Creative Recruiter (3 month contract)

Monks; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 25,000 - 31,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Full medical coverage

PTO + holidays

401k match

Parental leave

Work-life balance

Career growth

Diversity culture

Climate pledge

Job summary

Monks, the global, digital-first marketing and technology services brand, seeks a Creative Talent Discovery Manager to recruit and retain full-time creative talent across disciplines in North America. You will leverage your deep network to source directors, designers, and producers, while partnering with Casting, Creative Directors, and Operations to match skills with project briefs.

You will manage offers, onboarding, and compensation discussions, contributing to a diverse, inclusive culture

Qualifications

• 7+ years in creative recruiting or talent production.
• Active network across creative, design, and production.
• Ability to assess portfolios and work samples.
• Experience negotiating salaries and managing headcount budgets.
• Familiarity with resource management tools (e.g. Monday.com) and ATS platforms (e.g. Greenhouse).
• Strong communication and stakeholder management.

Responsibilities

• Sourcing & talent discovery: recruit and pipeline high-caliber full-time creative talent.
• Staffing & role placement: collaborate with leads to understand briefs and budgets, extend offers, onboard staff.
• Relationship & network management: build and maintain relationships with staff and keep an internal candidate database.
• Hiring & onboarding: oversee offers, onboarding paperwork, and tie into headcount budgeting.

Skills

Creative recruiting

Strong network

Portfolio evaluation

Salary negotiation

Resource management

Communication skills

Tools

Greenhouse ATS

Monday.com

Job description

Creative Talent Discovery Manager

About the Role:

We are seeking a connected, proactive, and trend-savvy Creative Talent Discovery Manager to recruit, hire, and retain our North America team of full-time creative talent. This role is a full time contract role through the end of 2026, with the option to extend based on need.

In this role, you will be the bridge between ambitious creative needs and top-tier full-time talent—ranging from Art Directors, Copywriters, and Motion Designers to Executive Producers, Artists, and Directors. You don't just search job boards; you leverage a deep personal network and sharp creative eye to hire the right personality, style, and skill set for long-term growth.

Responsibilities:

Sourcing & Talent Discovery

• Continuously recruit, interview, and pipeline high-caliber full-time creative and production talent across disciplines.
• Proactively source niche talent (e.g., specialized animators, 3D artists, AI creative specialists) ahead of upcoming headcount needs.
• Stay ahead of industry creative trends, emerging directors, and rising design talent.

Staffing & Role Placement

• Partner closely with Casting, Creative Directors, Producers, and Operations leads to understand project briefs, budget constraints, and skill requirements.
• Recommend, extend offers to, and onboard full-time creative staff for open roles, pitch teams, and ongoing agency initiatives.
• Manage urgent hiring demands and hiring pipelines with agility and speed.

Relationship & Network Management

• Build strong, ongoing relationships with full-time staff, supporting career pathing and ensuring a positive employee experience with our team.
• Maintain and organize an active internal candidate database (salaries, portfolios, skill tags, performance notes).

Hiring & Onboarding

• Oversee full-time offer management, ensuring offer letters, employment agreements, compensation packages, and onboarding paperwork are fully executed.
• Collaborate with Finance and HR to track full-time headcount spend and salary bands against departmental budgets.

About You:

• Experience: 7+ years in creative recruiting, creative resourcing, or talent producer roles within an ad agency, production company, or in-house brand team.
• A Deep Network: An existing, active network of high-caliber talent across creative, design, editorial, and production disciplines.
• Creative Acumen: Ability to evaluate portfolios, reels, and work samples critically to ensure candidates meet the team’s quality bar.
• Negotiation & Financial Literacy: Strong salary negotiation skills and experience managing full-time salary expectations and headcount budgets.
• Operational Skills: Experience using resource management platforms (e.g. Monday.com) and ATS platforms (e.g. Greenhouse).
• Communication: Exceptional interpersonal skills—you know how to pitch an opportunity to top-tier talent and negotiate win-win terms.

At Monks, we believe in fostering an environment where a diversity of perspectives can thrive. We proactively work to design hiring processes that promote equity and inclusion while mitigating bias. We celebrate diversity and are committed to building a team that reflects the communities we serve. We welcome and encourage qualified applicants, from all backgrounds, who are excited to contribute to our mission.

Monks is committed to ensuring equal access and participation for people with disabilities. We are committed to treating people with disabilities in a way that allows them to maintain their dignity and independence. We believe in integration, and we are committed to meeting the needs of people with disabilities in a timely manner. We will do so by removing and preventing barriers to accessibility and by meeting our accessibility requirements under local accessibility laws.

What We Offer

Benefits

• Excellent, full coverage medical, dental, and vision insurance - more about our coverage here!
• Generous PTO and 15 company-wide holidays
• 401k with company contribution
• Paid parental leave
• Work-life balance with an emphasis on personal well-being
• Career growth in a disruptor space & entrepreneurial opportunities within the Monks network
• A globally diverse & inclusive culture with employee resource groups such as S4 Melanin, Pride.Monks, Cultura.Monks, and more!
• Authentic commitment to DEI efforts and sustainable growth. (Why Sir Martin Sorrell signed The Climate Pledge here!)

This role is subject to our Return to Office (RTO) policy. If you reside within a commutable distance of one of our office locations, you will be expected to work from the office a set number of days per week. The specific details, including the number of required office days, will be in accordance with the company’s then-current RTO policy, which is subject to change from time to time.

Monks has provided a compensation range that represents its good faith estimate of what Monks may pay for the position at the time of posting. Monks may ultimately pay more or less than the posted compensation range. The salary offered to the selected candidate will be determined based on job-related factors, but not based on a candidate’s sex or any other protected status.

Salary Range: $2,200 — $2,800 USD

About Monks

Monks is the global, digital-first, data-driven, unitary operating brand of S4 Capital plc. With a legacy of innovation and specialized expertise, Monks combines an extraordinary range of global Marketing and Technology Services to redefine how brands interact with the world. Through Monks.Flow, its flagship AI ecosystem for marketing orchestration, Monks transforms marketing into a growth engine, collapsing timelines and connecting brands to culture in real time. By deploying bespoke intelligent agents across disciplines and delivering culturally relevant, high-impact creative and digital solutions, Monks solves key critical business challenges across the entire brand enterprise to help brands sustain long-term impact.

Monks was named a Contender in The Forrester Wave: Global Marketing Services, ranks among Cannes Lions' Top 10 Creative Companies (2022-25) and remains the only partner featured in AdExchanger’s Programmatic Power Players list every year (2020-24). Named Adweek’s first AI Agency of the Year (2023) and The One Show’s inaugural AI Pioneer Organization, Monks was also awarded Business Intelligence Group’s 2025 Excellence in Artificial Intelligence Award in both the Organizational and AI Product categories. As a trusted partner to cutting-edge innovators in tech, Monks earned titles such as Optimizely Experimentation Partner of the Year (2025), runner-up for the Adobe Firefly Partner Award (2024), and Workato’s AI Visionary Customer Impact Award (2024). Additionally, Monks achieved a record-breaking number of FWAs and continues to hold the most of any partner.

We are an equal-opportunity employer committed to building a respectful and empowering work environment for all people to freely express themselves amongst colleagues who embrace diversity in all respects. Including fresh voices and unique points of view in all aspects of our business not only creates an environment where we can all grow and thrive but also increases our potential to produce work that better represents—and resonates with—the world around us.