Divisional Vice President, Creative

Recreational Equipment • Seattle, WA

270d • $220,000 - $275,000

About The Position

The Divisional Vice President, Creative contributes to the co-op's success by overseeing REI's brand and marketing systems, teams and expressions and leading the creative vision and execution across all customer touchpoints. The DVP, Creative elevates storytelling and brand and product expression, leads the development of a strong internal creative team and culture, and oversees the process and development of creative work from brief to final execution that effectively communicates the co-op's differentiators, drives the business, and deepens our customer's relationship with the brand. Develops compelling, strategically differentiated, brand appropriate creative across all media and business channels. Accountable for developing omni-channel marketing, brand, and creative in support of our Co-op Brands that support the company priorities and differentiate REI in the marketplace. Reporting to the Chief Marketing Officer, the DVP directly manages a team of cross-functional creatives and producers and works collaboratively with leaders across the business to ensure effective creative ideation and expression. This role is a key contributor to the manifestation of our differentiators across all physical/retail executions. In addition, the DVP plays an important role in fostering the overall creative community at the co-op.

Requirements

• 12+ years of Creative design & copy, concept-development, UX, web design and a minimum of 10 years as a senior level professional. Including at least 7 years in a leadership role managing multiple teams.
• Expert knowledge of marketing and brand functions and competencies including art direction, photography, video, copy writing, editing, web design, UX, product branding, content strategy, production, digital assets, print production.
• Experience working in an in-house creative organization.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience.
• General business acumen and curiosity about business outcomes and the role that creative plays in achieving them.
• Proven leadership & team development with ability to mentor, motivate and inspire.
• Understanding / ability to speak omnichannel; retail, ecommerce, content, social media, direct, and film/ video.
• Passion for powerful, effective creative, with an eye for good writing and design.
• Anticipate the future of the industry through both research and personal insight.
• Significant leadership and Influence at both a senior leadership level and throughout the company.
• Experience in managing external vendors and partner relationships.
• Cultural fluency in terms of trend awareness, design drivers and overall social themes.
• Proven experience building and maintaining strong, collaborative, cross divisional business relationships.
• Flexible in one's viewpoints to support the direction taken by others at REI.
• Builds capacity of individuals and teams through effective employee development, involvement, communication, and supervision efforts.
• Creates a strong, mutually supportive work spirit and culture where people can do their best.
• Establishes trust and inspires others.
• Makes effective organization and people decisions in a manner consistent with REI's values and ethics.
• Delivers on commitments and holds others to same.
• Champions the organization and advocates solutions in the overall Company's best interest.
• Uses business knowledge, innovative thinking, and sound judgment in the solution of problems or the pursuit of business opportunities.
• Consolidates information from various sources including feedback from others to reach sound decisions.
• Considers the ultimate impact of decisions and actions on internal and external customers.
• Fosters change in company direction.
• Effectively plans and executes changes.

Responsibilities

• Ultimately accountable for the strategy and integrity of enterprise and brand creative expression and deliverables.
• Contributes to the development of the 1-3-year brand strategy and goals that supports the enterprise vision and mission.
• Leads creative development for all brand, Co-op Brands creative, marketing expressions across all customer channels.
• Monitor trends in the digital, social, brand, content, marketing, design and advertising industries to stay current and position REI for success as an industry leader.
• Is responsible for understanding the overall business of the co-op and guiding creative development in support of business outcomes.
• Improves empowerment and accountability across creative teams through inspiration and effective leadership.
• Ensures consistent execution of creative strategy and positioning across all customer touchpoints.
• Builds relationships and helps manage outside agencies to ensure work supports REI brand standards and achieves goals.
• Articulates and promotes a creative vision that aligns with REI's brand position and strategies.
• Generates new ideas and innovation for: creative execution, design excellence, customer experience, team structure and ways of working, work process and execution.
• Collaborates across the organization including with retail, digital, and merchandising to execute creative strategies across the omni-channel customer experience.
• Responsible for developing, monitoring and attain the annual production budget and annual expense budget and goals.
• Possesses strong leadership skills including the ability to foster and accelerate creative ideation and execution.
• Provides clear creative direction, providing timely and constructive feedback to improve creative output and processes.
• Identifies and communicates key responsibilities and practices to ensure the organization promotes a successful attitude, confidence in leadership, and teamwork to achieve business results.
• Supports the implementation of company programs, procedures, methods and practices to promote REI key messages.
• Challenges and inspires employees to achieve business results.
• Ensures employees adhere to legal and operational compliance requirements.
• Oversees training and development of employees directly and indirectly managed and makes effective staffing decisions.
• Conducts and ensures the completion of performance reviews.
• Provides coaching, direction and leadership support to employees in order to achieve department, company and customer results.
• Establishes and maintains visibility within the department.
• Monitors operational statistics, reports trends, variances and issues, and takes appropriate action.

Benefits

• Generous employee discount
• Access to health benefits
• Retirement savings plan
• Accrued time off

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Industry: Clothing, Clothing Accessories, Shoe, and Jewelry Retailers
• Education Level: Bachelor's degree