Creative Director / AD

Curious Plot•Minneapolis, MN

About The Position

The Creative Director, with an art direction background, is a senior creative and strategic leader responsible for shaping ambitious, future-focused work that drives business value for clients and growth for the agency. This role leads creative strategy and execution across a portfolio of clients while helping define what’s next—for brands, for audiences, and for the agency itself. Beyond overseeing creative outputs, the Creative Director operates as a partner to senior leadership and clients—connecting creativity to business strategy, audience insight, and emerging opportunities. This role guides multidisciplinary teams across design, copy, experience, and emerging technologies to deliver integrated solutions across traditional, digital, social, and evolving channels. As a modern creative leader, the Creative Director embraces AI and new tools as accelerators of thinking, craft, and scale—while maintaining high standards for originality, ethics, and brand integrity. This role requires fluency across platforms, strong executive presence, and the ability to translate complex challenges into clear, compelling creative direction that drives measurable impact.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree required.
8-12 years of relevant creative experience, with progressive leadership responsibility.
Demonstrated experience leading multidisciplinary teams across design, copy, experience, and strategy.
Strong exposure to business strategy, brand strategy, and client decision-making—not just creative execution.
Strong Art Direction and design skills necessary.
Agency experience required.
Proven ability to influence clients, collaborate with senior leaders, guide complex ideas with charismatic presentation skills and ability to sell work through.
Portfolio or body of work demonstrating strategic thinking, creative excellence, and business impact.

Nice To Haves

experience across digital, integrated, and omnichannel work strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

Lead the development of creative platforms, campaigns, and experiences that align with client business objectives, brand strategy, and audience needs.
Connect creativity to broader business and marketing strategy—helping clients unlock new value through differentiated ideas, storytelling, and experience design.
Partner with senior agency leadership to identify opportunities where creativity can drive growth, transformation, or competitive advantage for clients.
Provide clear strategic rationale for creative recommendations, ensuring ideas are grounded in insight and tied to outcomes.
Serve as a client-facing creative leader—presenting work, shaping ambition, and building trusted, long-term relationships.
Contribute to new business development, pitches, and growth initiatives by helping define compelling creative visions and points of view.
Elevate client ambition by challenging assumptions and reframing problems through creative and strategic thinking.
Balance bold creative thinking with client realities, including timelines, budgets, organizational dynamics, and business constraints.
Lead, mentor, and inspire multidisciplinary teams across creative, experience, and strategy, fostering collaboration, accountability, and curiosity.
Guide teams across multiple projects and clients while maintaining a consistently high standard of thinking and craft.
Develop creative talent through talent leadership, coaching, feedback, and clear creative direction.
Create an environment where diverse perspectives and ideas are valued and explored.
Champion the thoughtful integration of AI and emerging technologies into creative workflows, ideation, and execution.
Encourage experimentation with new tools and methods that improve speed, quality, insight, and scalability—without compromising originality or ethics.
Stay current on creative, cultural, and technological trends, translating relevance into practical application for clients and teams.
Help evolve agency processes and ways of working to reflect modern creative leadership.