Associate Creative Director

Red Door Collaborative•Bellevue, WA

12d•$115,000 - $135,000•Remote

About The Position

We're hiring an Associate Creative Director to lead creative quality and direction across our team — a group of 12 full-time designers, content creators, motion artists, and PMs, plus a rotating group of individual collaborators that can expand the team to 20–30 people depending on project load. Here's what you should know upfront: while this role reports to our Creative Director/Managing Partner, in practice you'll be the day-to-day creative leader for the team. Our CD sets vision and stays involved at a strategic level, but you'll be the one in the room with creatives and clients, shaping the work, elevating the output, and ensuring we're meeting our bar. That means real authority, real autonomy, and real accountability. This isn't a "player-coach" role weighted toward playing. You'll occasionally get hands-on with creative work, but the bulk of your time will be spent reviewing and directing others' work, partnering with clients through discovery and feedback cycles, and leading a team of discipline leads and PMs who themselves manage creatives. If you're looking for a role where you're primarily making things yourself, this isn't it. If you're looking to lead a creative team and shape what great work looks like — keep reading. You'll report to our Creative Director/Managing Partner. Your direct reports will include our Creative Project Manager(s) and Discipline Leads across Video, Content, and Motion.

Requirements

You've spent meaningful time as an individual creative — designer, art director, motion artist, something — and you've also spent time leading or directing creative work (art direction, creative project management, or a previous ACD role). You understand the work because you've done it, and you understand leadership because you've practiced it.
You have agency experience — not adjacent to agency work, but embedded in it. You know the pace, the pressure, and the particular chaos of client services.
You have a portfolio that shows your eye and judgment — whether that's creative work you made, projects you directed, or campaigns you led. We need to see how you think, not just what you've shipped.
You've worked with enterprise clients and understand the complexity that comes with large organizations — stakeholder dynamics, approval chains, shifting priorities, and long timelines.
You've led people before — this isn't a first-time management role. You've had direct reports, given hard feedback, and learned what it takes to develop a team.
You're strong in visual design and motion specifically. Our content discipline is well-led and less likely to need heavy direction from you — but you'll be the primary creative voice on visual and motion work.
You have an open, growth-oriented mindset about AI. We're actively exploring how AI can expand what our team is capable of. We need someone who's curious about that, not anxious about it.
You thrive with autonomy. You'll have a lot of it here — and that's a feature, not a bug. If you want room to lead and the trust to do it well, this might be exactly what you're looking for.

Responsibilities

Creative direction and quality control: Review and direct work across visual design, motion, and content. You're not checking boxes — you're evaluating whether the work meets the client's intent, serves the strategy, and clears our quality bar. You'll need a sharp eye, especially for visual and motion work, and the judgment to know when something's good enough versus when it needs another pass.
Client partnership: Support clients through discovery, creative development, and feedback cycles. Translate their goals into creative direction the team can act on. Manage expectations. Ensure our clients aren't just satisfied — they're genuinely confident in what we're delivering.
Team leadership: Lead and develop a team of discipline leads and PMs who themselves lead others. This means setting clear expectations, giving direct and constructive feedback, and building a culture where people do their best work. You'll have 4–5 direct reports, and the health of the broader creative team will be shaped significantly by how you show up.
Strategic input: Partner with the CD on creative strategy, capabilities development, and how we evolve as a team. You'll have a real voice in where we're headed — and the autonomy to shape how we get there.
Process partnership: Work closely with our Creative PM(s) to ensure creative quality and project operations stay aligned. They own timelines and resource allocation; you own creative direction and standards. The partnership between these roles is essential.