Creative Director

Thinkster; Pune District; On-site; INR 4,000,000 - 7,000,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Creative authority

Career growth

Direct partnership with founders

Premium tools access

Competitive senior-leadership salary

Modern Bavdhan, Pune office

Job summary

Thinkster in Bavdhan, Pune, is seeking a Creative Director to lead the creative team and shape brand strategy across campaigns and digital experiences. You will mentor designers and writers, collaborate with founders, and own the creative direction from concept to delivery.

This on-site leadership role demands a strong portfolio, strategic thinking, and the ability to guide multiple client engagements with craft and business impact in a fast-paced boutique agency setting.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Design, Visual Communication, Advertising, or Marketing.
• 5–7 years of experience in a creative leadership or art direction role.
• Strong portfolio showcasing branding, digital marketing, and campaign development.

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor a team of designers, copywriters, and content creators to deliver outstanding work.
• Develop and execute brand strategies and campaigns across digital, print, and social platforms.
• Foster a collaborative, inspiring, and results-driven creative environment.
• Present creative concepts and campaigns to clients with clarity and confidence.
• Collaborate with marketing, strategy, and account management to maintain creative consistency.

Skills

Brand strategy

Team leadership

Creative direction

Art direction

Branding

Presentation skills

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Design

Tools

Adobe Creative Suite

Figma

After Effects

Premiere Pro

Motion design platforms

Job description

Thinkster Careers · Pune 2026

Looking for a senior Creative Director Job in Pune where you’ll actually shape brands, not just supervise execution? Thinkster is hiring a visionary Creative Director to lead our creative team in Bavdhan, Pune. The ideal candidate combines strategic thinking with exceptional design sensibility to shape impactful campaigns and brand experiences across industries.

Why This Creative Director Job in Pune Stands Out

Most creative director jobs in Pune at this seniority level fall into one of two traps. Either you become a glorified design manager — approving work, running standups, and slowly drifting away from the creative craft you originally fell in love with. Or you join a place where the title says “director” but the reality is execution-heavy with limited strategic input.

This creative director job in Pune is built to avoid both. At Thinkster, the Creative Director is a true leadership role — you’ll shape brand strategy alongside founders, influence how we go to market, and own creative direction across every client engagement we take on. You’ll still touch the craft, still mentor designers and writers directly, and still make the calls that matter on the campaigns themselves.

We’re a design-led digital marketing agency, which means creative isn’t a service line — it’s the core of what we sell. The Creative Director seat is one of the most consequential roles in the company.

What You’ll Actually Be Doing

Leadership & Strategy

• Team Leadership: Lead and mentor a team of designers, copywriters, and content creators to deliver outstanding work
• Brand Strategy: Develop and execute brand strategies and campaigns across digital, print, and social platforms
• Creative Culture: Foster a collaborative, inspiring, and results-driven creative environment
• Client Presentations: Present creative concepts and campaigns to clients with clarity and confidence
• Cross-team Alignment: Collaborate with marketing, strategy, and account management to maintain creative consistency

Craft & Execution

• Creative Oversight: Oversee all stages of the creative process — from ideation and design to final execution
• Quality Control: Review, refine, and approve visual assets, brand identities, digital ads, videos, and deliverables
• Brand Alignment: Ensure every creative output aligns with brand objectives and current market trends
• Innovation: Stay ahead of design, marketing, and cultural shifts to bring fresh thinking to every project
• Benchmarking: Set quality standards and uphold them across the entire agency’s creative output

Who We’re Hiring — Creative Director With 5–7 Years Experience

We’re specifically looking for a creative director with 5–7 years of experience in creative leadership or art direction roles, either agency-side or brand-side. You’ve already led teams, shipped campaigns at scale, and developed your own creative philosophy. Now you want a seat where that philosophy actually shapes the work — not just signs off on it.

This isn’t a senior creative director position in the traditional Mumbai-agency hierarchy (where senior CDs typically have 10+ years and report to ECDs). This is the top creative seat at Thinkster, with direct access to founders and ownership of the entire creative output. If you’re a strong art director or senior creative ready to step up — or a creative director coming from a larger agency who wants more direct impact — this fits both directions.

Skills You Will Build

• Full-funnel creative direction across brand, campaign, and content
• Creative team leadership, mentorship, and performance management
• Brand strategy and visual identity development
• Multi-platform campaign execution — digital, social, print
• Client-facing creative presentation and stakeholder management
• Production direction — photoshoots, video, and motion
• UI/UX collaboration and web design workflow integration
• Marketing analytics-informed creative strategy
• Creative team hiring and scaling from small to mid-size
• Executive creative leadership and agency growth contribution

Tools you’ll work with daily

• Adobe Creative Suite
• Figma
• After Effects / Premiere Pro
• Motion design platforms
• Brand strategy frameworks
• Production direction

How This Compares to Art Director, Design Director & Creative Head Roles in Pune

Senior creative titles in Pune are notoriously inconsistent. An art director job at one agency overlaps with a creative director job at another, and what one company calls a creative head is what another labels a design director. Here’s how this role fits within that landscape so you can decide if it matches what you’re looking for:

This is broader than a pure art director job in Pune (which typically focuses on visual execution and craft direction). It’s broader than a design director job in Pune (which often centers on design systems and UI craft). It’s closer to a creative head job in Pune — owning the full creative function across brand, campaign, design, and content — but with more hands‑on leadership than the larger network‑agency CD seats.

