Creative / Studio Director

Salt; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 300,000 - 600,000; Full time

Job summary

Salt in Abu Dhabi is building an in-house creative agency and seeks a senior Creative Director to lead the studio from the ground up. You will shape the creative vision and establish production capabilities across brands and campaigns.

The role requires turning briefs into production-ready ideas, building processes, and managing a high-performing team of creatives and production partners to deliver high-quality work at scale.

Qualifications

• Significant experience in a senior Creative Director, Executive Creative Director, Studio Director, Creative Lead or similar leadership position.
• Experience working within an integrated creative agency, production studio, in-house creative team or similar environment.
• Strong understanding of production across content, film, photography, digital, social and integrated campaigns.
• Experience building, managing or scaling a creative studio or multidisciplinary team.
• Strong understanding of creative operations, workflows, budgets, timelines and production management.
• Commercially minded with the ability to balance creativity with business objectives.
• Excellent stakeholder management and presentation skills.
• Comfortable operating at both strategic and hands-on levels.
• Experience working across multiple brands, business units or complex organisations would be highly advantageous.
• Experience building an in-house agency or creative function from the ground up would be a strong advantage.

Responsibilities

• Set the overall creative vision, standards and direction for the in-house agency.
• Lead the development of creative concepts and campaigns across brand, digital, social, content and integrated communications.
• Challenge and elevate creative thinking, ensuring work is innovative, relevant and commercially effective.
• Translate business and marketing objectives into strong creative strategies and ideas.
• Act as the senior creative voice across the organisation, confidently presenting ideas and creative recommendations to senior stakeholders.
• Build a culture of creativity, collaboration and high-quality execution.
• Take ownership of the day-to-day creative studio and production function.
• Build effective workflows, processes and production standards for the new in-house agency.
• Oversee the delivery of creative projects from briefing and concept development through to final production.
• Ensure projects are delivered on time, on budget and to the required creative standard.
• Manage a mix of internal creative resources, freelancers, production partners and external suppliers where required.
• Identify opportunities to bring more capabilities in-house and reduce reliance on external agencies and production partners.
• Oversee production across a variety of formats, including film, photography, social content, digital, events, campaigns and branded content.
• Ensure the studio has the right talent, tools, suppliers and production capabilities to support the wider business.
• Build, lead and develop a high-performing creative and studio team.
• Define the structure, capabilities and future hiring requirements of the creative function.
• Mentor Creative, Design, Content, Production and other specialist talent.
• Establish clear ways of working between creative, marketing, communications and wider business teams.
• Create an environment that encourages collaboration between different creative disciplines.

Job description

A large and rapidly growing conglomerate is building a new in-house creative agency in Abu Dhabi, bringing creative, content and production capabilities closer to the business and its growing portfolio of brands.

We are looking for a senior Creative Director / Studio Director to lead this function from the ground up. This is a key leadership role for someone who can combine strong creative vision with the ability to build and manage a high-performing studio and production operation.

The successful candidate will be responsible for setting the creative direction, developing the studio's capabilities, establishing processes and standards, and ensuring the team consistently delivers high-quality work across multiple brands, channels and formats.

This is not a purely conceptual Creative Director role. We are looking for someone who understands the full creative journey - from initial brief and idea development through to production, delivery and execution.

Key Responsibilities

• Set the overall creative vision, standards and direction for the in-house agency.
• Lead the development of creative concepts and campaigns across brand, digital, social, content and integrated communications.
• Challenge and elevate creative thinking, ensuring work is innovative, relevant and commercially effective.
• Translate business and marketing objectives into strong creative strategies and ideas.
• Act as the senior creative voice across the organisation, confidently presenting ideas and creative recommendations to senior stakeholders.
• Build a culture of creativity, collaboration and high-quality execution.
• Take ownership of the day-to-day creative studio and production function.
• Build effective workflows, processes and production standards for the new in-house agency.
• Oversee the delivery of creative projects from briefing and concept development through to final production.
• Ensure projects are delivered on time, on budget and to the required creative standard.
• Manage a mix of internal creative resources, freelancers, production partners and external suppliers where required.
• Identify opportunities to bring more capabilities in-house and reduce reliance on external agencies and production partners.
• Oversee production across a variety of formats, including film, photography, social content, digital, events, campaigns and branded content.
• Ensure the studio has the right talent, tools, suppliers and production capabilities to support the wider business.
• Build, lead and develop a high-performing creative and studio team.
• Define the structure, capabilities and future hiring requirements of the creative function.
• Mentor Creative, Design, Content, Production and other specialist talent.
• Establish clear ways of working between creative, marketing, communications and wider business teams.
• Create an environment that encourages collaboration between different creative disciplines.

Stakeholder Management

• Partner closely with senior leadership, marketing, communications, brand and business teams across the group.
• Understand the needs of multiple brands and business units and translate them into effective creative solutions.
• Manage multiple briefs and priorities across a complex, fast-moving organisation.
• Build strong relationships with internal stakeholders and become a trusted creative partner to the business.
• Balance creative ambition with commercial objectives, timelines and business requirements.

Building the In-House Agency

• Help define the vision, proposition and operating model for the new in-house creative agency.
• Establish the creative processes, briefing structures and production workflows required to scale the function.
• Introduce best practice across creative development, production and delivery.
• Identify where work should be delivered internally versus through external agency or production partners.
• Help create a scalable creative model that can support the group's continued growth.

What We're Looking For

• Significant experience in a senior Creative Director, Executive Creative Director, Studio Director, Creative Lead or similar leadership position.
• Experience working within an integrated creative agency, production studio, in-house creative team or similar environment.
• Strong creative credentials with a portfolio demonstrating high-quality conceptual and executed work.
• Proven experience overseeing the full creative and production process, not just the conceptual stage.
• Strong understanding of production across content, film, photography, digital, social and integrated campaigns.
• Experience building, managing or scaling a creative studio or multidisciplinary team.
• Strong understanding of creative operations, workflows, budgets, timelines and production management.
• Commercially minded with the ability to balance creativity with business objectives.
• Excellent stakeholder management and presentation skills.
• Comfortable operating at both strategic and hands-on levels.
• Experience working across multiple brands, business units or complex organisations would be highly advantageous.
• Experience building an in-house agency or creative function from the ground up would be a strong advantage.

The Ideal Profile

We are looking for someone who sits at the intersection of creative leadership, studio management and production.

You may currently be a Creative Director who has taken ownership of a wider studio operation, a Studio Director with a strong creative background, or a senior creative leader who has successfully built and managed an integrated creative function.

Most importantly, you will be someone who can set the creative vision but also understand how to make the work happen - building the team, processes and production infrastructure required to turn ideas into high-quality work at scale.

Based in Abu Dhabi, this is an opportunity to play a key role in building a new creative capability within a major and rapidly growing organisation.