Creative Director

SketchDeck

8d • $100,000 - $125,000 • Remote

About The Position

The Creative Director leads creative strategy and direction for selected brand, positioning, and campaign programs, grounding the work in audience, market, and competitor research. The role also leads strategy on key accounts, develops impactful ideas and strategies, and helps bring them to life. The Creative Director partners closely with Design Directors, Content Strategists, account teams, Project Managers, Production Directors, and Business Development so that strategic thinking, visual concepts, and copy develop together. The position contributes strategic thinking to new business and pitches and has no direct reports. It reports to the VP, Creative Impact.

The role is client-facing, leading discovery, presenting strategies and recommendations, and building client trust. It calls for sharp strategic thinking, collaboration, strong client communication, and the ability to keep work moving while maintaining a high bar. SketchDeck is an entrepreneurial environment where priorities can shift quickly and client timelines may be condensed; the Creative Director may be expected to take on new work and support other teams.

Responsibilities are divided among client accounts and projects (70%), new business and pitches (20%), and SketchDeck team and internal contributions (10%). The position is fully remote, with availability during U.S. hours for overlap with the team and clients.

Requirements

• At least 8 years of experience in brand strategy or strategic creative leadership, including at least 5 years in an agency environment.
• Case studies demonstrating positioning, brand strategy, and messaging work and how it shaped the creative outcome.
• Experience partnering closely with designers and visual creatives, with a strong eye for visual craft.
• Strong research skills, including competitive analysis and audience insight.
• Excellent writing and presentation skills, with the ability to make strategy clear and compelling to senior stakeholders.
• Experience with large enterprise clients.
• A track record of strong partnerships with design and creative leads.
• Experience contributing to and winning new business.
• Curiosity about how AI is changing brand and creative work.
• Availability during U.S. hours to overlap with the team and clients.

Responsibilities

• Lead client discovery to understand business goals, audiences, and the underlying problem behind each brief.
• Conduct audience, market, and competitor research and translate findings into actionable insights.
• Develop brand positioning, value propositions, brand architecture, brand character, and strategic creative concepts.
• Build messaging frameworks and brand narratives and guide how they are expressed across touchpoints.
• Shape campaign and content strategy, including audiences, key messages, and channels.
• Write clear, inspiring creative briefs.
• Partner with Design Directors and Content Strategists so strategy, visual expression, and copy reinforce one another.
• Guide designers through concept exploration and development in partnership with Design Directors, and lead the design team directly when project scope requires it.
• Present strategy and recommendations to clients with clear rationale, conduct creative reviews, and resolve client feedback.
• Bring strategic perspective to accounts and identify opportunities to expand client work.
• Partner with Project Managers on scopes and estimates for strategic work.
• Partner with Business Development on discovery for pitches and large opportunities, defining creative approach, deliverables, timeframe, and resourcing.
• Lead strategic thinking in pitches, including research, positioning, and point of view, and present with the pitch team.
• Help grow existing accounts into larger brand strategy and campaign engagements.
• Develop proposals that demonstrate SketchDeck's strategic capabilities.
• Contribute to the Creative Impact team's growth by sharing strategic approaches and learning from colleagues.
• Run trainings on brand strategy, research, briefs, and presenting.
• Build decks and materials that present SketchDeck's brand strategy services.
• Contribute to internal communications, portfolio materials, and case studies.
• Suggest ways to improve how the team works together.

Benefits

• 401(k) with company match.
• Fully remote working environment.
• Paid time off that grows with tenure.
• Annual company retreat.
• Computer hardware of the employee's choice, up to $2,500.
• $500 toward office setup expenses.
• Opportunity to work with a talented team of designers, team members, and engineers.
• Discretionary performance bonus of $5,000.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: No Education Listed