Associate Creative Director

Fireside at Five; United States; On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Fireside at Five is seeking an Associate Creative Director to lead client work from kickoff to launch, setting the strategy and directing a team across identity systems, campaigns, environments, and packaging. They own the creative direction and ensure a cohesive brand language.

This role demands 7+ years in branding, strong art direction, and confident client leadership. You’ll mentor designers, critique work, manage shoots, and drive conversations that push boundaries while delivering

Qualifications

• 7+ years in branding and design with ownership of accounts.
• 2–3 years directing work of other designers.
• Portfolio showing complete brand systems across identity, guidelines, packaging, and campaigns.

Responsibilities

• Define strategy and creative direction for brand platforms and touchpoints.
• Lead the design team from concept to delivery, including shoots and production.
• Present and defend creative rationale to clients and manage feedback.
• Ensure consistency across identity, packaging, and environmental design.
• Mentor designers and lead internal critiques.
• Maintain project timelines and coordinate with project management.

Skills

Brand strategy

Art direction

Team leadership

Client management

Brand systems

Tools

Adobe Creative Suite

Figma

Canva

Slack

Monday.com

Webflow

Mailchimp

Job description

Fireside at Five is an award-winning, strategic creative agency specializing in branding, marketing, and experiential activation for a wide range of clients. We’re passionate about storytelling, culture-building, and crafting campaigns that create real impact. Our agency thrives on collaboration, creative excellence, and a personalized approach to every project.

ROLE OVERVIEW

The Associate Creative Director at Fireside at Five is the day-to-day creative leader of our client work. They own the creative from kickoff through launch: setting the strategy and direction, leading the designers who execute it, and carrying the vision to the client. On their accounts, they are the creative authority and the person accountable for the result.

They are a multidisciplinary creative who can bring a brand to life in any medium, from identity systems and campaigns to environments and packaging. They think in systems rather than single outputs, so every touchpoint builds upon one coherent world.

This role directs and makes. The ACD determines the strategy and visual approach and defines the design language. Most days, they’re directing the team in bringing it to life. Other days, they are deep in the identity building themselves.

KEY QUALIFICATIONS

7+ years in branding and design, with at least 2–3 years directing the work of other designers. Experience taking full ownership of accounts.

Deep Passion for Brand Building

A strong, informed passion for building brands with longevity and meaning, particularly within hospitality, placemaking, F&B, and CPG.

Strategic & Conceptual Thinking

Able to move fluidly between strategy and craft: translating research, positioning, and audience insight into brand platforms and visual directions that hold up over time.

A portfolio demonstrating complete brand systems: identity, toolkits, guidelines, environmental and packaging applications, campaigns, and launch collateral.

Client Command

Confident and credible in front of clients. Comfortable leading meetings, presenting and defending creative rationale, navigating feedback, handling difficult conversations, and keeping relationships strong without deferring upward.

Genuinely invested in growing individual designers and a creative team. Gives specific and actionable feedback and knows how to teach without taking over the work.

Art Direction

Strong art direction instincts for photo and video, including shoot concepting, styling, and on-set leadership.

Platform Mastery

Highly proficient in Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, After Effects), Figma, and Canva. Experience with Slack, Monday.com, Webflow, and Mailchimp strongly preferred.

Takes direction as well as they give it. They hear the CCO without defensiveness, direct designers without diminishing them, and let the best idea win regardless of whose it was. Genuinely curious about perspectives unlike their own, including from people outside the creative department. In short, they’re a team player.

Remote Leadership & Accountability

Thrives in a remote environment while modeling accountability, clear communication, strong time management, and proactive problem-solving. Manages their own workload and oversees their team’s without being asked.

Boundary-Pushing Creativity

Embodies our culture’s spirit of playful creativity. Strives to innovate and experiment, knowing when to challenge conventions and explore original directions.

Detail-Oriented

Excellent attention to detail, serving as the final creative approval before work reaches a client, catching what’s off in concept, accuracy, and craft.

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES

Brand Strategy

• Participate in brand research and discovery: consumer surveys, market and cultural insight work, competitive audits, and client immersion sessions.
• Plan and participate in brand workshops with clients, supporting the CCO and copywriter in translating what surfaces into a clear strategic direction.
• Understand and contribute ideas to the brand strategy on assigned accounts – positioning, brand platforms, brand architecture, and the strategic rationale that everything downstream is built against.

Brand Direction

• Define the creative direction that translates strategy into a visual and verbal world: the concept, the territory, the unique point of view.
• Brief the Art Director and Designer on toolkit development (color, logo systems, graphic elements, typography, pattern, illustration, photography style) and direct, critique, and approve that work as it develops. Support in the brand design execution when necessary or when time allows.
• Hold the through-line across every touchpoint, ensuring the brand reads as one intentional system rather than a set of individually good pieces.
• Approve brand guidelines and toolkits before they reach a client, ensuring the built system faithfully expresses the strategy behind it.

Shoot Direction

• Set the art direction (concept, mood, and styling) for photo and video shoots
• Brief the Art Director, Designer, or Design Intern on shoot guide development (shot lists, mood boards, outfit guides, logistics), then review and approve before the shoot.
• Support CCO in leading on-site shoot days, directing the photographer, videographer, and models.
• Guide selects, edit direction, and final asset review to ensure the captured work delivers on the original direction.

Environmental, Packaging & Design Language

• Define the design language for environmental signage, wayfinding, packaging, print collateral, menus, large-format materials, and event and experiential branding.
• Set direction on materiality, form, application, and production approach — then direct the Art Director and Designer through execution and extension of that language across the full deliverable set.
• Give final creative approval on production-ready files before they go to print or fabrication.
• Serve as the direct creative leader for the Designer and Design Intern, assigning work, setting direction, balancing schedules and bandwidth, and providing consistent feedback and mentorship.
• Write clear, complete creative briefs so the team has what it needs to work autonomously.
• Review all collateral and assets produced on their accounts (identity decks, brand guidelines, signage and wayfinding, packaging and dielines, event materials, digital ads), ensuring accuracy in information, spelling, and grammar alongside Fireside’s standards of craft.
• Lead internal critiques and creative reviews, providing clear rationale and direction rather than only reaction.
• Identify when work is off-track early and course-correct, escalating to the CCO when direction needs to change.
• Partner with the Project Manager to keep creative timelines, capacity, and hand-offs realistic and on schedule.
• Serve as the creative lead and primary day-to-day contact on assigned accounts.
• Prepare agendas for and lead client meetings and presentations; Ensure follow-up notes and recaps get sent, and review resulting tasks in Monday once added by the Project Manager.
• Navigate client feedback thoughtfully, protecting the integrity of the work while keeping the relationship strong and the project moving.
• Maintain responsive, professional, and warm communication via email, Slack, and video calls.
• Flag scope changes, budget risk, and out-of-scope requests to the CCO and Project Manager early, and support scope conversations with clear creative reasoning.

Craft Standards & Creative Operations

• Uphold and help evolve Fireside’s creative standards, templates, and file systems
• Partner with the CCO to improve creative workflows, review cadences, and standard operating procedures as the department grows.
• Stay innately curious and proactive in researching cultural trends, design movements, and industry shifts to keep our work fresh, relevant, and forward-thinking.

BENEFITS

By working at Fireside, you'll join a team of curious, passionate, and inventive thinkers who believe in the power of design to shape experiences. At Fireside at Five, you’ll have the opportunity to work on diverse projects that define brands and engage communities. If you’re a strategic creative leader who thrives in a collaborative, fast-paced environment, we’d love to hear from you.