VP Creative Services - Journeys

About the role

The VP of Creative leads Journeys’ in‑house creative team and translates brand strategy into distinctive, culturally relevant creative across the customer experience. Reporting to the Chief Marketing Officer, the role oversees design, copy, photography, styling, production, and creative operations for internally produced work. The Creative Director partners closely with the CMO and VP of Brand Marketing, and collaborates with external creative agencies on major brand campaigns. The VP ensures agency‑developed campaign platforms are effectively translated, extended, and activated across social, digital, e‑commerce, stores, and other consumer touchpoints, while also driving seasonal product stories, editorial content, and retail creative.

Creative Direction and Brand Expression

• Evolve and steward Journeys’ creative expression—including imagery, casting, styling, design, photography, and tone of voice—within the broader brand strategy.
• Translate brand strategy, business priorities, consumer insights, and product stories into compelling creative across customer touchpoints.
• Establish and uphold clear creative standards for the in‑house team, ensuring work feels fresh, culturally relevant, and unmistakably Journeys.
• Provide a strong creative perspective to campaign strategy and agency development, representing internal team and channel needs.
• Champion ideas that strengthen Journeys’ connection with teens and young adults, particularly teen girls.
• Balance brand storytelling, product discovery, consumer engagement, and commercial effectiveness.
• Serve as the senior creative voice for youth culture, fashion, footwear, entertainment, and emerging trends, continually pushing the brand toward current, distinctive, and culturally credible work.

Team and Creative Culture

• Lead and develop the multidisciplinary in‑house creative organization spanning art direction, design, copy, editorial, photography, styling, production, and creative operations.
• Directly manage the Art Director, Lifestyle Editor/Copywriter, Photo Studio Lead, and Creative Project Management/Operations Lead.
• Build a collaborative, ambitious creative culture that generates fresh ideas, challenges convention, and raises work quality.
• Provide clear direction, thoughtful feedback, coaching, and development opportunities for the creative team.
• Establish effective ways of working that enable speed while maintaining high creative standards.

Campaigns, Content and Customer Experience

• Lead in‑house development and execution of seasonal product stories, ongoing brand content, and channel‑specific creative from concept through final delivery.
• Develop creative briefs in partnership with Brand Marketing, Merchandising, Buying, E‑commerce, Social, and other key stakeholders.
• Direct still and video shoots, including concept development, casting, styling, location, production, and post‑production.
• Oversee the editorial and content calendar in partnership with Brand Marketing, E‑commerce, and Social.
• Guide the brand’s voice and ensure copy is purposeful, distinctive, and platform‑appropriate.
• Create channel‑right creative for social, digital, e‑commerce, stores, and emerging youth‑led platforms.
• Partner with E‑commerce and Content teams to produce useful, engaging content that supports organic search, AI‑powered discovery, style exploration, and conversion.
• Collaborate closely with Visual Merchandising and Store Planning to extend the Journeys brand into compelling physical retail experiences.
• Lead the creative vision and execution of the annual Journeys Sales Meeting in partnership with Training and Development.

Agency and Brand‑Partner Collaboration

• Partner with the VP of Brand Marketing and external agencies throughout major brand campaign development, providing an informed in‑house creative and channel perspective.
• Lead translation and extension of agency‑developed campaign platforms across social, digital, e‑commerce, retail, editorial, and internal creative needs.
• Ensure cohesion between agency‑developed campaigns and ongoing in‑house creative work.
• Provide creative direction and review for vendor‑ and brand‑partner programs, ensuring work meets Journeys’ standards and supports shared objectives.

Creative Operations and Effectiveness

• Oversee e‑commerce and studio photography, ensuring efficient workflows, strong production values, and consistent quality.
• Manage creative, studio, photography, and production budgets, balancing cost efficiency with creative ambition.
• Prioritize creative resources effectively to deliver work on time and on budget.
• Regularly review creative output and performance with the CMO, VP of Brand Marketing, and internal team, using consumer, channel, and business insights to strengthen future work.
• Evaluate new creative capabilities, technologies, tools, and production models that can improve quality, relevance, and efficiency.

Experience and Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design, Art Direction, Marketing, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
• 10+ years of progressive creative experience, including significant creative leadership responsibility, preferably within fashion, footwear, retail, or a consumer lifestyle brand.
• Proven success leading multidisciplinary creative teams and developing creative talent.
• Experience developing and activating integrated brand campaigns across physical and digital channels.
• Strong portfolio demonstrating creative direction, brand storytelling, retail campaigns, lifestyle photography, and video, including social and digital‑led campaigns.
• Experience partnering with executive leadership, external agencies, Product/Buying, E‑commerce, Retail Operations, and Brand Marketing.
• Deep understanding of integrated retail creative across social, digital, e‑commerce, and physical environments.
• Strong knowledge of fashion, footwear, retail, youth culture, and media habits of teens and young adults.
• Proven ability to lead, motivate, and develop multidisciplinary creative teams.
• Experience developing seasonal campaigns and directing lifestyle photography and video.
• Excellent presentation, communication, and relationship‑building skills.
• Ability to influence and align executive leadership, external agencies, and cross‑functional partners.
• Strong organizational, decision‑making, and problem‑solving abilities.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and deliver high‑quality work in a fast‑paced retail environment.
• Working knowledge of Adobe Creative Cloud and modern creative production workflows, including emerging AI‑enabled tools.
• Understanding of project planning, resource management, and creative budgets.

About Journeys

Journeys is a leading multi‑brand footwear retailer serving teens and young adults through approximately 900 Journeys and Journeys Kidz stores across the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico, as well as Journeys.com. The brand portfolio includes Nike, adidas, New Balance, PUMA, UGG, Birkenstock, Converse, Vans, and more. Journeys exists to empower self‑expression and confidence. It is a welcoming, inclusive brand with an energetic and distinctive point of view that permeates everything it does. While the audience is broad, the teen girl is at the heart of the brand and growth strategy. The company seeks a culturally fluent VP of Creative with exceptional taste, deep understanding of youth culture, fashion, footwear, and the digital platforms shaping how young consumers discover and engage with brands.