Creative Lead

Rightsideup; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Right Side Up in Austin is seeking a Creative Lead to drive performance through creative, lead talent, and shape strategy across a diverse client portfolio.

This role blends creative direction, performance thinking, and team leadership; you will connect creative work to business outcomes using data and emerging tools. You'll collaborate with growth, strategy, and account teams to push boundaries and scale impact.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in a creative agency or similar environment.
• Experience working on performance marketing campaigns such as paid social or lifecycle.
• Comfortable looking at performance data and using it to inform creative decisions.
• Strong presentation and client-facing communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead the creative direction across multiple clients, ensuring work is grounded in strategy.
• Turn data and performance insights into clear, actionable creative direction.
• Develop campaigns across channels including paid social, email, web, and OOH.
• Manage and mentor a distributed team of designers, copywriters, and freelancers.
• Build strong relationships with clients and act as a trusted creative partner.

Skills

Creative leadership

Strategic thinking

Analytical mindset

Excellent communication

Tools

Figma

Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign)

Job description

Founded in 2016, Right Side Up is the premier growth marketing consulting firm in the U.S., with staff deployed in some of the most well-known and fastest-growing tech companies, including Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Stitch Fix, Coinbase, Stripe, Fitbit, Calm, Instacart, Yelp, Google, and more. We provide all of the marketing expertise—and none of the agency fluff.

We are seeking a Creative Lead to lead and shape the next phase of creative at Right Side Up. This role goes beyond execution—it’s about driving performance through creative, leading talent, and helping shape strategy across a diverse client portfolio (B2B, D2C, SMB, and beyond).

You will play a key role in connecting creative work to real business outcomes, using data, insights, and emerging tools to guide decisions and unlock growth for our clients.

This is a highly collaborative, client-facing role that blends creative direction, performance thinking, and team leadership.

Creative & Strategic Leadership

• Lead the creative direction across multiple clients, ensuring work is both high-quality and grounded in strategy.
• Turn data and performance insights into clear, actionable creative direction.
• Develop campaigns across channels including paid social, email, web, OOH, and more.
• Set a high bar for creative work while balancing brand storytelling with measurable results.

Performance-Driven Creative

• Partner with growth and media teams to understand what’s working and where creative can improve performance.
• Help develop and iterate on testing approaches and creative concepts.
• Use insights to refine messaging, visuals, and formats over time.

Talent & Team Management

• Manage and mentor a distributed team of designers, copywriters, and freelancers.
• Assign the right talent to the right projects based on strengths and client needs.
• Provide clear feedback and direction to help the team grow and do their best work.
• Build a collaborative, accountable, and supportive team environment.

Client Leadership

• Build strong relationships with clients and act as a trusted creative partner.
• Present work clearly and confidently, guiding conversations and incorporating feedback.
• Help clients understand how creative ties to performance and business results.
• Support or lead new business efforts when needed.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with growth marketers, strategists, and account leads to align creative with broader goals.
• Help improve how we produce, test, and iterate on creative internally.

AI & Innovation

• Stay curious about new tools and technologies, including AI, and look for ways they can improve how we work.
• Explore opportunities to use these tools to increase speed, quality, and scale.

Experience

• 5+ years in a creative agency or similar environment, with experience managing creative teams.
• Experience working on performance marketing campaigns such as paid social or lifecycle.

Strategic & Analytical

• Comfortable looking at performance data and using it to inform creative decisions.
• Understands how testing and iteration improve results over time.

Creative Expertise

• Strong background in concepting, campaign development, and visual storytelling.
• Proficient in Figma and Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign).

Leadership & Communication

• Able to manage both clients and teams effectively.
• Clear, confident communicator with strong presentation skills.

Adaptability

• Comfortable working in a fast-paced, evolving environment.
• Willing to take on new challenges and help shape how the team works.

Curiosity for Innovation

• Interested in how new tools and technologies are changing creative work.
• Open to experimenting with new ways of working.

This is not a traditional Art Director role.

In this role, you will be expected to think beyond execution, connect creative to performance, and play a meaningful role in shaping both the work and the team behind it.

If you’re excited about the intersection of creativity and performance, and want to help build something impactful, we’d love to hear from you.