Creative Director (remote US)

HarperCollins Publishers; United States; Remote; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Retirement plan

Wellbeing programs

Job summary

HarperCollins Publishers seeks a Creative Director to lead the Direct-to-Consumer creative team, delivering compelling visuals for DTC channels and collaborating with Brand, Platform and Publishing teams to grow our business.

You will guide internal and external designers, ensure high-quality output, and keep brand consistency across initiatives. This role blends creative leadership with strategic execution in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in graphic or interactive design with ecommerce/performance focus.
• 3+ years managing internal and external resources to hit timelines and budget.
• Proficiency with Adobe and Canva tool suites.
• Experience with AI design tools for concepting and refinement.
• Ability to influence stakeholders and align creative strategy with business goals.
• Understanding best practices for performance-focused digital marketing creative.
• Knowledge of UI/UX trends that drive CTR/CVR/ROAS in DTC.
• Empathy for end users; design as a visual communication medium.
• Ability to create and evaluate design and copy.
• Solutions-oriented and collaborative approach.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Direct-to-Consumer creative function, balancing individual and manager roles.
• Ensure brand consistency across channels and partners; QC concepts and execution.
• Assign work to resources based on project needs and drive excellence.
• Lead development of brand guidelines and their continual evolution.
• Identify opportunities to improve output and processes for future demands.
• Balance creative vision with business objectives and priorities.
• Collaborate with Brand and Platform teams to shape creative direction.
• Attend meetings, pitch concepts, and monitor project progress.
• Stay updated on innovations and industry trends.
• Train and develop team members' technical skills.
• Contribute to organizational learnings and process improvements.
• Lead with passion, coaching career direction and performance.

Skills

Portfolio

Experience with ecommerce/performance

Resource management

Adobe/Canva

AI creative tools (Sora/Nano Banana)

Stakeholder influence

UI/UX performance trends

End-user empathy

Design & copy evaluation

Collaborative mindset

Tools

Sora

Nano Banana

Job description

Overview

The Creative Director will be responsible for leading the day-to-day operations of the Direct-to-Consumer creative team, including managing and both internal and external resources. They will also be responsible for executing all creative for HarperCollins US DTC marketing channels. This role will work closely and collaboratively with Brand, Platform and Publishing teams to create visual communications to support and grow our DTC businesses. The Creative Director will lead the creative development process, providing direction and constructive feedback to internal and external design resources to deliver consistent, high-performing creative for the business.

Responsibilities

• Leads creative function for Direct-to-Consumer brands and channels, working as both an individual contributor, as well as a manager of internal and external resources.
• Ensures a high standard and quality of work, delivering on consistency in brand look, feel, and experience, regardless of assigned resource; provide creative quality control over concepts and execution.
• Assigns requested work to the appropriate resource based on project needs, and inspires excellence in outcome by providing direction and constructive feedback, while meeting the needs of the requesting partners
• Lead the creation, execution, and continual evolution of brand guidelines.
• Identify opportunities to improve creative output and process, and provide recommendations to develop the creative team to meet future demands.
• Helps the team balance creative vision with business objectives and priorities.
• Works closely with the Brand and Platform teams to develop and interpret a clear creative vision.
• Attends meetings, handle cross-team interaction, pitch concepts in a compelling manner; communicate and monitor project progress.
• Stays up to date with new innovations and industry trends.
• Trains and support team members in developing and deepening their technical skills.
• Contributes to organizational learnings and process improvement.
• Leads with passion, guide & coach the team on career direction, development, growth and performance.

Qualifications

• Portfolio demonstrating performance-driven digital and e-commerce creative required
• 8+ years experience in graphic design and/or interactive design with at least 3 years of experience working with a focus on an e-commerce and/or performance marketing design.
• 3+ years experience managing both internal and external resources to hit quality, budget and timeline requirements.
• Expertise with Adobe and Canva’s full suite of creative tools (or similar)
• Expertise with (and enthusiasm for) leveraging AI creative tools (e.g. Sora, Nano Banana) for concepting and refining designs.
• Proven ability to influence stakeholders and align creative strategy with business goals
• Portfolio demonstrating performance-driven digital and e-commerce creative
• Understanding best practices for performance-focused digital marketing creative
• Staying up on industry trends around best UI and UX practices and what drives design performance (e.g., CTR, CVR, ROAS) in a direct-to-consumer environment
• Empathy for our end consumer, always thinking about design as a visual medium for communication.
• Ability to both create and evaluate design and copy
• Solutions-oriented and collaborative approach

The salary range for this position is $120,000-160,000. We recognize that attracting the best talent is key to our strategy and success as a company. As a result, we aim for flexibility in structuring competitive compensation offers to ensure we are able to attract the best candidates. The quoted salary range represents our good faith estimate as to what our ideal candidates are likely to expect, and we tailor our offers within the range based on the selected candidate's experience, industry knowledge, technical and communication skills, and other factors that may prove relevant during the interview process.

In addition to cash compensation, the company provides a comprehensive and highly competitive benefits package, with a variety of physical health, retirement and savings, caregiving, emotional wellbeing, transportation, and other benefits, including "elective" benefits employees may select to best fit the needs and personal situations of our diverse workforce.

HarperCollins Publishers is an equal opportunity employer.

HarperCollins Publishers is committed to providing reasonable accommodation for qualified individuals with disabilities, in our job application and/or interview process. If you need assistance or accommodation in completing your application, due to a disability, email us at [e-mail]. Note: we will only respond to accommodation requests.