Creative Director

Stein.; New York (NY); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Stein. is seeking a seasoned Creative Director, Art & Design to set the visual and creative standard for work across Stein’s global B2B clients.

This role is hands-on, requiring strong design craft and leadership to concept and art direct large integrated ideas while also personally delivering design executions. You’ll translate strategy into distinctive visual storytelling, guide work from ideation to final production, and collaborate with writers, strategists, and other creative

Qualifications

• Minimum 10+ years of agency experience spanning design and art direction.
• Portfolio demonstrating exceptional personal design craft, not simply work created under your creative direction.
• Experience developing integrated campaign ideas from concept through execution.
• Strong visual taste and judgment with expertise in typography, imagery, composition, and contemporary visual culture.
• Deep understanding of brand identities, design systems, and how campaign ideas extend across channels.

Responsibilities

• Create & Design big, ownable campaign ideas and visual systems.
• Remain hands-on in the work, designing key executions when required and setting high craft standards.
• Lead creative development from concept through production and delivery.
• Direct photography, film, illustration, motion, and other forms of visual production.
• Present ideas and campaigns persuasively to senior clients and internal stakeholders.

Skills

Creative leadership

Art direction

Brand identities

Design systems

Typography

Visual storytelling

Concept development

Client facing presentation

Team collaboration

Tools

Adobe Creative Suite

Generative AI tools

Job description

As a Creative Director, Art & Design, you’ll help set the visual and creative standard for the work across Stein’s breadth of global B2B clients.

This is a hands-on creative role for someone who is as accomplished a designer as they are an art director. You’ll concept and art direct big integrated ideas, but you’ll also design — establishing visual systems, crafting key executions, and setting a level of design excellence others can follow.

Working closely with writers, designers, strategists, and other creative specialists, you’ll translate strategic thinking into distinctive ideas and powerful visual storytelling, guiding the work from first thought through final execution.

What You’ll Do

Create & Design

• Develop big, ownable campaign ideas in partnership with writers, contributing equally to the concept as well as its visual expression.
• Remain hands-on in the work, designing key executions and visual systems yourself when the assignment calls for it, not simply directing others.
• Set the visual bar through your own work as well as through the creative direction of designers, art directors, motion designers, and other specialists.
• Bring exceptional craft to typography, composition, imagery, identity, campaign design, and visual storytelling.
• Create visual systems that can extend coherently across film, digital, social, print, experiential, and other channels.
• Turn early-stage ideas into compelling creative presentations that make clients want to buy them.

Lead the Work

• Guide creative development from concept through production and delivery, ensuring the idea remains as strong in execution as it was on the page.
• Art direct photography, film, illustration, motion, and other forms of visual production.
• Give clear, actionable creative direction that makes both the work and the people creating it better.
• Champion a culture of high standards, experimentation, collaboration, and craft.

Client & Strategic Collaboration

• Present ideas and campaigns persuasively to senior clients and internal stakeholders.
• Partner with strategists to turn business and audience insights into strategically grounded creative ideas.
• Help clients see the creative opportunity in their business and guide them toward distinctive, effective creative decisions.
• Contribute to new‑business pitches and help define how Stein presents its creative thinking.
• Collaborate with senior creative leadership to continue raising Stein’s creative and design standards.

Push What’s Possible

• Bring a contemporary point of view to design, visual culture, and emerging creative technology.
• Incorporate generative AI and other new creative tools into the creative and production processes where they can make the thinking or execution better.
• Effectively direct specialists across motion, 3D, experiential, and emerging media.
• Help evolve Stein’s own visual identity and creative expression.

What We’re Looking For:

• Minimum 10+ years of agency experience spanning both design and art direction, with significant hands‑on experience as a designer.
• A portfolio demonstrating exceptional personal design craft, not simply work created under your creative direction.
• A background developing integrated campaign ideas from concept through execution.
• Exceptional visual taste and judgment, with a highly developed point of view on typography, imagery, composition, design, and contemporary visual culture.
• Deep understanding of brand identities, design systems, and how campaign ideas extend across channels.
• Strong conceptual thinking and the ability to develop ideas collaboratively with writers.
• Expert command of Adobe Creative Suite and fluency with the tools required to personally create and develop sophisticated design work.
• Experience art directing photography and film production.
• Fluency with contemporary creative workflows, including generative AI, and the ability to effectively direct motion, 3D, and other specialist disciplines.
• Strong client‑facing presentation skills and the ability to clearly articulate and defend creative decisions.
• Experience developing creative for global brands and/or across multiple markets is a plus.
• B2B experience is a plus. What matters most is the ability to bring consumer‑level creativity, craft, and ambition to complex brands and businesses.