Creative Director

Yerba Madre•Oakland, CA

5d•Hybrid

About The Position

Yerba Madre is seeking a Creative Director to serve as the brand's creative conscience, guarding the visual identity across all consumer touchpoints including social media, packaging, point of sale, seeding kits, campaigns, and digital assets. This leadership role requires an understanding that great creative drives business growth. The Creative Director will report to the Head of Marketing, mentor an in-house design team, manage creative partners, and collaborate with the Community and Social Director. This position requires working on-site in the Oakland, CA office three days a week.

Requirements

7–10+ years in CPG brand marketing, creative agencies, or social media, with a portfolio demonstrating omnichannel creative success.
Proven track record in fast-growing lifestyle, health, wellness, or beverage categories.
Experience leading and developing in-house creative teams.
Strong hands-on craft; Adobe Creative Suite fluency at a player-coach level.
Prior print production experience preferred.
Demonstrated ability to translate creative work into commercial outcomes: trial, conversion, brand equity.
Experience managing external creative partners: photographers, production companies, art directors, agencies.
Social-native: deep understanding of how platforms work, what performs, and what builds a brand over time.
Savvy in AI and maintain a daily curiosity with emerging technology and how to integrate new tools into the creative process.
Ability to move fast, make decisions, and not wait for perfect, while knowing the difference between fast and sloppy.
Experience working in or around culture: fashion, music, food, beverage, wellness.
Understanding of what aspirational looks like for a life seeker audience.
Ability to lead people well, give clear direction, develop talent, and build creative cultures that attract good work.

Nice To Haves

Can defend a creative decision in a board meeting and brief a photographer on the same day.

Responsibilities

Own visual direction, content standards, and creative supply for social media.
Lead creative direction for packaging, including can design, glass, limited editions, and seeding kits.
Craft, lead, and drive end-to-end conceptualization and execution of brand campaigns, product launches, and fast-turn digital assets.
Own and evolve the Yerba Madre visual identity & brand voice across every consumer touchpoint.
Translate the new brand platform and positioning into a consistent, distinctive visual language.
Build and maintain a living creative brief: the visual toolkit, photography standards, typography, color, and motion principles.
Apply the ‘Yerba Madre creative filter’ to every piece of work before it ships.
Own visual direction of the @yerbamadre feed.
Build a network of photographers, videographers, and creators who can execute to the brand standard.
Integrate both the craft and the building of content at a player-coach level.
Partner closely with Social Director on channel strategy, bringing the creative POV.
Lead creative direction for packaging, e.g., can design, glass, limited editions, seeding kits.
Bring the same creative rigor to packaging as to social.
Craft, lead, and drive end-to-end conceptualization and execution of brand campaigns, product launches, and fast-turn digital assets.
Apply a consistent visual POV that works across annual brand tentpoles.
Partner with Brand Management, Innovation, and Commercial teams to translate consumer insights into visual narratives that drive action.
Build the creative brief that the whole team can execute against.
Develop the in-house design team, focusing on building repeatable systems.
Set the creative standard: what good looks like, how work is reviewed, what gets shipped.
Curate and match the right network of talent to the right brief.
Run a lean, fast studio: small team, high output.
Use external agency partners to absorb execution overflow during packaging and campaign crunch periods.