Creative Director

Mpa Inc; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

MPA Inc is seeking a versatile Creative Director (Manager) to lead the design of visuals across federal programs, ensuring accessibility and brand alignment while delivering production-ready assets for digital, print, social media, and presentations. You will guide creative direction and mentor teams across channels.

As part of a multidisciplinary team, you will translate insights with researchers, strategists, and writers into compelling visual solutions, maintain asset libraries, and ensure

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in graphic design, visual communications, digital art, multimedia design, fine arts, or related field.
• 10+ years of experience developing visual communications and graphic design solutions.
• Strong portfolio in visual storytelling, branding, and digital content creation.
• Proficient in Adobe Creative Cloud apps (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign).
• Excellent typography, layout, color theory, and design principles.
• Organized with attention to detail and brand consistency across projects.
• Experience collaborating with multidisciplinary teams.
• Federal government or mission-driven communications experience preferred.

Responsibilities

• Shape the creative direction for a broad portfolio of behavior-change campaigns.
• Adapt existing assets across formats, platforms, aspect ratios, and channels while maintaining brand integrity.
• Design high-quality assets (infographics, social posts, presentations) communicating complex information.
• Apply visual design decisions, finalize layouts, typography, color treatments, and formatting.
• Collaborate with strategists, researchers, writers, and others to translate insights into visuals.
• Produce and maintain assets aligned with brand guidelines, accessibility standards, and usability.
• Lead creative reviews and feedback sessions while maintaining design integrity.
• Perform QA reviews for layout, spacing, typography, color consistency, and formatting.
• Build, lead, and mentor teams; drive cross-functional collaboration for cohesive brand narratives.
• Manage multiple design projects while meeting deadlines and maintaining quality.
• Prepare files for print production with correct specs and color profiles.
• Maintain organized asset libraries, templates, and version control.
• Stay current on design trends and AI-enabled creative tools.

Skills

Visual storytelling

Branding

Adobe CC

Typography & layout

Cross-functional

Security clearance

Multidisciplinary

Government experience

10+ years exp

Education

Bachelor’s degree in graphic design or related field

Tools

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Photoshop

InDesign

Job description

This position is contingent upon contract award.

About the role

MPA is seeking a versatile Creative Director (Manager) to support the delivery of high-quality creative and communications products across a portfolio of federal programs. Working collaboratively with multidisciplinary teams, you will develop creative concepts and produce polished, production-ready assets for digital, print, social media, presentations, and campaign materials. You will also ensure visual consistency, technical accuracy, accessibility compliance, 508 compliance, and brand alignment across a wide range of communications products.

The responsibilities of this position include:

• Shape the creative direction for a broad portfolio of behavior-change campaigns


• Adapt existing creative assets across multiple formats, platforms, aspect ratios, and channel requirements while maintaining visual consistency and brand integrity


• Design high-quality assets (e.g., infographics, social media posts, and presentations) that communicate complex information through compelling visual storytelling


• Apply visual design decisions, finalize layouts, typography, color treatments, graphic elements, and formatting details to ensure creative outputs meet brand enterprise standards


• Collaborate with strategists, researchers, writers, and others to translate insights and ideas into compelling visual solutions


• Produce and maintain assets that align with established creative and brand guidelines, visual identity systems, accessibility requirements, and usability standards


• Lead creative reviews and feedback sessions, incorporating input while maintaining design integrity and quality


• Perform detailed quality assurance reviews to verify accuracy in layout, spacing, alignment, typography, color consistency, formatting, and more


• Build, lead, and mentor exceptional teams, ensuring the work meets high standards of craft and impact across multiple channels, and drive cross-functional collaboration for cohesive brand narratives


• Manage multiple design projects simultaneously while meeting deadlines and maintaining attention to detail


• Prepare files for print production, ensuring correct specifications, resolution, color profiles, and production requirements are met


• Maintain organized asset libraries, templates, project files, and version control


• Stay current on emerging design trends, artificial intelligence-enabled creative tools, visual communications best practices, and evolving creative and digital platforms

The ideal candidate will have the following:

• Bachelor’s degree in graphic design, visual communications, digital art, multimedia design, fine arts, or a related field


• 10+ years of experience developing visual communications, translating complex concepts into graphic design solutions, brand assets, or multimedia content


• Strong creative portfolio demonstrating expertise in graphic design, visual storytelling, branding, and digital content creation


• Proficiency in Adobe Creative Cloud, including Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, and related design tools


• Strong understanding of typography, layout, color theory, visual hierarchy, and design principles


• Strong organizational skills as well as attention to detail and commitment to quality, consistency, and brand alignment across multiple projects


• Experience collaborating with multidisciplinary teams across creative, communications, strategy, and other project functions


• Experience supporting federal government or mission-driven communications programs is preferred


• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. federal government security clearance