Associate Creative Director

Everything Bagel•New York, NY

About The Position

The Associate Creative Director (Design) is a client-facing creative leader responsible for owning creative direction and quality across an assigned book of business (pods). This role bridges strategy and execution by translating client context into high-quality briefs, directing Art Directors and designers, and ensuring work ships on-brand, on-strategy, and optimized for channel best practices. This is not a “big idea only” role. You will be deeply involved in direction, critique, systems, and delivery quality.

Requirements

7+ years professional design experience (agency or high-velocity marketing environment preferred)
2+ years in a lead role directing designers and/or Art Directors
Strong portfolio across digital marketing: paid social/performance ads, email campaigns, web/landing pages, organic social
Excellent briefing and critique skills (can articulate “why” and give actionable guidance)
Strong client communication skills, including the ability to push back constructively
Ability to lead remotely with dependable ET overlap
Figma (required)

Nice To Haves

CRO/landing page optimization familiarity
Experience with performance testing/iteration cycles
Experience leading distributed teams
Experience partnering closely with Paid Media teams
Adobe Creative Suite (helpful)

Responsibilities

Client leadership & pod ownership
Own creative direction and final sign-off for an assigned portfolio of clients
Serve as the primary creative partner to clients (alignment, expectations, presentations as needed)
Partner with PM/Client Services to manage prioritization, timelines, and scope
Briefing & context translation (critical)
Attend client meetings as needed (kickoffs, planning, reviews)
Convert meetings and client inputs into clear briefs that include: objective, audience, offer, deliverables, channel specs, references, constraints, success metrics
Identify ambiguity early and propose options/solutions to unblock execution
Creative direction & review
Provide clear, prioritized, actionable feedback to designers and Art Directors
Ensure consistency with brand standards and channel performance best practices
Maintain quality across high-volume marketing output (web, email, ads, organic)
QA ownership & risk management
Implement and maintain a tiered QA system: Designer self-QA → AD review → ACD final review
Reduce revision cycles by improving upstream direction and clarity
Escalate only high-risk work per agreed rubric (VIP accounts, new campaigns, strategic landing pages)
Team leadership & development
Mentor Art Directors to strengthen direction, critique, and decision-making
Coach designers on craft and execution standards
Run weekly creative calibration sessions to ensure consistent output and alignment
Creative operations & standardization
Build and maintain templates and standards for: briefs, feedback, file naming/versioning, handoffs, QA checklists
Identify process improvements that reduce rework and increase throughput as the company scales