Brand Creative Director: Strategy, Design & Growth

Mary Square, LLC; Apex (NC); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Mary Square, LLC in Apex, NC is seeking a Creative Director to translate the brand vision into compelling, commercially relevant creative across product, print, packaging, merchandising, and brand storytelling. This hands-on leader blends strategic thinking with design execution and mentors the creative team.

You will develop seasonal concepts and artwork, guide production-ready designs, and collaborate with leadership to ensure brand integrity across wholesale and direct-to-consumer channels.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design, Fine Arts, Visual Communications, or a related field preferred.
• 8–10+ years of progressive design and creative experience within consumer products, lifestyle brands, fashion, accessories, gift, home décor, or retail, including experience leading creative initiatives or teams.
• Strong portfolio demonstrating hands-on design execution, original artwork and print development, seasonal creative direction, and cohesive brand development.
• Expert proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite, with the ability and willingness to work directly in design files and produce high-quality artwork.
• Demonstrated knowledge of artwork development, revisions, production requirements, and the details needed to bring creative work to market.
• Experience providing day-to-day creative direction, mentoring designers, and managing freelance creative partners.
• Understanding of wholesale, specialty retail, and direct-to-consumer business models.
• Strong project management, communication, collaboration, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to balance creative ambition and commercial needs while meeting seasonal deadlines.

Responsibilities

• Translate Mary Square’s brand positioning, customer insights, business priorities, and emerging trends into actionable seasonal creative direction.
• Develop seasonal concepts, color stories, print directions, artwork themes, and visual references that guide product development and brand expression.
• Research trends across fashion, accessories, gift, home décor, lifestyle, color, pattern, and retail, identifying opportunities relevant to Mary Square’s customers and wholesale business.
• Balance trend relevance and creative innovation with the brand’s established identity, assortment, price points, and customer expectations.
• Identify opportunities to refresh existing creative, develop new artwork directions, and evaluate potential brand extensions, collaborations, and complementary categories.
• Partner with leadership and cross-functional teams to ensure creative decisions support seasonal priorities, product performance, and long-term brand growth.
• Ensure artwork, packaging, graphics, photography and showroom plans and visual materials feel connected across customer touchpoints while meeting the distinct needs of wholesale and direct-to-consumer channels.
• Support product storytelling through cohesive naming, messaging, packaging, and presentation.
• Mentor and guide team members while establishing clear expectations for originality, brand alignment, design quality, attention to detail, and production readiness.
• Allocate creative assignments based on team capacity, seasonal deadlines, and business needs; identify and resolve workflow or execution challenges early.
• Manage freelance creative resources and improve creative workflows, file organization, and handoff processes to support efficient, consistent execution.
• Partner with Marketing to develop integrated campaigns that effectively communicate the brand voice for all Mary Square brands.
• Provide creative direction for digital marketing, email campaigns, paid advertising, social media, influencer partnerships, and brand collaborations.
• Support key customer meetings and strategic presentations when appropriate.

Skills

Creative direction

Brand strategy

Leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Mentoring

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design

Tools

Adobe Creative Suite

Job description

Mary Square, LLC in Apex, NC is seeking a Creative Director to translate the brand vision into compelling, commercially relevant creative across product, print, packaging, merchandising, and brand storytelling. This hands-on leader blends strategic thinking with design execution and mentors the creative team.

You will develop seasonal concepts and artwork, guide production-ready designs, and collaborate with leadership to ensure brand integrity across wholesale and direct-to-consumer channels.