Senior Art Director

Madewell; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health & vision insurance

Associate discount

Summer Fridays

Community impact programs

Winter break

Job summary

Madewell in New York is seeking a Senior Art Director to bring the brand’s creative vision to life across campaigns, content, and customer touchpoints. Working with the VP Brand Creative, you will translate direction into compelling, cohesive visuals.

You will lead art direction and production from concept to delivery, partnering with photographers, directors, stylists, and cross-functional teams to ensure on-brand, high-quality work that resonates with fashion audiences.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in art direction or related consumer creative field.
• Strong portfolio demonstrating art direction, campaigns, fashion imagery and visual storytelling.
• Proven experience translating established creative direction into high-quality, integrated work.
• Strong understanding of fashion photography, video, digital, social and campaign production.

Responsibilities

• Bring the creative vision to life across campaigns, content and brand initiatives.
• Lead art direction and visual execution for seasonal campaigns and product stories.
• Partner with VP Brand Creative to ensure alignment with brand direction and business goals.
• Collaborate with photographers, directors, stylists and production teams to deliver on-brief creative work.

Skills

Art direction

Fashion industry experience

Campaign execution

Visual storytelling

Project management

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication skills

Photography/video understanding

Job description

At Madewell, we believe that great style starts with great design. Since 2006, we’ve been creating premium denim and foundational wardrobe pieces for men and women that balance quality, authenticity, and versatility. From iconic jeans perfected by denim experts to the essential tee, the most versatile shoe, and the timeless leather bag—if it’s Madewell, it’s made well.

Role & Purpose

The Senior Art Director is responsible for bringing the brand’s creative vision and direction to life across campaigns, content, and customer touchpoints. Working closely with the VP, Brand Creative, this role translates established creative direction into compelling, cohesive, and high-quality visual execution. This role sits at the Senior Director Level.

The Senior Art Director leads the art direction and execution of creative projects from concept development through production, partnering closely with internal teams and external creative partners to ensure work is on-brand, visually strong, and aligned to business and customer objectives.

This role requires strong visual instincts, exceptional attention to detail, and the ability to take creative direction and translate it into impactful work across fashion, photography, video, digital, social, and other brand channels.

Key Responsibilities

• Bring the creative vision and direction to life across campaigns, content, and brand initiatives.
• Experience in managing internal brand creative teams and internal processes with cross functional partners.
• Lead art direction and visual execution for seasonal campaigns, product stories, launches, and other key brand moments.
• Translate creative briefs and established creative direction into clear visual concepts and production plans.
• Partner with the VP, Brand Creative throughout the creative development process, providing strong art direction and recommendations within the established brand vision.
• Lead photography and video shoots, including collaboration with photographers, directors, stylists, models, producers, and other creative partners.
• Provide clear direction throughout the production process to ensure creative work delivers against the brief and maintains a consistent brand expression.
• Partner with Marketing, Merchandising, Digital, Social, and other cross-functional teams to ensure creative execution meets business and customer needs.
• Review and refine creative work across key stages of development, ensuring a high standard of quality, consistency, and execution.
• Partner with the Styling team to connect Merchandising and Marketing through aligned product briefings, ensuring key product stories and priorities are clearly translated into creative direction and execution.
• Help ensure consistency of visual execution across campaigns, digital, social, retail, and other consumer-facing channels.
• Manage multiple creative projects simultaneously, balancing priorities, timelines, budgets, and production requirements.
• Build strong relationships with external creative partners and help manage the day-to-day creative process with agencies, photographers, directors, and production teams.
• Stay current on fashion, photography, culture, and visual trends to bring relevant inspiration and expertise to the creative process.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in art direction, fashion, retail, advertising, lifestyle, or another consumer-focused creative environment.
• Strong portfolio demonstrating art direction, campaign execution, fashion imagery, photography, and visual storytelling.
• Proven experience taking established creative direction and translating it into high-quality, integrated creative work.
• Strong understanding of fashion photography, video, digital, social, and integrated campaign production.
• Exceptional visual judgment and attention to detail.
• Strong project management skills with the ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines.
• Collaborative approach and ability to work effectively with senior creative leadership and cross-functional partners.
• Strong communication skills and ability to clearly articulate creative recommendations and production decisions.
• Experience working with photographers, directors, stylists, agencies, production companies, and other external creative partners.

• Health & Well-being - Eligible associates and family members receive medical, dental, prescription and vision insurance, family planning (fertility, adoption & surrogacy support), fitness discounts, medical travel and more.
• Associate Discount - We love our products just as much as you do! That’s why we offer a great associate discount across all of our brands (J.Crew, J.Crew Factory, and Madewell).
• Summer Fridays - In addition to our hybrid work model, we also close our office at 1:00 PM every Friday during the Summer months.
• Community Impact - We support the communities where we live and work through our philanthropic efforts and the J.Crew Cares Program.
• Winter Break - In addition to our PTO package, J.Crew Group offers a winter break at the end of December to eligible full-time associates at the Home Office to provide time to refresh and recharge.

Note: Availability of these benefits and perks may be subject to work location & employment type and may have certain eligibility requirements.

At J.Crew Group (JCG) we aim to pay competitively for our company's size and industry. The base salary offered will take into account internal equity and may vary depending on the candidate’s geographic region of work premises, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience among other factors. The base salary is just one component of J.Crew Group’s competitive total rewards strategy that also includes the opportunity for bonus, competitive benefits and perks.

One of our core focuses here at JCG is creating a community and culture that builds belonging. We are deeply committed to our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts, and we warmly welcome job applicants of all backgrounds.

JCG is proud to affirmatively provide equal opportunity to all associates and qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, national origin or citizenship, age, sex, marital status, ancestry, legally protected physical or mental disability, veteran status, gender identity, sexual orientation or any other basis protected under applicable law.