Creative Director, Brand

Nex•San Jose, CA

3h•$180,000 - $210,000•Remote

About The Position

Nex is seeking a Creative Director to elevate the creative quality of all brand communications. This role offers a unique opportunity to shape the creative organization's culture and scale it as the team grows. The Creative Director will lead and develop the marketing creative team, remaining deeply involved in the work itself. Responsibilities include shaping campaign concepts, establishing creative direction, developing ideas, reviewing work, and occasionally contributing directly to creative execution. The primary impact will be through enhancing the capabilities of the team and the quality of the work. The role involves translating broad marketing and business objectives into creative work that resonates with the audience. The ideal candidate is not just skilled in producing polished advertising but excels at generating great, original ideas, refining them, and ensuring only the best work is shipped. A proven track record of creating memorable, shareable campaigns is essential.

Requirements

10+ years in design and creative, with real experience in creative direction for campaigns and multi-channel initiatives and leading teams.
Experience as a creative director or design lead where work was held to a high standard, and you've grown people while doing it.
Obsession with craft, excellent taste, and attention to detail across typography, layout, color, and composition.
Strong conceptual thinking and the ability to translate strategy into compelling visual ideas.
Ability to move fast without much oversight in a small, resource-constrained environment with ambiguity.
Ability to take hard feedback well and give it clearly.
High curiosity and a unique perspective on the world.
Ability to connect creative decisions to business outcomes like unit sales, retail performance, and market expansion.
Comfortable being hands-on in creative tools like Figma, writing copy, or redlining artwork.
Comfortable operating in a small, fast-moving environment with evolving priorities.
Strong sense of ownership and accountability for creative outcomes.
Passion for building a brand that is playful, distinctive, and emotionally resonant.

Nice To Haves

Experience in agency work, consumer brands, entertainment, technology, fashion, media, or culture.
Experience in a role where you primarily manage or have the final say on every decision.
Experience requiring a large team or big budget to create interesting work.
Belief that great creative is simply polished execution.

Responsibilities

Lead the creative: Own creative direction for Nex’s marketing campaigns and communications, from concept through launch.
Translate business objectives into compelling creative strategies and ideas.
Develop and challenge concepts, platforms, and campaign directions.
Push the team toward work that is distinctive, surprising, and memorable.
Set the creative vision and maintain it through execution.
Set and uphold a high creative bar across campaigns, paid media, social, retail, launches, and partnerships.
Make the work: Stay close to the craft while empowering the team to execute.
Concept and pitch ideas; develop creative directions, mood boards, style frames, and visual approaches.
Art direct creative production across design, motion, illustration, photography, and other mediums.
Get hands-on in creative tools when useful.
Give clear, actionable feedback that materially improves the work.
Know when to step in and when to let the team own the execution.
Build a great creative team: Lead and develop our marketing creative team and future creative talent.
Coach creatives to strengthen craft, conceptual thinking, strategic judgment, and presentation skills.
Build a culture of candid critique, experimentation, high standards, and low ego.
Create an environment where people actively seek feedback and grow from it.
Hire thoughtfully and raise the caliber of the team as Nex grows.
Make creative reviews better: Establish focused, efficient creative reviews with clear decision-making.
Help distinguish strategic feedback, creative feedback, and personal preference.
Build processes and rituals that enable speed without compromising quality.
Continuously improve how the team briefs, develops, reviews, and ships creative.
Be a strategic partner: Collaborate with partners to turn business objectives into creative opportunities.
Challenge briefs and bring creative thinking into strategy early.
Identify opportunities to make Nex more culturally relevant and distinctive.
Present and defend creative thinking with confidence and clarity.
Balance creative ambition with audience needs, business goals, timelines, and resources.
Build trust across Nex: Build strong relationships with senior partners.
Help non-creative stakeholders understand what makes creative effective.
Bring people along without letting consensus replace good creative judgment.
Be a thoughtful advocate for the work while staying pragmatic.
Become a trusted creative voice when the right answer isn’t obvious.