Art Director

OLIVER | The Brandtech Group; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 68,000 - 76,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equal opportunity employer

Inclusive workplace environment

Job summary

OLIVER, part of The Brandtech Group, is seeking an Art Director in Chicago. You’ll think and make, collaborating with copywriters and strategists, and you'll shoot and edit content in a fast-moving social newsroom.

You will ensure craft and brand voice across platforms from brief to delivery. Applicants should have a portfolio with social/digital emphasis, hands-on production skills, and proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite and AI tools.

Qualifications

• Portfolio with a clear social and digital emphasis showing concept and production craft.
• Hands-on production skills: shooting, editing, retouching, and layout.
• Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite and/or Final Cut Pro.
• Ability to translate strategy into a strong visual idea and finished content.
• Experience in a social-first or newsroom-style creative environment.
• Familiarity with Gen AI tools relevant to art direction and production.

Responsibilities

• Concept culture-forward ideas and activations across social, digital, and experiential.
• Operate in a social newsroom environment, responding to real-time cultural moments.
• Plan, shoot, and edit photo and video content with strong craft and voice.
• Collaborate with Social Strategists to shape content strategies across channels.
• Present ideas clearly to Creative Directors and brand teams.
• Manage multiple projects from brief to delivery, ensuring quality and consistency.

Skills

Portfolio with social/digital emphasis

Hands-on production

Adobe Creative Suite proficiency

Final Cut Pro proficiency

AI tools for art direction

Storytelling and visual communication

Tools

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Premiere Pro

Adobe InDesign

Final Cut Pro

Job description

OLIVER is the world’s first and only specialist in designing, building, and running bespoke in‑house agencies and marketing ecosystems for brands. We partner with over 300 clients in 40+ countries and counting. Our unique model drives creativity and efficiency, allowing us to deliver tailored solutions that resonate deeply with audiences.

As part of The Brandtech Group, we’re at the forefront of leveraging cutting‑edge AI technology to revolutionise how we create and deliver work. Our AI solutions enhance efficiency, spark creativity, and drive insightful decision‑making, empowering our teams to produce innovative and impactful results.

Role: Art Director

Location: Chicago, Illinois

About the role:

As Art Director, you’ll work as both thinker and maker. You’ll concept alongside copywriters and strategists, then pick up a camera and bring the work to life yourself. Embedded in a fast‑moving social newsroom, you’ll react to real‑time cultural moments, shape brand voice across platforms, and extend ideas from social into digital, traditional, and experiential. You’ll present your thinking with clarity — to Creative Directors and directly to brand teams — and manage projects from brief through final delivery without losing sight of craft or consistency.

What you will be doing:

• Concept culture‑forward ideas, campaigns, and activations built for social‑first audiences, extending across digital, traditional, and experiential
• Operate in a social newsroom environment, identifying and responding to real‑time cultural moments on behalf of clients’ brand portfolio
• Plan, shoot, and edit photo and video content, applying a strong eye for craft, composition, storytelling, and brand voice
• Partner with Social Strategists to shape creative content strategies across organic and paid channels
• Present and articulate ideas clearly to Creative Directors and brand teams
• Manage multiple projects simultaneously from brief through final delivery, maintaining quality and consistency across all assets

What you need to be great in this role:

• A portfolio with a clear social and digital emphasis, demonstrating both conceptual thinking and hands‑on production craft
• Hands‑on production skills: shooting, editing, retouching, and layout
• Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Premiere Pro, InDesign) and/or Final Cut Pro
• The ability to translate strategy into a visual idea, and a visual idea into polished, finished content
• A genuine understanding of culture — entertainment, sports, gaming, and emerging platforms — and how brands participate meaningfully within them
• Experience working in a social‑first or newsroom‑style creative environment
• Proficiency with Gen AI tools relevant to art direction and visual production, used to enhance output quality and efficiency
• Experience developing personal workflows to support ideation, concepting, and production
• Ability to critically evaluate AI outputs and apply considered human judgement
• Agentic approach to creative problem‑solving: breaking complex briefs into clear, actionable paths forward

Salary Range: $68,000 USD – $76,000 USD

Our values shape everything we do:

Be Ambitious to succeed

Be Imaginative to push the boundaries of what’s possible

Be Inspirational to do groundbreaking work

Be always learning and listening to understand

Be Results‑focused to exceed expectations

Be actively pro‑inclusive and anti‑racist across our community, clients, and creations

OLIVER, a part of the Brandtech Group, is an equal‑opportunity employer committed to creating an inclusive working environment where all employees are encouraged to reach their full potential, and individual differences are valued and respected. All applicants shall be considered for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, neurodivergence, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by local laws.

OLIVER has set ambitious environmental goals around sustainability, with science‑based emissions reduction targets. Collectively, we work towards our mission, embedding sustainability into every department and through every stage of the project lifecycle.