Senior Art Director

Design Assembly; Auckland; Hybrid; NZD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible policies

Wellbeing allowance

Birthday leave

Work-from-anywhere days

Dog-friendly HQ

Team lunches

Job summary

Daylight in Auckland seeks a Senior Art Director to lead the creative outputs for a diverse client range. You will collaborate with the Executive Creative Director and Senior Copywriter, shaping insights into bold, meaningful ideas.

You’ll guide the ideation of major briefs with craft teams, present confidently to clients, and mentor junior creatives while ensuring top quality across projects.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of agency experience.
• Proficiency Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator.
• Experience in Google Slides – our primary form of presentation software.
• Preference for Figma experience.

Responsibilities

• Leading concept and idea development across our portfolio of clients.
• Setting art direction and core design thinking working alongside Daylight’s craft team.
• Working closely with Executive Creative Director and product teams to lead creative thinking across traditional and digital mediums.
• Leading creative presentations to clients, alongside account service and production teams.
• Working with junior team members to build and develop ideas.
• Working across the business to oversee execution and ensure quality of work.

Skills

Agency experience (8+ years)

Creative leadership

Art direction

Tools

Photoshop

InDesign

Illustrator

Google Slides

Figma

Job description

Introducing Daylight

Daylight is an award-winning independent creative and technology studio based in Tāmaki Makaurau. We build ideas that earn a place in people’s lives, rather than just their feeds. Sometimes that’s a brand, sometimes a campaign, sometimes a hard‑working app or tool. Whatever the form, we make work that does something real, for clients in global health, media, the public sector and beyond, from start-ups to iconic national brands.

Our team is made up of creatives, designers, strategists, project managers, producers and tech leads and engineers, working with local and international clients from our Morningside HQ. Joining Daylight means joining a journey – one of growth, innovation, and working alongside really nice people who care about what they’re doing.

About the role

As a Senior Art Director at Daylight, you will be leading our creative outputs for a diverse range of clients. We pride ourselves on telling each story with integrity and meaning, which means we ensure we always have a deep understanding of the context, the objective of the brief, and the audience we are addressing.

In this role, you will collaborate closely with our Executive Creative Director and Senior Copywriter, and with the strategy, digital, and craft departments. You should have a passion for identifying and defining unique insights, staying attuned to cultural trends and shifts, and translating these into ideas which stand out, are crafted and feel bold and exciting to present.

You will be responsible for leading the ideation of our key creative briefs and projects, working closely with our craft teams to execute these from start to finish. Working alongside our client service and production teams, you will be expected to present work with confidence, as well as manage workflow with external production partners.

What the role looks like

Leading with confidence

– while delivering conceptual thinking, you need to be confident in leading cross-channel projects, bringing the team along with you, assigning tasks and delegating effectively.

An eye for craft

– Daylight specialises in visual craft. In this role you must be a taste‑maker, bringing world class design and art direction thinking to the table every time. A sound knowledge of Adobe suite and Figma is essential, and you must be lighting‑fast at visualising ideas in conceptual presentations.

Presentation skills

– alongside senior account service leads and digital producers, you need to be able to confidently present work, sell ideas and defend thinking.

Strategic thinker

– we’re looking for creative leaders who have a passion for delivering strategic ideas, built from a core insight and which deliver on the objectives of the brief.

Mentorship

– you will be working with junior creative and craft team members – this role needs to lead from the front, giving support, guidance and direction on projects.

Specific responsibilities

• Leading concept and idea development across our portfolio of clients


• Setting art direction and core design thinking working alongside Daylight’s craft team


• Working closely with Executive Creative Director and product teams to lead creative thinking across traditional and digital mediums


• Leading creative presentations to clients, alongside account service and production teams


• Working with junior team members to build and develop ideas


• Working across the business to oversee execution and ensure quality of work

Who are we looking for?

• 8+ years of agency experience


• Proficiency Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator


• Experience in google slides – our primary form of presentation software


• Preference for Figma experience

Why our team loves working at Daylight

• We work on challenges that make a real-world difference


• We balance work and life through flexible policies and a culture that values wellbeing.


• We partner with Extraordinary to provide a quarterly wellbeing allowance to spend on looking after yourself.


• We offer an extra day of birthday leave, and a week of ‘work‑from‑anywhere’ days.


• Our culture is high‑trust and collaborative, where ideas are welcomed and explored.


• We invest in your learning and development, enabling you to develop your craft and career.


• We’ve got a well‑stocked snacks and drinks cupboard.


• Our HQ in The Chambers Morningside, is dog‑friendly and close to public transport.


• Enjoy team lunches, coffee catch‑ups, and Friday beers.

Approach to flexible working

For this role, we are looking for an Auckland-based candidate. As with all hands‑on creative roles, we believe the best work comes from being closely connected with our team in person. We ask our team to be in the office on Mondays and Fridays, with flexible WFH options available mid‑week.

Our values

As a business, Daylight acknowledges Te Tiriti o Waitangi and recognises that Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei are mana whenua of the land where the Daylight office is based in Tāmaki Makaurau.

We believe in the power of diverse perspectives and inclusive storytelling. If you feel like you’d be a great fit for this role but don’t meet every single requirement, reach out. We’d love to hear from you.