Creative Director / Story Crafter

Sauna; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 220,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Health insurance

401(k)

PTO

Gym budget

Lunch

Job summary

Sauna by Wordware is seeking a story crafter who owns the narrative of Sauna in the world and shapes it with a distinctive POV. You will craft visuals that capture the human reason behind the story, then drive motion design, editing, and publication with hands‑on involvement.

The role emphasizes end‑to‑end production, Instagram direction, and building repeatable systems to output high‑volume, high‑taste content in a fast-moving startup environment.

Qualifications

• Storytelling ability with demonstrated success in moving audiences.
• Strong motion-design chops, including modern AI-era workflows.
• Experience editing video and delivering polished narratives.

Responsibilities

• Define the narrative of Sauna in the world and sharpen it with your POV.
• Create visuals that convey the story and move audiences.
• End-to-end motion and video production: concept, shoot, edit, publish.
• Set visual direction for Instagram and social channels for coherence.
• Build scalable creative pipelines to ship high-volume, high-quality output.

Skills

Storytelling

Motion design

Video editing

HTML/CSS/Code

AI tooling pipelines

Tools

Claude Code

Job description

Important Information

• This is a full‑time, in‑person role based in San Francisco (Presidio) – we work from the office 5 days a week.

• You must be based in the Bay Area or willing to relocate before starting.

• We require US work authorisation, but are open to O-1 or J-1 visa sponsorship for exceptional candidates.

About Sauna by Wordware

Most AI products hand you a coworker on day one and hope you trust it. Sauna is the coworker you raise: it starts by learning how you work, earns autonomy task by task, and ends up running hours of work on its own while you keep taste, review, and the final say. Wordware is the ~20‑person team behind it, backed by Spark Capital, Felicis, and Y Combinator with a $30M seed, the largest in YC history. We build from a San Francisco office in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge, and we work absurdly hard because we can see and feel the outcome every day.

About the Role:

We're the first multiplayer AI, and our product is years ahead of how we tell its story. Ship something remarkable most weeks and it barely leaves the building. That's the gap you close.

We're looking for a story crafter. Not a video editor, not a social manager, not a brand cop. Someone who owns the narrative of what Sauna is in the world: pulls it out of the founder's head, adds their own taste, and pushes it out until people feel it. You tell that story beautifully with visuals: motion, film, and the whole creative surface.

What You'll Do:

• The narrative of Sauna, in the world: extract the story from the founder + product, sharpen it with your own POV, make it land everywhere.
• The story, told in visuals: find the human reason anyone should care, then make it move people. The heart of the role.
• Motion + video, end to end: concept, shoot, motion design, edit, publish. Hands‑on in the timeline.
• Instagram + our social presence: set the visual/editorial direction and keep it coherent.
• Creative pipelines that output at volume: build repeatable systems (Sauna itself, Claude Code, AI tooling) so we ship a lot, fast. Volume with taste.

Who You Are:

• Crafts stories that move people; can point to work that traveled and say why it worked.
• Real motion‑design chops — and in the AI era that now includes HTML/CSS/code, not just After Effects/C4D/Blender.
• Could be the creator, not just the director (Johnny Harris style), or cast + direct one. Either way knows what makes that video work.
• Has built with Claude Code (or similar) + AI creative tooling — wired up their own pipelines, not just prompted once.
• Takes an idea from zero to published without being managed there.

Compensation & Benefits:

Base salary: $120K–$220K + meaningful early‑stage equity + health, dental, 401(k), considerable PTO, gym budget, lunch.

The Process:

We keep our process simple. Exceptional candidates go from first touch to offer within 2 weeks.

1. Application: Submit your resume and answer a few short questions.
2. 15‑minute intro call: Quick check to align on location, motivation, and logistics. If it’s a go, we move fast from here.
3. Portfolio review & craft interview: Walk us through your work and the decisions behind it.
4. Final conversation: We answer your questions and scope out the work trial.
5. Work trial: Paid, in person, usually a few days to two weeks. You work on a real project with us. See how we work and see if it fits, both sides.