Senior Creative Director

Blackline Systems Inc; New York (NY); On-site; USD 224,000 - 280,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Incentive programs

Benefits and wellness plans

Hybrid work arrangement

Job summary

BlackLine is seeking a Sr. Creative Director to lead creative direction and design execution across external marketing surfaces with a digital-forward emphasis on web experience, motion graphics, and storytelling.

You will drive brand expression, partner with cross-functional teams, and elevate upper-funnel campaigns to make complex financial automation concepts accessible and compelling. Reporting to the VP, Brand & Integrated Marketing, you will own creative standards, budgets, and workflows,

Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressive experience in creative leadership roles.
• Experience leading creative direction on multi-channel campaigns.
• Ability to operate at executive level with C-suite partners.
• Track record building and leading creative teams and mentoring seniors.
• Strong craft in design and visual communication; lead by example.

Responsibilities

• Lead in-market expression of BlackLine's visual identity across campaigns, web, social, video, and events.
• Partner with Brand Strategy, Product Marketing, and Demand Gen to align creative with business goals.
• Oversee flagship campaigns and cross-channel assets; manage briefs, review processes, and approvals.
• Lead live events and experiential programs, ensuring brand narrative across formats.
• Build and manage the creative budget, vendor relationships, and agency partnerships.
• Develop and scale creative workflows, standards, and performance metrics.

Skills

Creative leadership

Executive collaboration

Brand standards

Design thinking

Cross-channel strategy

Tools

AI-enabled tools

Job description

Make Your Mark:

The Sr. Creative Director leads creative direction and design execution across BlackLine's external marketing surfaces, with a digital-forward emphasis on web experience, motion graphics, and visual storytelling that makes complex, technical product capabilities feel simple, human, and compelling to the market. This role brings BlackLine's brand identity to life in market; applying and evolving the standards set by Brand Strategy across campaigns, web, social, video, and brand experience. Reporting to the VP, Brand & Integrated Marketing, the Sr. Creative Director is the creative engine behind BlackLine's upper-funnel awareness work, partnering closely with Content and Campaigns to build the visual and narrative language that introduces BlackLine to the market, and with Product Marketing, Demand Generation, and Communications to ensure creative expression scales across every channel it touches. The role also owns the evolution of AI-augmented creative tools and workflows, advancing how creative work gets made at BlackLine.

You’ll Get To:

BlackLine has become the world's most trusted name in financial automation and defines the cutting-edge category of Modern Finance. We're looking for a Creative Director who can find creative answers to complex problems, delight our customers, and help us keep our business growing.

What You’ll Bring:

Creative Leadership

• Lead the in-market expression of BlackLine's visual identity, applying and evolving brand standards set by Brand Strategy across campaigns, web, social, video, and events with consistency, distinctiveness, and craft.
• Lead creative direction on flagship campaigns (e.g., the Agentic Financial Operations launch), including hero deliverables, supporting collateral, and cross-channel adaptation.
• Establish creative standards, briefs, review processes, toolsets, and approval workflows that govern how creative work moves through the marketing organization.
• Champion design thinking as a working method, bringing structured creative problem-solving to how the team approaches concepting, not just execution.

Cross-Functional Partnership

• Partner with Brand Strategy to ensure creative execution stays true to brand standards and evolves them thoughtfully, and partner with Product Marketing to translate technical product stories into accessible, visually compelling creative.
• Partner with VP, Demand Generation to ensure creative supports performance objectives and campaign optimization.
• Partner with VP, Brand to research, identify, and adopt SaaS products and applications for the Design and Video tech stack that enables best in class execution by the team (emphasis on AI-enabled tools).
• Partner with regional marketing leaders to ensure creative scales appropriately across geographies and audiences.
• Represent the creative function at MLT planning sessions, strategic reviews, staff performance & compensation reviews, and executive presentations.
• Partner with Content and Campaigns to ensure creative direction supports awareness objectives and translates complex product narratives for a broad, upper-funnel audience.

