Senior Art Director, Social

Publicis Groupe; Toronto; On-site; CAD 80,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Publicis Canada is seeking an Art Director who truly understands social. Based in Toronto, you’ll shape work that resonates in culture, not just posts in the feed.

You are a visual thinker and concept maker who turns audience behavior, platform trends, and brand ambition into social-first ideas, guiding craft across campaigns with writers and strategy partners.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in a creative, social, or digital agency environment.
• Strong portfolio showing social-first thinking and art direction.
• Experience across design, photography, film, motion, and digital storytelling.
• Deep understanding of how brands show up on social platforms across organic/paid content.
• Platform fluency across Meta, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn and emerging channels.
• Excellent communication; ability to present, defend, and translate feedback into action.
• Curiosity with AI tools and their application to ideation and production.

Responsibilities

• Concept and art direct social-first ideas across always-on content and campaigns.
• Turn cultural and platform insights into timely, ownable ideas.
• Shape visual direction: look, feel, moodboards, storyboards, mockups.
• Maintain high craft in design, photography, motion, and digital storytelling.
• Present and defend creative ideas to teams and clients with visuals and rationale.
• Interpret feedback and translate stakeholder input into stronger work.
• Collaborate with writers, strategy, accounts, media, production, and creator teams.
• Manage streams, timelines, and multiple projects without sacrificing quality.
• Mentor junior creatives and provide constructive feedback.
• Use AI tools to support ideation, visuals, and production workflows.

Skills

Social-first thinking

Art direction

Platform fluency

Visual storytelling

Mentoring junior creatives

Communication skills

AI tools familiarity

Tools

Midjourney

RunwayML

Adobe Firefly

ChatGPT

Job description

Company description

Publicis is an omni-channel communications agency with over 600 employees across our Canadian operations.The office is the largest in our industry in Canada and boasts talent across various disciplines of marketing and advertising expertise. Publicis carries a balanced split of Canadian, U.S. and Global clients for which we are Agency of Record. Publicis supports a range of D&I actions through our Driving Change team as well as giving back to the community through a long-standing participation in the Out of the Cold Program. With a strong, active and familial culture, Pub United is the agency’s social club, hosting events as wide reaching as Curling, Trivia Nights and more.

Overview

We’re looking for an Art Director who really understands social.

Based in Toronto, you’ll work for brands that want to show up in culture, not just post into the void. This isn’t about maintaining calendars, it’s about creating work people actually care about.

This role is for a visual thinker, concept maker, and social-native creative who can turn audience behaviour, cultural tension, platform trends, and brand ambition into work people actually care about.

You’ll concept social-first ideas, shape campaign look and feel, art direct content across platforms, and bring a high level of craft to everything from always-on content to integrated campaigns.

You’ll work closely with copywriters, designers, content strategists, account leads, media, production, community, and creator partners to make work that moves fast without losing its sharpness.

We’re a growing agency, which means no passengers. You’ll have real influence on how we work, what we make, and how we grow. If you like building as you go, you’ll feel right at home.

And yes, this role is deeply plugged into culture. You’re across platforms, creators, trends, and shifts in behavior before they hit the mainstream. More importantly, you know what’s worth acting on, and what’s just noise.

You’ll be an influential creative voice in the room: clear, collaborative, opinionated, and able to bring confidence to the work when things move quickly. If you’re excited by the idea of shaping standout work, building something meaningful, and leaving your mark on a fast-moving agency, we should talk.

Responsibilities

• Concept and art direct social-first ideas across always-on content, social-first campaigns, creator partnerships, and integrated brand moments.
• Turn cultural, behavioural, and platform insights into ideas that feel timely, ownable, and built for how people actually use social.
• Shape the visual direction of campaigns, including look and feel, moodboards, storyboards, social mocks, content systems, decks, and production-ready creative.
• Bring strong craft to design, photography, motion, short-form video, creator content, and digital storytelling.
• Clearly present and defend creative ideas to internal teams and clients using visual references, written rationale, and strategic thinking.
• Interpret feedback, identify the real ask, and translate stakeholder input into stronger creative work.
• Partner closely with content writers, strategy, account, media, production, community, and creator teams from brief through execution.
• Manage assigned creative workstreams, balancing timelines, feedback, production realities, and multiple projects without losing creative quality.
• Mentor junior creatives and designers through clear direction, constructive feedback, and support that helps them grow.
• Use AI tools thoughtfully to support ideation, visual exploration, mockups, storyboards, prototyping, and production workflows.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in a creative agency, social agency, digital agency, content studio, or related creative environment.
• A strong portfolio that demonstrates social-first thinking, art direction, visual craft, platform fluency, and the ability to bring ideas from concept through execution.
• Strong art direction skills across design, photography, film, motion, short-form video, creator content, and digital storytelling.
• Deep understanding of how brands show up across social platforms, including organic, paid, creator-led, and campaign content.
• Demonstrated platform fluency across Meta, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, and emerging channels, including formats, behaviours, specs, and best practices.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to present ideas clearly, defend creative decisions, and translate feedback into action.
• Strong creative problem‑solving skills, with the ability to explore multiple concepts, adapt quickly, and protect the integrity of the idea.
• Strong organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple projects, timelines, and feedback loops in a fast-moving environment.
• Experience mentoring junior creatives, giving constructive feedback, and leading by example.
• Curiosity and working fluency with AI tools such as Midjourney, RunwayML, Adobe Firefly, ChatGPT, or similar platforms is an asset.
• A strong eye for internet culture, visual culture, creators, entertainment, emerging formats, and how technology is changing creativity.
• Proudly accountable, collaborative, calm under pressure, and excited to make work people actually want to spend time with

Additional information

Salary

Transparency matters to us. The salary range for this position is CAD $80K - 110K per year. Actual compensation within this range will be based on a variety of factors, including relevant experience, knowledge, skills, and applicable certifications. This range reflects what we reasonably expect to offer based on current market data.

AI Use

We use artificial intelligence tools to support parts of our hiring process, such as reviewing applications or analysing resumes. These tools assist our recruitment team but never replace human decision-making. We believe in a human-first approach, where your experience and potential are recognised by people.

Publicis Canada is committed to building a diverse workforce representative of our community. We encourage and are pleased to consider all qualified candidates, without regard to race, colour, citizenship, religion, sex, marital / family status, sexual orientation, gender identity, aboriginal status, age, disability or persons who may require an accommodation, to apply. If you require a specific accommodation, please contact Human Resources.

We’re committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace. Accommodations are available throughout the hiring process upon request.