Art Director

Warner Music Group; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 97,000; Full time

Job summary

Warner Music Group is seeking a Retail Art Director to shape the visual language for artist merch and campaigns. You will lead art direction for collections, collaborating with in-house and freelance designers to translate artistic concepts into retail-ready visuals.

The role demands 4 days per week in the office, a strong eye for fashion and culture, and close work with artists, managers, and brand teams to ensure brand consistency across global retail partners.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of experience in art direction, graphic design, or brand design in retail, fashion, or corporate materials.
• Proven track record of trend forecasting and understanding of commercial retail landscapes.
• Expert-level layout and presentation skills with a portfolio showing clean, compelling visual storytelling.
• Ability to bridge conceptual ideas with business-driven targets.
• Passion for fashion, design, and music culture with retail-ready product ideas.

Responsibilities

• Develop visual language and mentor for merch collections and campaigns.
• Lead in-house and freelance designers to ensure visual consistency.
• Collaborate with artists, managers, and brand teams to translate aesthetics into designs.
• Guide production handoff, tech packs, and alignment with manufacturing capabilities.
• Stay ahead of fashion and design trends to inform artist collections.

Skills

Art direction

Graphic design

Brand design

Trend forecasting

Presentation skills

Tools

Adobe Creative Suite

Keynote/PowerPoint

Job description

At Warner Music Group, we’re a global collective of music makers and music lovers, tech innovators and inspired entrepreneurs, game-changing creatives and passionate team members. Here, we turn dreams into stardom and audiences into fans. We are guided by three core values that underpin everything we do across all our diverse businesses: Curiosity: We do our best work when we’re immersing ourselves in culture and breaking through barriers. Curiosity is the driving force behind creativity and ingenuity. It fuels innovation, and innovation is the key to our future. Collaboration: Making music and bringing it to the world is all about the power of originality amplified by teamwork. A great idea, like a great song, travels globally. We ignite passions and build connections across our diverse community of artists, songwriters, partners, and fans. Commitment: We pursue excellence for our team and our talent. Everything in music starts with a leap into the unknown, and we’re committed to keeping the faith, acting with integrity, and delivering on our promises.

WMG is home to a wide range of artists, musicians, and songwriters that fuel our success. That is why we are committed to creating a work environment that actively values, appreciates, and respects everyone. We encourage applications from people with a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences.

Consider a career at WMG and get the best of both worlds – an innovative global music company that retains the creative spirit of a nimble independent.

A little bit about our team:

WMX, Warner Music Group's culture-driving merchandise, creative content, and artist services division, is a global full-service team that offers creative direction, production services, and support for WMG licensed artists and labels.

As the Retail Art Director, you will step into a brand-new, highly strategic role designed to grow and develop our retail business strategy as a whole. You will act as the vital creative bridge on our team, working directly with our Creative Directors to align on artistic vision, while collaborating hand-in-hand with our Retail Sales team to build bespoke presentations for global retail partners. Your work will directly impact how our entire artist roster breaks into major retail spaces, transforming creative concepts into massive commercial realities.

Your role: As Art Director at WMX, you’ll bring our artists’ visual worlds to life across music, fashion, and culture. You’ll focus directly on developing visual concepts, leading art direction for merch collections, and collaborating closely with both in-house talent and freelance creators. This role is fast-paced, hands-on, and deeply plugged into culture. You’ll be turning artist identities into compelling, fan-obsessed merchandise and visual assets across our roster.

Here you’ll get to:

• Develop Visual & Art Direction: Create the visual language and offer creative mentorship for merch collections and campaigns. Confirm every concept reflects the artist's identity and resonates with their fanbase. Lead the visual invention and curation of merchandise lines for artists represented by our company. Progress collections from initial aesthetic moodboards to fully realized visual concepts.
• Guide In-House & Freelance Designers: Source, brief, and direct internal designers, outside studios, and specialized freelancers (illustrators, typographers, graphic designers). Provide clear feedback to elevate output and ensure visual consistency across all assets.
• Partner with Artists & Management: Work directly with artists, managers, and internal brand teams to understand aesthetic goals and translate them into cohesive visual designs. Ensure Visual Quality & Brand Consistency: Review and refine all art deliverables to ensure high aesthetic standards, on-brief execution, and visual harmony across product lineups.
• Collaborate with Production & Operations: Partner with production teams to manage asset handover, review tech packs, and refine designs to align with physical production capabilities without compromising creative vision.
• Stay Ahead of Visual & Fashion Trends: Maintain a deep awareness of emerging fashion, music, design, and subculture trends, continually infusing fresh visual ideas into our artist collections.

About you:

• You have 4-6+ years of experience in art direction, graphic design, or brand design, preferably within retail, fashion, or corporate pitch-deck creation.
• You have a proven track record of trend forecasting and a deep understanding of commercial retail landscapes and consumer behavior.
• You have expert-level layout and presentation skills, with a portfolio that proves you can turn complex strategies into clean, beautiful, and compelling visual stories.
• You enjoy acting as a bridge between highly conceptual creative ideas and business-driven commercial targets.
• You are passionate about emerging fashion, design, and music culture, and you instinctively know how to translate those movements into retail-ready product ideas.

We’d love it if you also had:

• You have expert knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign) and key presentation platforms like Keynote or PowerPoint.
• You have a deep passion for fashion and product design
• You have experience designing mockups for apparel, retail packaging, or point-of-sale displays.
• You have a passion for emerging creative tools, trends, and technologies (AI, AR, motion, etc.) and how they can elevate storytelling

As the home to 10K Projects, Asylum, Atlantic Music Group, East West, FFRR, Fueled by Ramen, Nonesuch, Parlophone, Rhino, Roadrunner, Sire, Warner Records, Warner Classics, and several other of the world’s premier recording labels, Warner Music Group champions emerging artists and global superstars alike.

And our renowned publishing company, Warner Chappell Music, represents genre-spanning songwriters and producers through a catalog of more than one million copyrights worldwide.

Warner Music Group is also home to ADA, which supports the independent community, as well as artist services division WMX.

In addition, WMG counts film and television storytelling powerhouse Warner Music Entertainment among its many brands.

Together, we are Warner Music Group: Independent Minds. Major Sound.

This position requires a minimum of 4 days per week in the office.

#LI-Onsite Salary Range: $90,000 to $97,000 Annually Salary ranges are included for job postings where required by law. The actual base pay is dependent upon many factors, such as work experience and business needs. The pay range is subject to change at any time dependent on a variety of internal and external factors.

Warner Music Group is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Links to relevant documents: 2026 Benefits At A Glance final.pdf EVerify Participation Poster.pdf Right To Work .pdf

We love it here, and think you will, too.

Thanks for your interest in working for WMG. We love it here, and think you will, too.

Consider a career at WMG and be a part of one of the biggest forces in music today.