Creative Director, Visual Media Strategy (Product, Design & Marketing)

Apple Inc.; Culver City (CA); On-site; USD 205,800 - 378,800; Full time

Job summary

Apple Inc. in Culver City is seeking a Creative Director, Visual Media Strategy to lead a new multidisciplinary team focused on photo, video, illustration, and generative content across Apple services.

This leadership role sets the creative bar, editorial POV, and the systems that scale content across surfaces. You will shape visual strategy, guide licensing and art buying, establish workflows and governance, and partner with Brand, Design, Data Science, and international teams to ensure

Qualifications

• 12+ years in visual media leadership within creatively driven environments.
• Strong editorial judgment and ability to set creative direction for a large brand or product ecosystem.
• Experience building and directing visual content strategy across large-scale media libraries or digital platforms.
• Proven people leadership: experience managing and unifying creative teams.
• Ability to synthesize domain expertise with business needs to identify improvements and drive them to completion.
• Experience defining or evolving a visual media strategy that influenced product direction or user engagement.
• Clear, effective communicator with experience presenting to senior leadership and aligning partners.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the organization's leading voice on visual trends and cultural shifts.
• Define and stand up a new visual strategy function with operating model and priorities.
• Partner with Brand and Design to interpret brand vision and push execution.
• Define AI tool integration into curation workflows and set quality standards.
• Contribute creative direction to high-visibility projects across photography, video, and generative art.
• Direct the curation and evaluation of multimedia with high taste and inclusivity.
• Oversee art buying: sourcing, licensing, and creation of original artwork, including AI-generated content.
• Guide curation using performance metrics and product priorities.

Skills

visual media leadership

editorial judgment

visual content strategy

people leadership

business alignment

visual media strategy

communication to leadership

Job description

Culver City, California, United States Software and Services

At Apple, extraordinary ideas become products, services, and experiences that shape culture. Bring passion and precision to your craft, and there’s no limit to what you can build. The Content Design team supports Apple Services and defines the content experience across some of Apple's most visible products. We focus on how people consume, create, and connect across all our applications. We’re looking for a Creative Director, Visual Media Strategy to lead a new team centered on the creative and editorial strategy for photo, video, illustration, and generative visual content across Apple services. This is a leadership and strategy role. You’ll head a new practice that brings together experts in visual trend forecasting, imagery curation, research & licensing, and art buying and you’ll define how this new team operates. You'll set the creative bar, the editorial point of view, and the systems that let exceptional visual content reach every surface. Your scope starts focused on key services and scales from there.

Description

The right person has exceptional taste and strong strategic instinct. You anticipate shifts in the visual landscape before they fully emerge, translate cultural and product signals into clear direction, and know how to make generative AI a serious tool within each domain area to drive ever-better work. And you know how to bring people along with you, nurturing talent and paving new ways of working.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the organization's leading voice on visual trends, emerging aesthetics, and cultural shifts. Translate those insights into actionable creative direction for your teams.
• Define and stand up a new visual strategy function: set its operating model, priorities, and output standards.
• Partner with Brand and Design to interpret brand vision and push creative execution further.
• Define how generative AI tools integrate into existing curation, research, licensing, and art buying workflows. Set quality, ethical, and brand-integrity standards for their use.
• Contribute creative direction to high-visibility projects across photography, video, and generative art.
• Direct the curation and evaluation of photo, video, illustration, and multimedia, holding a high bar for taste, originality, inclusivity, and technical execution.
• Oversee art buying: sourcing, commissioning, licensing, and creation of original artwork and illustration, including through generative AI workflows.
• Guide curation informed by performance metrics, cultural insights, and product priorities, supporting evergreen needs and seasonal or tentpole moments.
• Develop repeatable programming concepts and signature collection approaches that build identity and amplify launches across the app ecosystem.
• Maintain deep knowledge of the commercial art landscape. Proactively identify illustrators, visual trends, and emerging creative approaches at the leading edge.
• Oversee content systems that let creative work reach every surface: sourcing frameworks, taxonomy, lifecycle planning, and governance.
• Drive requirements for CMS platforms, DAM, metadata standards, and automation tooling that support curation at scale.
• Establish quality rubrics, review workflows, and editorial calendars that enable global consistency without flattening cultural relevance.
• Ensure licensing compliance, usage rights documentation, and clear processes that reduce legal exposure while increasing speed to market.
• Manage partner relationships (stock houses, boutique agencies, independent creators, AI-driven platforms) and oversee vendor selection and contract terms.
• Partner with Data Science and Strategy to interpret engagement signals, refine curation, and measure performance over time.
• Collaborate with International teams to ensure visual media reflects local aesthetics and cultural nuances.
• Synthesize domain expertise with business needs and product context to identify opportunities others miss, and drive them to completion.

