CREATIVE DIRECTOR ANZ

DARKHORSE; Auckland; Hybrid; NZD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working

ANZ travel opportunities

Wellbeing focus

Job summary

DARK HORSE in Auckland or Sydney is seeking a Creative Director to own the creative direction, culture and ambition of the agency’s work across Australia and New Zealand. You’ll sit on the ANZ Leadership Team and partner with our APAC Executive Creative Director to set the creative bar across disciplines.

This is a hands-on leadership role: you’ll drive big ideas behind major campaigns, brand experiences and new business pitches, mentor multidisciplinary teams, and defend creative thinking with

Qualifications

• Proven experience as a Creative Director within an integrated/experiential agency.
• Strong portfolio showing conceptual thinking and big ideas across channels.
• Hands-on in leading idea generation from brief to execution; understands production.

Responsibilities

• Own the creative direction, quality and ambition of DARK HORSE's work across ANZ.
• Lead big ideas behind major platforms, campaigns, brand experiences and pitches.
• Collaborate across Strategy, Experiential, PR, Social, Content and Client Service; mentor teams.

Skills

Creative leadership

Integrated campaigns

Mentoring

Storytelling

Client management

Presenting to stakeholders

Strategic thinking

Production knowledge

Job description

About us

DARK HORSE is the experience agency for iconic brands. With offices in New Zealand, Australia and Singapore, we operate as an integrated team of specialists who know their markets intimately. Iconic brands deserve an agency that knows how to demand attention, our capabilities include; campaign development, brand experiences, PR & influencer marketing, social media and content. We bring the thinking, the taste, and the obsessive attention-to-detail that creates work worthy of a place in culture.

DARK HORSE is part of Project, a creative alliance for the ambitious, including 13 independent agencies across 42 markets and 6 continents. With specialist knowledge across strategy, media, design, and technology, together we amplify work for brands who think bigger.

About the role:

We're looking for a Creative Director to own the creative direction, quality and ambition of DARK HORSE's work across Australia and New Zealand. Sitting on the ANZ Leadership Team and partnering closely with our APAC Executive Creative Director in Singapore, you'll set the creative bar across every discipline, client and market. This is a hands-on leadership role - you'll lead the big ideas behind our major creative platforms, integrated campaigns, brand experiences and new business pitches. You'll bring Strategy, Experiential, PR, Social, Content and Client Service together, be a trusted creative partner to our senior clients, and play a leading role in growing the agency.

Location: Auckland or Sydney- we're looking for the best talent so location is flexible!

About you:

• Proven experience as a Creative Director (or equivalent senior creative leader) within an integrated, experiential, advertising or comms agency, leading creative output across multiple teams, clients and ideally markets.
• A strong portfolio demonstrating exceptional conceptual thinking and big, integrated ideas that translate across experiential, PR, social, content and broader campaign channels.
• Hands-on in leading idea generation and creative development from brief through to execution, with a strong understanding of production and the ability to protect the idea all the way through.
• Strategically grounded - you understand the relationship between insight, idea and execution, and partner closely with Strategy to create work that's culturally relevant and on-brief.
• Able to give clear, constructive and inspiring creative direction, and to mentor and develop creative talent and integrated teams.
• A confident storyteller and presenter who can present, sell and defend creative thinking to senior clients and stakeholders.
• Energised by growth - leading creative on new business pitches and bringing proactive ideas to existing clients.
• Commercially savvy, balancing creative ambition with scope, budget and profitability.
• A collaborative leader who builds strong relationships across disciplines, offices, the APAC region and the Project network, as well as with external creative and production partners.
• Culturally curious, with a genuine passion for creativity, brands, technology, AI and emerging trends.

What you can expect from us:

• An epic team of good humans who care, collaborate and deliver exceptional work
• An epic office in an epic location - yes, we said epic three times
• A standout roster of leading brands across luxury, beauty and lifestyle
• A wellness-first approach to our team's wellbeing
• ANZ travel opportunities
• Competitive salary
• Connection to a global network of world-class agencies through Project Worldwide (check out our sister agencies at project.com/#our-agencies)
• Flexible working