Executive Creative Director - Brand

RATA TRANSPORTATION LLC; Morehead City (NC); Remote; USD 200,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a forward-thinking fintech company on a mission to revolutionize personal finance. As the Executive Creative Director, you'll lead a dynamic team in crafting compelling brand narratives and innovative marketing strategies that resonate with consumers. This role offers the chance to shape a strong brand identity for an AI-driven financial assistant, ensuring consistency across all platforms. With a focus on creativity and collaboration, you'll work alongside talented professionals to deliver exceptional campaigns that drive brand awareness and engagement. If you're a visionary leader ready to make a significant impact in a fast-growing startup, this opportunity is for you.

Benefits

401k matching

Medical Insurance

Dental and Vision care

1 month paid sabbatical after 4 years

Generous annual leave

Flexibility in work location

Company-wide performance reviews

Regular socials and activities

Online mental health support

Equity top-ups for promotions

Qualifications

• 10+ years of creative leadership experience, including 3 years as Creative Director.
• Experience in building and scaling in-house creative functions.

Responsibilities

• Drive brand development and creative strategy to elevate Cleo's market position.
• Lead and mentor a talented team of creatives to foster collaboration.

Skills

Creative Leadership

Brand Strategy

Storytelling

Cross-functional Collaboration

Visual Communication

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Design or Communications

Tools

Creative Software (e.g., Adobe Creative Suite)

Job description

At Cleo, we're not just building another fintech app. We're embarking on a mission to fundamentally change humanity's relationship with money. Imagine a world where everyone, regardless of background or income, has access to a hyper-intelligent financial advisor in their pocket. That's the future we're creating.

Cleo is a rare success story: a profitable, fast-growing unicorn with over $200 million in ARR and growing over 2x year-over-year. This isn't just a job; it's a chance to join a team of brilliant, driven individuals who are passionate about making a real difference. We have an exceptionally high bar for talent, seeking individuals who are not only at the top of their field but also embody our culture of collaboration and positive impact.

If you’re driven by complex challenges that push your expertise, the chance to shape something truly transformative, and the potential to share in Cleo’s success as we scale, while growing alongside a company that’s scaling fast, this might be your perfect fit.

Cleo is a true AI company (born and raised, not adapting or adopting), and we believe the greatest technology humanity has ever built should help solve one of consumer’s biggest pain points: finances. We’ve built the products and experiences to help change people’s relationship with money. And we are ready for a seasoned creative leader to help us get the word out.

We’re looking for a powerhouse creative to help craft the future of the Cleo brand at scale. Reporting directly to the Chief Marketing Officer, this leadership role will oversee our growing Creative Studio, including art directors/designers, motion designers, and copywriters as well as our agency partners helping us bring the brand to life.

*Please note: Candidates must be located in Eastern or Central time zones*

Key Responsibilities:

As Cleo’s Executive Creative Director, you will:

• Drive the development of compelling brand, design, and content that elevates our value proposition and positions Cleo as the World’s First AI Financial Assistant
• Develop a best-in-class comprehensive brand and creative vision and strategy that aligns with business goals and drives brand awareness in market
• Finalize and maintain a strong new brand identity across all marketing channels, ensuring consistency in messaging and design
• Lead, mentor, develop and grow a talented team of visual creatives, writers, and other creatives to foster a culture of creativity and collaboration
• Collaborate with product and UX teams to ensure all design and creative elements create an optimal experience across our platforms
• Work closely with our marketing analysts to assess the impact of creative campaigns, leveraging data and analytics to maximize impact. This includes near-term growth marketing initiatives as well as longer term brand and integrated marketing plans.
• Develop innovative and creative marketing plans for various product launches, through strategic thinking and deep understanding of a complex business and various consumer needs.
• Manage relationships with external agencies, fostering collaboration and excellence across both high-budget and nimble, fast-turn projects.

What We’re Looking For:

You are a visionary creative leader with the experience, credibility, and confidence to set a bold brand direction, define our creative strategy, and drive high-impact storytelling at scale. You thrive at the intersection of big ideas, impeccable craft, and strategic vision, and you have a track record of leading teams to deliver exceptional creative work that resonates across channels.

You should have an art direction or visual design/communications background. While you are a master of your own craft, you are also able to provide feedback and oversight across work that is both visual and copy focused.

• 10+ years of creative leadership experience, including at least 3 years in a Creative Director role - a visual comms/art direction leaning CD role
• Experience building and scaling an in-house creative function (e.g., tech, AI, fintech, or innovative consumer product), including team structure, processes, and creative workflows
• Extensive experience working on campaigns for the US consumer audience
• Proven ability to define and own brand direction for innovative, category-defining products
• Deep expertise in integrated brand campaigns across digital, social, film/video, CRM, OOH, and emerging platforms
• A big-idea thinker who can articulate and sell bold creative concepts to executive teams and external stakeholders
• Skilled at fostering cross-functional collaboration, partnering closely with leadership peers in Product, Analytics, and Commercial teams to align creative vision with broader business objectives
• A people-first leader who inspires, motivates, and mentors teams to deliver creative work that exceeds expectations

How long will the process take?

We aim to move as fast as possible. Usually 3-4 weeks is enough time for us all to get to know each other.

• Step 1: An initial phone call with a member of our Talent Team to learn more about your experience and why you want to work at Cleo
• Step 2: Interview with CMO to discuss your experience and cover your creative vision and approach to brand storytelling
• Step 3: Case study interview with our VP, Design to present some previous high-impact creative work and assess execution and collaboration
• Step 4: Leadership interview with our VP, Growth covering how you set up and lead high-performing teams and manage people
• Step 5: A behavioural interview based around Cleo values and ways of working with someone from the brand marketing org

What do you get for all your hard work?

• A competitive compensation package (base + equity) with bi-annual reviews, aligned to our quarterly OKR planning cycles. This role is BM6 Level and we can pay $200-250,000 p.a. depending on experience. You can view our public progression framework and salary bandings here: https://cleo-ai.progressionapp.com/
• Work at one of the fastest-growing tech startups, backed by top VC firms, Balderton & EQT Ventures
• A clear progression plan. We want you to keep growing. That means trying new things, leading others, challenging the status quo and owning your impact. Always with our complete support.
• Flexibility. We can’t fight for the world’s financial health if we’re not healthy ourselves. We work with everyone to make sure they have the balance they need to do their best work.
• Work where you work best. We’re a globally distributed team. Our US team works fully remotely, but we host virtual socials and an annual company offsite in Europe with all expenses paid.
• Other benefits:
• Company-wide performance reviews every 6 months
• Generous pay increases for high-performing team members
• Equity top-ups for team members getting promoted
• 15 days annual leave a year + public holidays (+ an additional day for every year you spend at Cleo)
• 401k matching
• Medical Insurance, Dental and Vision care
• 1 month paid sabbatical after 4 years at Cleo
• Regular socials and activities, online and in-person
• We'll pay for your OpenAI subscription
• Online mental health support via Spill
• And many more!

We strongly encourage applications from people of colour, the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities, neurodivergent people, parents, carers, and people from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

If there’s anything we can do to accommodate your specific situation, please let us know.

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We are looking for an established creative leader with experience of helping to launch and grow new products. Can you briefly describe your experience as an exec level creative leader and a relevant piece of work your team executed and that you are most proud of and why? *

Can you confirm you are based in either Eastern or Central timezones OR are US based and willing to relocate those timezones? * Select...

Do you require visa sponsorship to work in the US?*Note: Unfortunately, we are currently unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role. Please ensure your answer reflects your current eligibility to work without sponsorship. * Select...

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