Minimum Qualifications

• 12+ years in visual media leadership (photo, video, illustration, or multimedia) within creatively driven environments such as consumer technology, publishing, streaming/media, or creative agencies serving those industries.
• Strong editorial judgment and demonstrated ability to set creative direction across a large brand or product ecosystem, not just select content within it.
• Experience building and directing visual content strategy across large-scale media libraries or digital platforms.
• Proven people leadership: experience managing, developing, and unifying creative teams.
• Demonstrated ability to synthesize domain expertise with business needs to identify improvement opportunities and drive them to completion with initiative, even without pre-defined roadmaps.
• Experience defining or evolving a visual media strategy that directly influenced product direction, brand perception, or user engagement.
• Clear, effective communicator with experience presenting to senior and executive leadership and aligning cross-functional partners.

Preferred Qualifications

• Proficiency in generative AI image tools and workflows (prompting, evaluation, governance), with the ability to maintain brand integrity and quality standards.
• Experience with CMS, automation tools, metadata standards, cataloging, and taxonomy practices.
• Familiarity with a wide range of content sources, from enterprise providers (Getty, AP, Shutterstock) to boutique agencies to individual contributors and AI-driven platforms.
• Experience with enterprise-level vendor negotiations and partner management in media/content.
• Experience overseeing art buying, illustration commissions, or artwork licensing programs end-to-end.
• Track record on high-visibility, executive-facing creative projects with cross-functional senior stakeholders.
• Understanding of image and video rights, licensing, and clearance processes.

Compensation and Benefits

At Apple, base pay is one part of our total compensation package and is determined within a range. This provides the opportunity to progress as you grow and develop within a role. The base pay range for this role is between $205,800 and $378,800, and your base pay will depend on your skills, qualifications, experience, and location.

Apple employees also have the opportunity to become an Apple shareholder through participation in Apple’s discretionary employee stock programs. Apple employees are eligible for discretionary restricted stock unit awards, and can purchase Apple stock at a discount if voluntarily participating in Apple’s Employee Stock Purchase Plan. You’ll also receive benefits including: comprehensive medical and dental coverage, retirement benefits, a range of discounted products and free services, and for formal education related to advancing your career at Apple, reimbursement for certain educational expenses — including tuition. Additionally, this role might be eligible for discretionary bonuses or commission payments as well as relocation.

Learn more about Apple Benefits.

Note: Apple benefit, compensation and employee stock programs are subject to eligibility requirements and other terms of the applicable plan or program.

Apple is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to inclusion and diversity. We seek to promote equal opportunity for all applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, Veteran status, or other legally protected characteristics. Learn more about your EEO rights as an applicant.

At Apple, we believe accessibility is a fundamental human right. You’ll find that idea reflected in everything here — in our culture, our benefits and our digital tools. By welcoming as many perspectives as possible, we help you build a career where you feel like you belong.

Learn about accessibility in Apple’s workplace.

Learn about reasonable accommodations for job applicants.

Apple accepts applications to this posting on an ongoing basis.