Creative Director

Whitney Museum of American Art•New York, NY

11d

About The Position

The Whitney Museum of American Art seeks a Creative Director to serve as the museum's senior creative leader, with final creative authority over the institution's brand and visual expression. Reporting to the Chief Communications & Content Officer, the Creative Director sets and stewards a unified creative vision across brand identity, graphic design, video, photography, and exhibition design, and is responsible for the visual coherence of the Whitney across every public-facing surface. This is a leadership role for a creative with exceptional judgment, range, and authority: someone who can move seamlessly between exhibition identity systems, marketing campaign creative, and always-on storytelling, while building the teams and systems required to execute at scale. Accessibility, legibility, and audience-centered design are core principles, integrated into every layer of creative output. The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in graphic design across digital, print, environmental, and motion contexts, with a portfolio that demonstrates mastery of typography, identity systems, and design systems thinking.

Requirements

10+ years of experience in creative leadership roles within cultural institutions, media organizations, creative agencies, or adjacent fields, with demonstrated fluency in contemporary art, artists, and the cultural landscape.
Deep expertise in graphic design across digital, print, environmental, and motion contexts. Strong command of typography, identity systems, and design systems thinking. Portfolio must demonstrate sustained mastery of design craft, not solely creative direction.
Demonstrated experience leading multidisciplinary creative teams across design, video, and photography.
Proven ability to translate strategy into creative systems and identity frameworks.
Experience leading or contributing to brand evolution at an institutional scale.
Experience working in complex, matrixed organizations with multiple stakeholders.

Nice To Haves

Exceptional creative judgment and editorial taste.
Hands-on design fluency across digital and physical formats, with the ability to direct, critique, and elevate design work at the level of detail required to maintain Whitney standards.
Strategic thinker who understands how creative work drives audience engagement and institutional impact.
Strong people manager with the ability to coach, motivate, and develop creative talent.
Comfortable balancing data-informed insights with creative intuition.
Clear communicator who can articulate creative rationale to creative and non-creative audiences.
Calm, solutions-oriented presence in high-visibility, high-pressure moments.
Diplomatic and confident in working with artists, estates, trustees, and senior institutional leaders.

Responsibilities

Own and evolve the Whitney's brand and creative direction across graphic design, video, photography, and exhibition design, in alignment with institutional priorities and long-term brand architecture.
Translate strategic initiatives, including exhibitions, the Biennial, free admission, and civic and cultural moments, into compelling creative expressions and identity systems that feel distinctively Whitney.
Oversee exhibition identity systems and interpretive design, including title walls, wall labels, wayfinding, and exhibition-specific visual identities, ensuring coherence across print, environmental, and digital formats.
Collaborate directly with artists, curators, and estates on commissioned creative and interpretive materials.
Act as a steward of taste, quality, and coherence across all owned channels and major public-facing moments.
Lead, mentor and manage the Creative team across graphic design, video, and photography, setting clear roles, expectations, and development pathways.
Build a healthy, high-performing creative culture that balances ambition with sustainability.
Oversee freelance creatives, agencies, and production partners, ensuring consistency and accountability.
Steward the creative budget, including production spend, vendor relationships, and resource allocation.
Partner with the CCCO and leadership across Communications, Digital Content, and Marketing to align creative output with narrative strategy and audience goals.
Develop creative frameworks and toolkits that enable teams to adapt complex ideas across formats while sustaining high standards.
Ensure the Whitney's on-site experience and digital expression read as one coherent brand across physical, environmental, and digital surfaces.
Set creative direction for video and photography across platforms, including longform, shortform, social, on-site, editorial, campaign, and experiential.
Oversee commissioned and editorial photography, in partnership with Digital Content, Press, Curatorial, and Rights Management.
Apply audience and performance insight to sharpen creative decisions, while protecting room for experimentation and creative risk.
Serve as creative partner to Marketing, Curatorial, Education, and Advancement, supporting revenue-adjacent initiatives across membership, ticketing, retail, and partnerships.
Provide creative oversight on co-branded activations and licensing collaborations, ensuring partner integrations protect and extend the Whitney's brand.
Represent Creative in cross-functional planning and executive-level discussions, navigating complex stakeholder environments with confidence and diplomacy.