Brand Experience and Live Events

• Lead the creative direction for BlackLine's flagship customer events, including BeyondTheBlack - owning event identity, on-stage creative, audience experience design, and the integration of brand narrative through the live format.
• Partner directly with event production agencies and stage technical teams on creative concept, staging, lighting, scenic design, and audiovisual integration - operating at peer level with theatrical and event production specialists rather than in a traditional client-vendor dynamic.
• Steward the visual and experiential consistency of BlackLine's presence across global customer events.
• Represent BlackLine creative externally at industry conferences and brand-defining moments.

Team and Function Leadership

• Lead and develop the in-house creative team spanning design, video, motion, and supporting craft disciplines.
• Recruit and retain senior creative talent required to execute at the level the brand demands.
• Manage workload allocation, performance assessment, and career development for direct reports.
• Own and manage the annual operating budget for the Creative function, including expenditures on freelance talent, external agencies, production companies, studio maintenance, and general operating costs.
• Build the operational maturity of the creative function: documented standards, briefing processes, performance measurement, vendor and agency management.

Required Experience

• 10+ years progressive experience in creative leadership roles within enterprise software, agency, or comparable environments.
• Demonstrated experience leading creative direction on cross-portfolio, multi-channel campaigns.
• Proven ability to operate at executive level, partnering with C-suite and peer marketing functions to align creative with business strategy.
• Track record of building and leading creative teams, including hiring, mentoring, and retaining senior talent.
• Strong craft foundation in design and visual communication; ability to lead by example as well as by direction.
• Experience working with creative agencies, freelance specialists, and external production partners as part of an integrated operation.
• A strong, digital-first portfolio demonstrating range across web design, motion graphics, and visual storytelling, including clear evidence of translating complex or technical concepts into simple, compelling creative.

Preferred Experience

• Background spanning both agency and in-house environments.
• Experience leading creative for B2B SaaS or enterprise technology brands.
• Specialized background in theatrical or live event production, or demonstrated experience leading creative for large-scale corporate events at peer level with event production professionals.
• Track record introducing emerging tools and practices (e.g., AI-augmented creative workflows) into established creative organizations.
• Experience representing the brand externally at customer events and industry conferences.

Thrive at BlackLine Because You Are Joining:

• A technology-based company with a sense of adventure and a vision for the future. Every door at BlackLine is open. Just bring your brains, your problem-solving skills, and be part of a winning team at the world's most trusted name in Finance Automation!
• A culture that is kind, open, and accepting. It's a place where people can embrace what makes them unique, and the mix of cultural backgrounds and varying interests cultivates diverse thought and perspectives.
• A culture where BlackLiner's continued growth and learning is empowered. BlackLine offers a wide variety of professional development seminars and inclusive affinity groups to celebrate and support our diversity.

BlackLine is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity or expression, race, ethnicity, age, religious creed, national origin, physical or mental disability, ancestry, color, marital status, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, status as a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking, medical condition, genetic information, or any other protected class or category recognized by applicable equal employment opportunity or other similar laws.

BlackLine recognizes that the ways we work and the workplace itself has shifted. We innovate in a workplace that optimizes a combination of virtual and in-person interactions to maximize collaboration and nurture our culture. Candidates who live within a reasonable commute to one of our offices will work in the office at least 3 days a week.

Salary Range:

$224,000.00-$280,000.00

Pay Transparency Statement:

Placement within this range depends upon several factors, including the applicant's prior relevant job experience, skill set, and geographic location.

In addition to base pay, BlackLine also offers short-term and long-term incentive programs, based on eligibility, along with a robust offering of benefit and wellness plans.

We are committed to pay transparency and ensuring candidates have clear information about compensation expectations. For roles that include variable incentive components such as an Incentive Compensation Plan (ICP) or On-Target Earnings (OTE), the compensation structure may follow a split model - for example, a 50/50, 70/30, or 60/40 ratio between base salary and variable incentive.

Accommodations:

BlackLine is committed to creating an inclusive and accessible experience for all candidates. If you require a reasonable accommodation that would better enable your success during the application or interview process, please complete this form.

Accommodations:

BlackLine is committed to creating an inclusive and accessible experience for all candidates. If you require a reasonable accommodation that would better enable your success during the application or interview process, please complete this form.