Creative Director

Happy Cog; Northern (KY); Remote; USD 140,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Retirement plan

Paid parental leave

Paid time off

Job summary

Happy Cog is seeking a Creative Director to lead design engagements end to end, from initial sales conversations to developer handoff. You will guide content-heavy digital platforms, complex sites, and editorial workflows, translating client dialogue into design systems for execution.

You will shape strategy in discovery, drive system development, and stay hands-on through launch. The role emphasizes strong client storytelling and collaboration with content strategists and developers.

Qualifications

• Substantial experience leading digital design engagements for complex content-driven products.
• Portfolio demonstrates strategic range, not just visuals.
• Comfort moving between systems thinking and screen-level craft.
• Strong presentation skills to explain decisions to non-designers.
• Experience collaborating with content strategists and developers as peers.
• Collaborative and resilient under pressure.

Responsibilities

• Join sales calls early to shape framing and strategy.
• Lead discovery workshops and stakeholder interviews pre‑work, shape direction.
• Carry design thinking through concept, system development, and launch.
• Specialize in content-centric digital experiences and editorial workflows.
• Lead brand conversations when needed and maintain brand literacy.
• Present work to clients with clarity and confidence.

Skills

Digital design leadership

Strategic portfolio

Systems thinking

Presentation skills

Collaboration with content strategists

Composure under pressure

Job description

Job title: Creative Director

Department: Design

Manager: Executive Design Director

Position Summary:

Happy Cog is hiring a Creative Director to lead design engagements end to end, from the first sales call through the final developer handoff. You'll work on content-heavy digital experiences, complex sites, platforms, and applications where editorial thinking and design craft have to move together.

The role sits at the center of how we sell, scope, and ship work, so it requires someone who can hold a strategic conversation with a prospective client and then translate that conversation into a design system a team can build against.

Key Responsibilities:

• Join sales calls early, often before a proposal is written, and help shape how we frame the work. Listen for what a prospective client is actually asking for, identify where their stated problem and their real problem diverge, and contribute to the strategic thinking that wins the engagement.
• Lead discovery once the work is signed. Run workshops, interview stakeholders, interrogate content and analytics, and shape the strategic direction before a single pixel moves.
• Carry that thinking through concept, design system development, and production. Stay hands-on through developer handoff and launch.
• Specialize in digital experiences where content is central to the design problem: publishing platforms, knowledge repositories, complex marketing sites, and product interfaces tied to editorial workflows.
• Lead brand conversations when the scope calls for it. Brand literacy is expected, even if brand isn't your primary discipline.
• Present your work to clients in a way that builds confidence. Our process is collaborative and transparent by design. Big reveals aren't part of how we work.

Skills & Qualifications:

Happy Cog's working culture is built around the idea that joy and rigor are compatible, and we expect our leaders to hold both. The specific skills we're looking for:

• Substantial experience leading digital design engagements for complex content-driven products
• A portfolio that demonstrates strategic range, not just visual range
• Comfort moving between systems thinking and individual screen craft
• Strong presentation skills, including the ability to walk a non-designer through why a decision was made
• Experience working with content strategists and developers as peers, not dependencies
• A collaborative posture that holds up under pressure

Salary range: $140,000 - $170,000 per year, depending on experience

What we offer:

• Healthy work/life balance
• A creative environment to do the best work of your career
• An amazing team of developers, designers, marketers, and project managers.
• Paid Parental Leave
• Paid vacation and sick time off
• Health, Dental, and Vision insurance
• Retirement plan with company matching

About Happy Cog:

Happy Cog is a growing interactive agency of 70+ people, all working 100% remotely.

We design, develop, and market websites and mobile apps for a wide variety of clients -- everyone from small startups, to Fortune 100s. Projects we've recently worked on have included online ordering platforms for restaurants, custom content management systems for law firms, an economic mobility research platform, and many more.

We are looking for great people to join our team, so if you don't check all the boxes, but believe you can do the job, reach out and tell us why – your experience might be just what we're looking for!

Happy Cog is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without regard to race, color, religion or belief, sex, age, national origin, citizenship status, marital status, protected veteran status, genetics, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, physical or mental disability.

We are also proud to have been on the Inc 5000 list of America's fastest growing companies for 7 years in a row! For more information go to our website: https://www.happycog.com.