Senior Art Director

Critical Mass; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 120,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Global maternity and parental leave

Competitive benefits packages

Vacation and personal days

Flexible in-office schedule

Job summary

Critical Mass is seeking a Senior Art Director to lead a large creative team in delivering world‑class brand experiences. You will champion concepts, mentor designers, and partner with strategy, technology, and production to drive growth and client success.

You will translate business goals into compelling design, manage timelines and budgets, and present work to clients and senior leadership while upholding design standards across projects.

Qualifications

• 4+ years’ experience in a digital agency.
• Experience leading designers, production specialists, and writers.
• Strong portfolio of digital design and art direction work.
• Experience meeting clients and presenting work.
• Ability to justify concepts to clients and team members.
• Experience with strategic brainstorming and creative briefs.
• Proficient in Figma for design and prototyping.
• Solid understanding of Design Systems and latest CC tools.

Responsibilities

• Lead concept development and creative direction across projects and accounts.
• Develop innovative ideas and proposals to drive growth and new business.
• Partner with strategy, technology, and production teams for strong outcomes.
• Manage scope, timelines, budgets, and resources for on‑time delivery.
• Build and mentor a multidisciplinary creative team.
• Translate strategies into effective experience and design solutions.
• Champion quality standards and continuous improvement.
• Communicate ideas clearly to clients and senior leadership.

Skills

Experience in digital agency

Team leadership

Client presentations

Creative portfolio

Creative briefing

Figma proficiency

Adobe Creative Cloud

PowerPoint

Tools

Figma

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Lightroom

Adobe Illustrator

PowerPoint

Job description

Job Description

As a Senior Art Director, you are excited to join a large creative team to develop experiences that support one of the oldest brands in America. Leading major marketing initiatives is what keeps bringing you back to the office—including championing concepts to plan cutting‑edge online strategies. We will welcome your strong working knowledge of developing client relationships within experience design, brand development, and creative process. Gaining key management experience is important to you. Good news—you’ll lead the collaborative efforts of a talented group of creatives. And you always foster an environment for professional growth to inspire your team to exceed expectation. Most importantly, you’re a sound creative thinker who efficiently manages time to juggle client needs for world‑class brands.

Agency

Critical Mass

Job Function

Creative

Job Subfunction

Art Direction

You Will

• Lead concept development and creative direction across projects and accounts.
• Develop innovative ideas and proposals that drive growth and new business.
• Partner cross‑functionally with strategy, technology, and production teams to deliver strong client outcomes.
• Manage project scope, timelines, budgets, and resources to ensure on‑time, high‑quality delivery.
• Build, lead, and mentor a multidisciplinary creative team, providing ongoing feedback and development.
• Translate business and marketing strategies into effective experience and design solutions.
• Champion creative excellence, quality standards, and continuous improvement across all deliverables.
• Communicate creative ideas and strategies clearly to clients, stakeholders, and senior leadership.

You Have

• 4+ years’ experience working in a digital agency.
• Experience leading a team of designers, production specialists, and writers to creative excellence.
• Strong portfolio of digital design and art direction work.
• Experience meeting clients and presenting your work.
• Ability to think creatively and justify concepts to clients and team members.
• Experience with strategic brainstorming, creative brief development, and creative execution.
• Experience using Figma for design and prototyping.
• Significant understanding of working within, and adding to, and existing Design System.
• Working knowledge of the latest versions of Adobe Creative Cloud platforms including: Photoshop, Lightroom and Illustrator.
• Comfortable using Microsoft Suite, including PowerPoint.

Nice‑to‑Haves

• Motion design, rapid prototyping, and vibe coding experience are all a plus.
• Collaboration with an inter‑agency team is an asset.

What We Offer

• Global maternity and parental leave
• Competitive benefits packages
• Vacation, compassionate leave, personal/sick days, and flex days
• Access to online services for families and new parents
• Early Dismissal Friday’s (off at 3:00 PM local time every Friday)
• 12 affinity groups
• Internal learning and development programs
• Enterprise-wide employee discounts

Our new hires & employees are the future of our organization, and we want to set you up for long‑term success. In an effort to do so, we expect our team to work from an office a minimum of 3 days a week.

This position requires candidates to obtain a Level 2 Security Clearance in accordance with U.S. government regulations. As such, only U.S. citizens or permanent residents (Green Card holders) are eligible to apply.

Salary Range: $120,000 - $140,000

Omnicom’s policy requires employees to work in the office for a minimum of three days a week, unless additional in‑office days are directed by their agency or manager. Our objective is to increase this requirement over time, and many of our agencies as well as Omnicom’s corporate group already require five days of in‑office attendance.

Omnicom is committed to hiring and developing exceptional talent. We agree that talent is uniquely distributed, and we’re focused on developing inclusive teams that can bring the best solutions to everything we do. We strongly believe that celebrating what makes us different makes us better together. Join us—we look forward to getting to know you. We will process your personal data in accordance with our Recruitment Privacy Notice.

Link to Recruitment Privacy Notice: https://www.omc.com/privacy-notice

For US Job Seekers

It is the policy of Omnicom and any of its affiliates to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, religion, color, ethnic origin, gender, gender identity, age, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, disability, or any other basis prohibited by applicable federal, state, or local law. EOE/AA/M/D/V/F.

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Salary Range: $120,000 - $140,000