Creative Director, Visual

ICF International; Reston (VA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

ICF Next in Reston, VA seeks a Creative Director who loves turning challenging briefs into inevitable ideas. You will lead creative across major client engagements, set the visual direction, and push the thinking to deliver compelling, integrated work.

You’ll be expected to mentor writers, designers, strategists and producers, shaping a strong creative culture at ICF Next while maintaining rigorous standards and client partnerships.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of creative experience in an agency, design studio or comparable environment, including senior-level creative leadership.
• A portfolio that shows exceptional conceptual thinking, art direction, design craft and integrated creative work.

Responsibilities

• Find the idea and turn complex briefs into original, compelling concepts.
• Set the visual direction and push the thinking across disciplines.
• Lead writers, designers, strategists and producers to deliver integrated work.
• Present ideas with clarity and conviction; build strong client relationships.

Skills

Creative leadership

Portfolio thinking

Job description

Some problems are too important for ordinary thinking.How do you change behavior at scale? Build trust when trust is hard to earn? Make something complicated feel simple? Get millions of people to see things differently-and do something about it?These are the kinds of problems we work on at ICF Next. The stakes are high. The answers aren't obvious. And the work has to do more than look good.

We're looking for a Creative Director who loves that kind of challenge. Someone with a restless imagination, exceptional instincts and the ability to turn a difficult brief into an idea that feels inevitable once you've seen it.

Someone who knows great creative work doesn't happen by accident. It takes curiosity, conviction, craft and people who care enough to keep pushing.

About ICF & ICF Next

ICF is a global consulting and technology services company working on some of the most pressing challenges facing businesses, governments and communities. From energy and climate to public health, infrastructure and government, our teams bring deep expertise to problems that don't have easy answers.

ICF Next brings creativity into that equation.

We're writers, designers, strategists, technologists and creative thinkers working together to help organizations connect with people and move them to action.

We have the creative ambition of an agency and access to the expertise of a global consultancy. That combination gives us an unusual opportunity: to understand difficult problems from the inside, find the human story and create work that makes a difference in the real world.There's no shortage of interesting briefs. The challenge is doing something extraordinary with them.

The Role

You'll lead creative across major client engagements, from the first conversation about a problem to the last detail of the finished work.You'll find the idea that makes everything click. Set the visual direction. Push the thinking. Bring writers, designers, strategists and producers together around a shared ambition.

The work spans integrated campaigns, brand experiences, film, digital, social, experiential and whatever else the idea calls for.

You’ll be expected to have a point of view, make decisions, challenge work that isn't good enough and know when to let a better idea win.

You’ll also help shape the creative culture at ICF Next. Not through speeches about excellence, but through the work you make, the standards you set and the people you help develop.

What You’ll Do

• Find the idea. Get beneath the brief, ask better questions and turn complicated challenges into original, compelling creative concepts.
• Set the standard. Bring a sharp eye, strong art direction and a deep respect for design, storytelling and execution. Care about the big idea and every detail that makes it work.
• Make people care. Take subjects that can be technical, sensitive or difficult to explain and make them clear, relevant and human.
• Think beyond the medium. Lead creative across digital, social, film, video, experiential, paid media, out-of-home and emerging platforms. Start with the idea, not the format.
• Make the team better. Inspire, mentor and challenge creatives. Give useful feedback. Recognize talent. Create the conditions for people to do the best work of their careers.
• Stand behind the work. Present ideas with clarity and conviction. Build relationships with clients. Know how to push without making it personal, and how to protect a strong idea while making it stronger.
• Get it made. Work across disciplines, manage competing priorities and navigate the realities of complex projects without losing sight of what made the idea worth pursuing.
• Stay curious. Explore new tools, technologies and ways of working, including AI, without confusing what’s new with what’s good.

Who You Are

• You came up through art direction or design, but you’ve never thought of yourself as just a visual person.
• You think in ideas. You understand the power of an image, the precision of a line of copy and the way everything comes together to tell a story.
• You have taste. You have opinions. You can explain both.
• You know the difference between a clever execution and a genuinely good idea. You can spot what’s missing, see what’s possible and help a team get there.
• You’re comfortable leading a room, but you listen. You know how to sell an idea without overselling it. And you’re not afraid to roll up your sleeves when the work needs you.
• You’ve worked on difficult briefs, with demanding clients and tight deadlines. You’ve learned that constraints aren’t an excuse for mediocre work.
• Most importantly, you still get excited when something great comes together. You haven’t lost the instinct to make it better.

What You Bring

Required Qualifications

• 12+ years of creative experience in an agency, design studio or comparable environment, including senior-level creative leadership.
• A portfolio that shows exceptional conceptual thinking, art direction, design craft and integrated creative work.