layout variations, test messaging approaches, and compress production timelines — freeing up more time for the instincts, taste, and client-room confidence that only a human creative leader can bring.