Senior Art Director, Social

Publicis Groupe Canada; 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 work with brands that want to show up in culture, not just post into the void.

This role rewards a visual thinker, concept maker, and social-native creative who can translate audience behavior, platform trends, and brand ambition into work people actually care about. You’ll concept social-first ideas, shape campaign look and feel, art direct across platforms, and bring high craft to everything from

Qualifications

• 5+ years in a creative agency or related environment.
• Strong portfolio showing social-first thinking, art direction, and platform fluency.
• Deep understanding of how brands show up across social platforms (organic, paid, creator-led).
• Demonstrated platform fluency across Meta, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, and emerging channels.
• Strong communication skills, able to present ideas and defend decisions.
• Experience mentoring junior creatives and leading by example.
• Curiosity with AI tools such as Midjourney, RunwayML, Adobe Firefly, ChatGPT is an asset.

Responsibilities

• Concept and art direct social-first ideas across campaigns, creator partnerships, and integrated moments.
• Turn cultural and platform insights into timely, ownable ideas for social.
• Shape the visual direction of campaigns including look, moodboards, storyboards, and production-ready creative.
• Present and defend creative ideas to internal teams and clients with references and rationale.
• Partner with content writers, strategy, account, media, production, community and creator teams from brief through execution.
• Manage assigned creative workstreams, timelines, feedback loops, and multiple projects in a fast-moving environment.
• Mentor junior creatives and designers with clear direction and constructive feedback.
• Use AI tools thoughtfully to support ideation, visual exploration, mockups, and production workflows.

Skills

Art direction

Social-first thinking

Visual craft

Platform fluency

Communication skills

Mentoring juniors

AI tools awareness

Tools

Midjourney

RunwayML

Adobe Firefly

ChatGPT

Job 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
• 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.
• 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.
• 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

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.