Art Director (Contract-to-Hire)

The Role

The Art Director position requires a strong understanding of social-first storytelling and how content performs on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, X, and YouTube. The Art Director must be adept at translating campaign strategies into scroll-stopping creative while balancing brand guidelines with the fast-paced, reactive nature of sports and entertainment, where real-time moments and cultural trends shape content opportunities daily.

This role is client-facing. The Art Director works directly with brand partners to present concepts, navigate feedback, and ensure deliverables meet both creative and business objectives. A deep awareness of fan culture, platform trends, and social best practices is essential to producing work that earns its place in the feed.

What You’ll Do

• Ideation & Concept Development - Participate in, and at times, lead the ideation and concept creation efforts around social campaigns, tentpole events, live coverage, and other client requests
• In conjunction with the Director of Social, oversee the review and approval of all ideation and creative concepts developed by STN’s internal team
• Collaborative with the internal team to translate client and partner briefs into clear, actionable direction that will guide ideation and concept development
• Art Direction & Feedback Loop - Execute and oversee art direction and creative production for client projects
• Ensure all creative output meets STN quality standards and implements the usage of social best practices
• Maintain and update social identity guidelines as the brand look shifts and grows
• Work closely with the Director of Video on the production of lo-fi and high level video executions, focusing specifically on ensuring a social-first approach is taken
• Provide detailed feedback and creative input for both static and motion projects
• Stay on top of social media trends and emerging creative executions, applying them strategically to our creative output
• Creative Presentation & Client Management - Attend internal meetings and actively participate in client-related discussion
• Pitch ideation to the internal team and collaborate on creative pivots as needed
• Attend client meetings as requested to pitch ideation, explain creative decision making, and ensure alignment on strategy and execution

Who You Are

• 5+ years of experience working as a designer, art director, and/or design director
• Experienced working within agency, sports, and/or entertainment environments
• Experienced working in the social media space, preferably within sports and entertainment
• Demonstrated ability to operate autonomously within defined project scopes, making decisions that balance creative quality, timelines, and budget constraints
• Excellent verbal and written communication and presentation skills
• Strong sense of creativity and innovation
• Excellent time management and prioritization skills
• Managerial skills, including delegating tasks and delivering feedback
• Ability to adapt to different styles and visions to fit clients’ needs
• Willingness to receive and implement feedback to improve creative output
• Highly organized with strong systems-thinking capabilities
• Proactive in identifying risks and solving problems before they escalate
• Comfortable collaborating cross-functionally across company org chart
• Passionate about sports and entertainment, specifically basketball (NBA, WNBA, NCAA) and football (NFL, NCAA)

What Success Looks Like

• Creative consistently meets STN’s high-quality standards
• Creative is consistently delivered on-time
• Creative strategy and art direction are rooted in a social-first, entertainment-driven perspective
• Creative strategy constantly shifts based on social performance and analytical insights
• Risks are identified early and resolved proactively
• Leadership trusts creative output meets client expectations and social best practices
• Pitch decks are easy to understand, well organized, and properly branded

Most Critical Outcome (MCO)

Deliver STN standard of excellence across all creative executions and outputs.