Creative Director - Key Art

About the role

The Creative Director is MACH27's primary day-to-day creative leader. This role is responsible for creative quality across all agency output, client relationship management, team development, and the operational efficiency of the creative department.

Responsibilities

• Set and uphold the creative standard for the entire agency; define what excellence looks like in every type of work the agency produces, communicate that standard clearly and consistently, and hold yourself and the team accountable to it on every project regardless of size, budget, or timeline
• Pitch, ideate, and develop bold, culturally resonant campaigns that elevate client brands and break through in a cluttered, competitive landscape
• Lead the creative team through every phase of a project from kickoff to post-mortem — provide clear, decisive creative direction at each stage, make confident calls when the team is at an impasse, and guide the work toward an outcome that is both creatively exceptional and strategically sound
• Drive creative strategy using qualitative and quantitative data — bring audience insights, performance data, and market intelligence into the concepting process, communicate these findings to leadership regularly, and use them to continuously sharpen the agency's creative approach and competitive positioning
• Build and maintain strong, trust-based relationships with clients; serve as their primary creative partner, develop a deep understanding of their business, their audience, and their brand, and show up to every interaction as someone who is as invested in their success as they are
• Own all aspects of the agency's brand standards (visual identity, creative style, tone of voice) ensuring consistency, integrity, and freshness across every client account and every piece of work that carries the agency's name
• Partner with the CEO and business development team to lead the agency's own promotional and marketing efforts across social channels, pitch documents, and RFP proposals, including generating estimates and defining scope of work
• Work with the CEO to develop, refine, and evolve agency-wide creative methodologies and processes — identify what's working, what isn't, and what the team needs to operate at a higher level, and build systems that improve quality, efficiency, and team satisfaction over time
• Foster a creative culture that attracts and retains exceptional talent — be the kind of leader people want to work for, the kind of Creative Director whose team produces the best work of their careers, and the kind of voice that shapes how the agency thinks about creativity, culture, and what it means to do this work well
• Advises PMs on timeline, resourcing, and scope — be a senior operational partner in the health and velocity of the work
• Own the team's time as deliberately as own time — when client work is light, have internal projects organized, queued, and ready to assign; the team should never be idle
• Maintain a firm grasp on the financial health of the department — understand the P&L, monitor how the team's time is being booked across projects, and flag proactively when hours are trending over or resources are being misallocated
• Identify and manage freelance and vendor talent like photographers, retouchers, and outside creative resources, ensuring outside work meets MACH27's standards and projects remain within budget
• Partner with HR to recruit, hire, and onboard creative talent — building a team that reflects MACH27's standards, creative ambitions, and long-term capacity needs
• Push creative limits; set new standards for excellence while bringing strategy, insights, and cultural awareness into the heart of every creative conversation
• Do work that earns recognition — MACH27 has won Clio Gold and Silver awards and expects CDs to bring that level of ambition to every brief

Qualifications

• 13+ years of experience as a creative leader with key art expertise
• An expert knowledge of the Adobe Creative Suite, with the ability to engage meaningfully at a production level to provide technically informed creative direction at all times
• A proven ability to develop and implement creative methodologies, brand standards, and agency-wide processes that improve quality, consistency, and team performance over time
• A deep expertise in key art, entertainment marketing, and multi-platform campaign development across theatrical, streaming, gaming, music, live events, and emerging formats
• A proven track record managing and mentoring a team of diverse creative talent and making them measurably better
• A strong client-facing presence; a trusted creative and operational partner, not just a vendor
• A strategic thinker who can shift fluidly between creative vision and operational execution, both maker and manager, without using one as an excuse to neglect the other
• A highly organized and proactive in managing the department’s time and capacity; anticipates gaps, prepares internal work in advance, and ensures the team is always productive, engaged, and moving forward
• A growth mindset; invests in the team's development as much as their own
• An executive-level fluency in Google Suite — able to build, lead, and adapt high-stakes presentations for clients, prospects, and internal leadership in real time

Benefits

• Full benefits package (health/dental/vision/HSA)
• $50,000 fully company-paid life insurance policy
• 401(k) with a 4% match (and no vesting period)
• 25 Days of Paid Time Off (PTO), plus twelve national holidays off and additional early release days
• Yearly performance, compensation, and inflation adjustment
• Potential year-end bonus
• Employee wellness benefits and mental health support
• Flexible location and hours policy
• Yearly employee development fund
• Transparent Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) and culture initiatives
• Regular employee engagement events
• Mentorship focused development
• Creative office space near downtown Culver City

Compensation

The starting base compensation range for this position in the selected city is $158,863 - $265,000 annually. Compensation may vary outside of this range depending on a number of factors, including but not limited to the candidate’s certifications, location, prior experience, and qualifications.