Design Manager/Creative Lead – NOT FOR PROFIT – TRADE ORGANIZATION – REMOTE
We have a client in the NOT FOR PROFIT space looking for an experienced Design Director/Creative Lead with an extensive brand development and design experience who is adept at critical and conceptional thinking.
This individual will have a portfolio showcasing digital and print work that is modern and engaging. They are a nimble problem solver who thrives in a fast-paced and highly collaborative environment. This leader is both visionary and hands-on; they will spearhead creative ideation, partner across the organization, and provide visual guidance to in-house creative teams while being able to roll up their sleeves and create compelling work.
This individual will report to the VP of Brand Strategy in guiding and managing the development of creative materials from conception to production, ensuring that these materials adhere to the visual brand style.
What is this role’s purpose?
- Drive excellence in storytelling – specifically the visual identity, verbal identity, copywriting for foundational brand creative materials,
- This position is expected to elevate brand to set the stage for global amplification – beyond just look/ feel.
- Increase team capacity to deliver results and outputs on time and on brand – toolkits, assets, programmatic materials and new business pitches.
- Challenges to help solve:
- How do we drive brand consistency, globally while allowing room for local and regional adaptations.
- How do we distill the organization in a compelling elevator pitch? – specifically who we are, what we do and how we make our members feel?
- Translating the “member experience” into materials that globally consistent and are relevant in regions that have very different cultural norms.
- Reporting to the VP, this role will be expected to hire and elevate creative staff – with a heavy emphasis on digital brand marketing communications.
- First 3 months:
- Get to know the team; evaluate talent – current and future needs
- Build relationships across products / service/ events and regional teams.
- Evaluate all brand creative foundational materials
- Identify needs and opportunities and craft 3 year strategic brand creative plan.
What does this person need to be successful?
- Provide 1-2 areas of responsibility:
- Brand identity: graphic and visual system and expressions: from style guides, to pitch materials, to videos, event; toolkits and frameworks for regional/ local adaptation. Verbal identity and messaging framework.
- Improve accessibility of brand, marketing, photo/video assets to members and brand users – i.e. Asset Hub
Skills:
- Experience managing a globally distributed work force.
- The ability to be a force in the pitch! This person is expected to command a room, be excellent at stakeholder management and have the ability to inform and influence with diplomacy.
- Candidate must understand how to balance the creative needs of the brand with the need for commercial outputs / results.
Major Responsibilities:
- Manage, develop, and enforce visual brand across print and digital collateral
- Help lead the evolution of our visual brand, creating and updating style guides as needed, including core and sub brand identities
- Design work that strongly communicates brand narrative, goals and concepts
- Oversee and offer art direction to in-house design team, web team, and outside freelance designers
- Offer art direction and conceptual ideas for in-person event experiences
- Be solutions-oriented and collaborative, taking ownership of design projects, working with partners, and inspiring other creatives on the marketing and communications team to deliver original, high-quality work
- Garner and maintain strong relationships with internal partners
Qualifications:
- 10+ years design/art/creative direction experience in-house or at an agency
- Exceptional design, conceptual, and critical thinking skills
- Modern and engaging portfolio print and digital work showcasing a deep understanding of, and experience in branding, graphic design, layout, color theory and strong typography
- Flexible, quick thinker who is willing to iterate and refine work based on feedback
- Ability to manage multiple projects with tight deadlines
- Excels in a team environment, ability to build and maintain positive relationships through strong collaboration efforts
- Experience working with project management and asset management platforms
- A visual thinker who understands how to use design to elevate copy
- Excellent skills with design software, including the Adobe Creative Cloud suite; Canva, and Figma a plus