Creative Director - Experiential

Jack Morton•San Francisco, CA

11h•$160,000 - $190,000•Hybrid

About The Position

At Jack Morton we create head-turning, stomach-dropping, mind-boggling, smile-inducing brand experiences for everyone. It’s the future of marketing and there’s nothing passive or predictable about it. We promise every day will be different than the previous one in a very good way. We take care of each other, as much as we take care of business. We marvel in each other’s uniqueness and revel in what each of us brings to the human potluck that is Jack. So if you want to help shape the future of an entire industry, welcome. If you feel work, and the people you work with, can be extraordinary, let’s chat. We’re Jack, and we can’t wait to meet you. That brings us to you. You will be the dedicated Creative Director on one of the most high-profile, large-scale technology accounts in the industry, a globally recognised brand whose live experiences reach tens of thousands of people across conferences, activations, and events that set the agenda for an entire sector. The programs are ambitious. The pace is fast. And the opportunity to shape what this client's experiential future looks like is wide open. This is a client that is genuinely excited about what great experience design can do for their brand and they are looking to us to show them. That means this role is as much about creative leadership and partnership as it is about output. You will be the person who brings vision, builds trust, and demonstrates what's possible, one well-executed program at a time. You thrive here if you are practical as well as creative. You don't wait for the perfect brief, you find the opportunity in the one you have. You get as much satisfaction from solving a people-flow problem as you do from a compelling visual concept. You understand that at this scale, experience design is about a thousand considered decisions and you're the kind of person who is energised by making them. This is a senior appointment, visibility is high, with a genuine opportunity to build something lasting with a client at a genuinely exciting moment in their journey. The growth opportunity, both for the account and for you, is significant. The environment you're stepping into This is a large-scale, global account where programs are always in motion and no two weeks look the same. The client is deeply invested in their events and brings real energy and enthusiasm to the creative process. They have a newly formed internal creative team and are relatively new to working with agency partners, which means there is real opportunity to establish ways of working, build trust, and demonstrate the value of what a dedicated creative leader can bring. You will be someone who is comfortable leading and educating simultaneously, bringing the client along on the creative journey, helping them understand what's achievable, and building a partnership where progress and momentum matter as much as perfection. The best work here gets made by staying close to the detail, moving quickly, and being solutions-oriented when things change, which they will, often, and usually for good reasons. The people who do their best work here are the ones who see complexity as the interesting part. Who are energised by a client that is genuinely ambitious, and who bring structure and creative leadership not because they were asked to, but because they understand that's what the work needs.

Requirements

8+ years of agency-side experience in experiential marketing or brand experience, with a proven track record leading creative on large-scale, complex programs end-to-end
Deep experience in experience design at scale. You think about spatial flow, environmental storytelling, wayfinding, and the physical logic of how large groups of people move through and experience a space
Strong production literacy: you understand budgets, build timelines, fabrication, AV, and the relationship between a creative decision and its production consequence
Proven ability to manage high volumes of work across multiple simultaneous programs, adapting quickly as briefs evolve and priorities shift
A practical, solutions-oriented creative mindset. You find the opportunity in a constraint and move forward rather than waiting for ideal conditions
Experience working directly with clients as a creative partner and educator building trust and creative understanding over time

Nice To Haves

Experience working with clients who are newer to agency partnerships, comfortable establishing process, building creative vocabulary, and demonstrating value incrementally
Familiarity with large-format production: staging, scenic, environmental design, signage systems, and the creative discipline required to maintain consistency at scale
Experience directing globally distributed creative teams across international programs

Responsibilities

Lead experience design across a portfolio of large-scale technology conferences, trade show activations, and live brand environments owning the creative from brief through on-site execution
Think holistically about the attendee journey: how people move through a space, how wayfinding and environmental design shape experience, how the small moments between the big ones define how an event feels
Translate program objectives into practical, beautifully executed creative solutions balancing creative ambition with production reality at every stage
Work in close partnership with the Executive Producer, treating production knowledge as creative input rather than creative constraint
Manage a high volume of simultaneous workstreams and evolving briefs with clarity and good humour adapting quickly, reprioritising intelligently, and keeping the team oriented around what matters most
Direct and oversee junior creatives and freelance talent across multiple programs, providing clear, actionable creative direction that can be executed at pace
Maintain global creative consistency across markets and agency offices, serving as the single source of truth for how this client's brand is expressed through experience
Build a genuine creative partnership with a client that is ambitious, enthusiastic, and growing in their understanding of what agency collaboration can produce
Help establish clear, effective ways of working that give the client confidence and give the creative team the structure they need to do their best work
Bring creative solutions to the table proactively not waiting for a perfect brief, but finding the opportunity in whatever you're given
Communicate creative decisions clearly and accessibly to a client team that is developing its creative vocabulary translating craft into language that builds understanding and trust
Support new business initiatives by contributing creative thinking and client knowledge to pitch processes
Mentor and develop junior creative talent, modelling a practical, solutions-first approach to creative problem-solving
Contribute to a West Coast creative culture that values momentum, collaboration, and the satisfaction of making something genuinely good under real-world conditions
Embody Jack Morton's values of creativity, collaboration, and inclusivity in every client and colleague interaction