Associate Creative Director

Thesis•Portland, OR

6d•Hybrid

About The Position

Thesis is an independent agency working at the intersection of creativity, strategy, and technology. The Associate Creative Director will be a foundational member of the agency’s Growth team, helping identify opportunities, build relationships, develop ideas, and win new business. The role combines strategic creative leadership with hands-on craft and execution across B2C and B2B brands. The Associate Creative Director will establish creative visions for prospective clients and translate complex products and business challenges into clear, distinctive, emotionally resonant work. Projects may include integrated campaigns, digital experiences, lifecycle marketing programs, CRM ecosystems, and pitch concepts. The role calls for balancing ambitious creative thinking with commercial realities and developing work that is relevant, executable, measurable, and effective. This person will partner with strategy, lifecycle, performance, technology, and client leadership teams; help shape the creative standard and culture of a growing team; and contribute ideas to Thesis’s own positioning and go-to-market efforts. They will also experiment with emerging technologies and AI-enabled workflows while maintaining creative quality. Thesis operates on a hybrid work model, with in-office collaboration Tuesday through Thursday and remote work on Mondays and Fridays. The agency prioritizes candidates based in the Portland Metro area for this arrangement. Travel up to 25% is expected. The role involves using standard office equipment and computers, extended periods of sitting and computer use, and bending, reaching, lifting, pushing, and pulling up to 25 pounds. Reasonable accommodations are available for the stated work requirements.

Requirements

6–8 years of experience in creative, design, or art direction.
An outstanding portfolio demonstrating exceptional craft, original thinking, and design excellence across B2C and B2B brands.
Deep expertise in digital-first creative, with meaningful experience in integrated campaigns, lifecycle marketing, CRM, email, digital experiences, and social platforms.
A strong foundation in art direction, typography, design systems, visual storytelling, and brand expression.
Ability to combine visionary thinking with hands-on making and execution.
Ability to turn a loose brief, blank page, or ambiguous business challenge into a compelling creative direction.
Ability to present, defend, and evolve creative work persuasively in high-stakes pitches and client collaborations.
Fluency with contemporary design tools and curiosity about emerging AI-powered creative workflows.
Collaborative, optimistic, competitive, and low-ego approach, with a drive to strengthen the work of colleagues.
Ability to use standard office equipment, computers, and related technology.
Ability to sit for extended periods and perform keyboarding and computer mouse use.
Ability to bend, reach, lift, push, and pull up to 25 pounds.

Nice To Haves

Experience in a digitally focused agency or dynamic environment.
Candidates based in the Portland Metro area are prioritized for the hybrid work arrangement.

Responsibilities

Lead the creative development of new business pitches, turning business challenges and audience insights into compelling creative platforms, concepts, and experiences.
Develop strategically grounded creative across digital, social, CRM, lifecycle, brand, and integrated campaigns.
Create pitch presentations, visual storytelling, campaign concepts, and prototypes that bring ideas to life for prospective clients.
Translate complex products, services, and business challenges into clear, distinctive, emotionally resonant creative.
Partner with strategy, lifecycle, performance, and technology teams to develop solutions to business problems.
Connect creative decisions to business outcomes, including acquisition, engagement, conversion, retention, loyalty, and growth.
Apply knowledge of digital customer journeys, CRM, personalization, and omnichannel experiences.
Balance ambitious ideas with commercial realities so that work is relevant, executable, and measurable.
Develop connected experiences that create lasting value beyond individual campaigns.
Help establish the creative standard, culture, and ambition of a growing team.
Work between creative direction and hands-on design, concepting, and execution.
Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams, external partners, and freelance talent to deliver high-quality work.
Present creative thinking to internal leadership, prospective clients, and senior stakeholders.
Contribute ideas and concepts that strengthen Thesis’s positioning, marketing, and go-to-market efforts.
Champion experimentation with emerging technologies, AI-enabled workflows, and new ways of working without compromising creative quality.
Use AI and contemporary design tools to broaden exploration, prototype concepts, and accelerate learning.
Partner with multidisciplinary leads to explore modern approaches to making and presenting pitch ideas.