Executive Creative Director, Design

Realtor.com Careers•Austin, TX

12d•Hybrid

About The Position

Realtor.com® is seeking an Executive Creative Director (Design) to lead the visual identity of one of the most consequential brands in American life. This role involves setting the creative vision for the brand's visual expression and the team's craft trajectory. The position will lead design and art direction across more than 15 integrated campaigns annually, targeting both consumer and client audiences through paid, owned, and earned channels. The Executive Creative Director will serve as the senior visual voice on the flagship celebrity platform with Reba McEntire and will set the standard for the brand's overall visual output. The role is within The Bureau, the in-house brand and creative organization, and requires a leader who can inspire, coach, and organize the team to elevate their work from strong to category-defining. The ideal candidate is a hands-on creative lead, still actively involved in the craft, and capable of guiding the integration of AI to enhance the team's work. The brand has momentum with recent successful campaigns like 'Nearly Home with Reba McEntire' and 'Mission Zero,' and the team is eager to build on this success. The Bureau's remit has expanded to encompass both consumer and client brands, and the team is growing. The role requires accelerating the visual craft of the brand.

Requirements

12+ years of design and art direction experience across agency and in-house creative environments.
5+ years at the ECD, GCD, or senior CD level leading Art Directors and senior individual contributors.
A portfolio showcasing big idea platforms with multi-year legs across broadcast, digital, OOH, audio, and social, demonstrating craft excellence and business impact.
In-house creative leadership experience, with a proven ability to build a creative culture within a company.
Proven experience upgrading or implementing a full visual identity and brand design system at scale, and governing it across a complex organization.
A track record of redesigning creative workflows as tools and technology have evolved, building better systems.
A retail or marketplace creative sensibility, with the ability to create urgency and stay reactive to market conditions while holding the brand standard at speed.
Proven creative range across commercial brand advertising and purpose-driven or cause-based work.
Mastery of fundamentals: art direction, typography, photography, visual identity, layout, and visual systems.
Strong fluency in video, motion, audio, and experiential.
Experience leading agency and production relationships as the senior creative authority.
A sharp, practiced point of view on AI in creative practice, including its potential, integration, and ability to improve team performance.
Clear creative taste, strong opinions held loosely, and a generous instinct for developing others.

Nice To Haves

Experience with AI tools like Gemini, Claude, and Figma MCP.
Experience in the real estate industry.

Responsibilities

Own the visual ambition and creative standard for all The Bureau produces, including consumer brand, client brand, product marketing, CRM, social, audio, experiential, and corporate communication.
Champion big idea platforms with multi-year legs, holding a high bar on briefs, production, and the visual language across all touchpoints.
Serve as the senior creative voice on the 'Nearly Home with Reba McEntire' platform, stewarding visual craft and evolving the platform across new channels.
Bring a retail creative mindset to a national brand platform, producing work that creates urgency and responds to market conditions.
Set the vision for integrating AI tools (e.g., Gemini, Claude, Figma MCP) into the team's daily practice to expand capacity, raise output quality, and free the team for higher-level creative work.
Invest in the development of Art Directors and designers through structured development, feedback, and challenging briefs.
Build a collaborative, generous, craft-obsessed, and bold creative culture.
Lead and evolve Realtor.com’s agency relationships as the senior creative authority, including evaluating, evolving, or re-pitching the ecosystem.
Direct external directors, producers, and production houses with a clear point of view on casting, treatment, editorial, and final output.
Own and govern the visual identity and brand design system at scale across consumer and client touchpoints.
Redesign creative workflows as tools and technology evolve, building systems that increase consistency, speed, and quality without compromising creative ambition.