Associate Creative Director

EXL•New Jersey, NJ

4d•$95,000 - $130,000

About The Position

The Associate Creative Director partners with the Clients, Account Manager and Creative Director to develop and execute compelling, performance-driven creative solutions across direct mail, digital, and integrated marketing campaigns. This role is responsible for leading concept development from insight through execution, translating marketing objectives into breakthrough creative ideas that drive engagement and results. The ideal candidate is a strong conceptual thinker with both copywriting and design experience, a deep understanding of direct response marketing, and demonstrated experience using AI tools throughout creative concepting and development. This individual will use AI to accelerate ideation, explore and refine concepts, develop messaging and visual directions, and improve creative outcomes while applying strong human judgment, brand stewardship, and quality control. They will work closely with strategists, account teams, project managers, analytics teams, and production partners to ensure creative excellence across all deliverables.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Communications, Advertising, Graphic Design, Journalism, or related field.
5+ years of creative experience in an agency, direct marketing, financial services, fintech, banking, insurance, or related environment.
Demonstrated experience developing integrated marketing campaigns with a strong emphasis on direct mail.
Strong portfolio showcasing concept development, campaign thinking, copywriting, and creative execution.
Demonstrated hands-on experience using generative AI and other AI-enabled creative tools across the creative lifecycle, including ideation, copy and visual exploration, rapid prototyping, iteration, and development of execution-ready concepts.
Proven ability to create compelling direct response messaging.
Experience collaborating with designers, writers, strategists, and production teams.
Strong presentation and communication skills.
Ability to manage multiple projects in a fast-paced environment.

Nice To Haves

Direct mail expertise including acquisition, retention, loyalty, and cross-sell campaigns.
Experience in financial services, banking, fintech, insurance, or regulated industries.
Design experience using Adobe Creative Suite (InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator).
Understanding of testing methodologies, audience segmentation, personalization, and performance marketing.
Experience presenting creative concepts to executive-level stakeholders and clients.

Responsibilities

Lead the development of innovative campaign concepts for direct mail, digital, email, and multi-channel marketing programs.
Translate client objectives, audience insights, and performance goals into compelling creative executions.
Participate in creative brief development and brainstorming sessions.
Create campaign themes, messaging frameworks, and creative approaches that align with brand and business objectives.
Use AI-enabled creative tools as an integral part of concepting and development to generate, evaluate, iterate, and refine campaign ideas, messaging, visual directions, and content variations—while ensuring originality, brand alignment, accuracy, compliance, and production feasibility.
Develop headlines, value propositions, offer positioning, direct response copy, and campaign messaging.
Ensure messaging is clear, persuasive, audience-focused, and aligned with brand standards.
Collaborate with copywriters and subject matter experts to refine content and improve performance.
Review and edit creative assets to maintain voice, tone, and consistency across channels.
Partner with designers and production teams to bring concepts to life.
Contribute to visual ideation, layout direction, and creative development.
Provide guidance on design execution, user experience, and customer engagement.
Review creative materials throughout development to ensure quality and strategic alignment.
Serve as a subject matter expert in direct mail creative strategy and best practices.
Develop acquisition, cross-sell, retention, and customer engagement direct mail concepts.
Understand direct mail production processes, formats, postal requirements, personalization techniques, and testing methodologies.
Create solutions that balance creative innovation with operational feasibility and production requirements.
Work closely with account, strategy, analytics, production, and project management teams.
Present concepts and creative recommendations to internal stakeholders and clients.
Incorporate feedback while maintaining creative integrity and campaign objectives.
Support the Creative Director in managing priorities across multiple projects and clients.
Ensure creative work is strategically sound, error-free, and aligned with client expectations.
Maintain consistency across campaigns, channels, and touchpoints.
Participate in creative reviews and provide constructive feedback to team members.