What You Bring

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Design, Visual Communication, Advertising, or Marketing
• 5–7 years of experience in a creative leadership or art direction role
• Strong portfolio showcasing branding, digital marketing, and campaign development
• Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite — Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, After Effects
• Excellent communication, leadership, and presentation skills
• Strong understanding of brand strategy, storytelling, and digital trends
• Ability to multitask and thrive in a fast‑paced, deadline‑driven environment

Your Working Style

• Has a clear creative philosophy — and the conviction to defend it in a room
• Mentors without micromanaging; raises the team without replacing them
• Balances aesthetic ambition with real‑world deadlines and client constraints
• Reads a brief before concepting, not after — strategy first, always
• Comfortable being judged on the quality of the team’s output, not just personal craft
• Stays genuinely curious — about culture, design, and what’s next

From Creative Lead to Senior Creative Director — The Career Path

Let’s be honest — a creative lead job in Pune at the 4–6 year mark often becomes a holding pattern. You’re senior enough to mentor others but not senior enough to own the creative direction. The natural next step is either a creative director role at a smaller, ambitious agency, or a senior creative director role at a larger network shop. Both have trade‑offs.

At Thinkster, you get the autonomy of a smaller team with the seriousness of work that competes with bigger names. Whether you’re an art director ready to expand beyond visual craft into broader creative leadership, or a design director ready to take ownership of brand and campaign work — this role bridges both growth paths and gives you a skills foundation that makes you genuinely hireable anywhere.

A Creative Director Agency Job Built Around Real Brand Work

A creative director agency job in Pune is structurally different from an in‑house brand‑side CD role. In‑house, you go deep into one brand. Agency‑side, you go wide across many — which compounds your portfolio strength and keeps the work varied year after year. For most creative directors at the 5–7 year mark, that variety is what keeps the craft sharp.

As our branding creative director in Pune, you’ll lead work that spans branding and rebranding projects, full‑funnel social media marketing campaigns, packaging, digital ads, web design, and content. The exposure across formats is rare at Pune agencies of this size — and because this is a focused team with direct access to decision‑makers, your creative calls don’t get buried in approval chains.

A “Creative Director doesn’t just approve good work. They make sure good work is the default.”

Why This Creative Director Vacancy in Pune Is Worth a Conversation

There are a handful of creative director vacancies in Pune open right now, and they all read similarly on the surface. The actual difference shows up in three places: how much autonomy you have, what kind of work crosses your desk, and how seriously the leadership treats creative as a function. At Thinkster, all three lean strongly in favor of the CD.

The work isn’t manufactured to fill a brief — it’s genuinely interesting, with brands that want to be challenged on positioning, not just supplied with assets. The autonomy isn’t a perk — it’s the operating model. And the founders are creative‑fluent themselves, which means strategy conversations happen on equal ground, not as one‑sided pitches.

Perks & Pay

• Genuine creative authority — your call is the call, not a committee decision
• Fast career growth into Executive Creative Director or Partner‑track roles as the agency scales
• Real impact — your creative direction directly shapes how Thinkster goes to market
• Direct partnership with founders on agency strategy and positioning
• Ownership of hiring decisions for your creative team
• Premium tool access — full Adobe CC, Figma, motion platforms, and beyond
• Competitive senior‑leadership salary benchmarked against the Pune market — we don’t underpay for this seat
• Scope for innovation, leadership development, and portfolio‑defining brand work
• Modern Bavdhan, Pune office with a collaborative, design‑first culture

Career Growth — From Creative Director to Executive Creative Director & Beyond

Joining Thinkster as Creative Director isn’t the ceiling — it’s the starting point of a defined growth track. By the time you’ve spent 2–3 years in this role, you’ll have a concrete portfolio of branding work, integrated campaigns, motion projects, and digital experiences that you can walk into any conversation and own completely.

Strong performers grow into Executive Creative Director, Chief Creative Officer, or Partner‑track positions as the agency scales. Top performers are also considered for expanded responsibilities — including new service line ownership or leading Thinkster’s creative positioning in specific verticals. We don’t believe in keeping good creative leaders stuck on the same brief year after year.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Is this creative director job in Pune remote-friendly?

No — this is a full‑time, on‑site role at our Bavdhan, Pune office. Creative leadership at this level requires daily presence with the team, client meetings, and production reviews that move faster in person.

2. Is the 5–7 years experience requirement strict?

It’s our preferred range. Strong art directors at 4 years with exceptional portfolios are welcome to apply. Senior creative directors at 8+ years are also welcome if the role’s autonomy and scope match what you’re looking for.

3. Will I have authority over hiring and team decisions?

Yes. You’ll own creative hiring decisions, performance reviews for your team, and creative direction across all client work. The role comes with real authority, not just a title.

4. How hands‑on is the role? Do I still get to design?

Yes, the role is hands‑on. You’ll mentor and review more than you produce, but you’ll still concept directly, sketch ideas, and shape key assets on important projects. We don’t expect creative directors to stop being creative.

5. What kinds of brands and projects will I be working on?

You’ll lead work across branding, rebranding, social media campaigns, digital ads, packaging, and web design — spanning multiple industries. The exact client mix and active projects will be shared during interviews.

6. What’s the compensation range?

Competitive and benchmarked against the Pune senior creative leadership market. Final offer depends on your portfolio, experience depth, and interview discussions. We don’t underpay for this seat.