Art Director

TITLE:                              Art Director, Advertising

REPORTS TO:                Sr. Vice President, Creative Strategy

SALARY RANGE:           $95,000 - $120,000      

Vault Communications, the Philadelphia area's #2 Top Workplace (The Philadelphia Inquirer) and three-time consecutive winner of the Philadelphia Business Journal's Best Places to Work in 2022, 2023 and 2024, seeks a creative professional who thrives in an autonomous, entrepreneurial culture to join our agency as an Art Director.

GENERAL OVERVIEW

The Art Director works closely with the Sr. Vice President of Creative Strategy and the creative team to develop the department as a center of excellence within Vault and a critical target for agency growth. The Art Director is a highly skilled member of the design team, expected to facilitate and participate in the work from brief to final execution while employing strategic thinking to identify better solutions, ask the “un-asked” questions and approach each challenge with fresh perspective.

As a design leader within the company, the Art Director is expected to work in tandem with the SVP of Creative Strategy to:

•       produce stellar work as a hands-on member of the design team, prepared to take on the most expansive, complex projects — and willing to pitch in on the smallest day-to-day requests

•       manage department workflow / traffic

•       ensure day-to-day quality control

•       promote the on-time, on-budget completion of tasks across the department

•       give (and take) creative direction, and

•       provide strategic insight on client and agency objectives. 

The SVP of Creative Strategy will always have an open door for collaboration, questions, insights, strategic thinking and support. Yet, it’s equally important for the Art Director to have autonomy in their management of the team. The Art Director should have sound judgement on when it is necessary (or not) to tap the SVP of Creative Strategy, and effective methods of ensuring the SVP of Creative Strategy has an opportunity to see the work flowing in and out of the department. 

The Art Director, along with the entire creative team, serves as a source of knowledge to agency staff and clients on design trends and best practices, and collaboratively develops and executes strategic visual solutions.

Seniority in the creative department means a higher expectation of skill, mentorship, creativity, excellence and communication — therefore, the Art Director is a partner to creative leadership, an asset to account teams, a resource for junior designers, trend-fluent, innately curious, helpful, positive and open-minded. The role also demands a focus on collaboratively and continuously improving design department workflows and processes.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS              

•       Bachelor’s degree in graphic design or acceptable related field

•       5 years of work experience in graphic design, with advertising experience required.

•       Excellent design skills, i.e. expertise in principles of design, typography, color theory, and production — and the expectation that these skills will be applied daily to individual assignments 

•       Excellent design leadership skills, i.e. artistic vision, strategic visual problem-solving, self-motivated ownership of a project’s success, priority on mentorship of junior design staff, and an instinct for helping account teams and clients identify better solutions through strategic, creative thinking

•       Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, particularly useful in explaining compositions, justifying design decisions and talking through client or internal feedback professionally and eloquently

•       Superior analytical, multi-tasking and organizational skills, including attention to detail in reading or writing creative briefs and accurate application of provided copy into design drafts

•       Excellent proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, etc.) and Microsoft Office 365 (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Teams, etc.)

•       Ability to thrive in fast-paced environment with competing deadlines

•       Excellent judgment and problem-solving skills, and the ability to make strategic, sound recommendations to clients, peers and management

•       Firm commitment to agency core values, demonstrated and adhered to in daily work

CLIENT SERVICE EXPECTATIONS              

•       Supports the SVP, Creative Strategy in collaborating with account and digital teams to ensure creative strategies are properly integrated within larger marketing programs

•       Delivers work on time, and finds solutions for overlapping deadlines or conflicts

•       Contributes to client documents as needed (campaign recaps, etc.)

•       Participates and/or presents in client meetings when called upon

•       Answers emails promptly and professionally, without typographical errors

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT EXPECTATIONS

•       Participates in and supports client / new business planning efforts, including brainstorming, comp design and proposal design

•       Participates in new business pitches when called upon

•       Provides visual assets for case studies, where relevant, on ongoing basis

•       Works with SVP, Creative Strategy to ideate on and produce social and advertising assets that enhance the design, digital and communications strategy of the firm

FIRM LEADERSHIP & ADMINISTRATION EXPECTATIONS

•       Fosters sense of team and collaboration

•       Engages actively in agency professional development

•       Demonstrates desire to keep pace with industry trends and best practices and shares relevant news and tips to staff as appropriate

•       Demonstrates commitment to time management, time tracking, design budgets and project deadlines

•       Maintains an in-depth knowledge of design software, technical specifications for print, web and social platforms

•       Takes an active role in standardizing and maintaining the agency’s design processes and workflow for easy collaboration with account teams

•       Provides accurate estimates for design work, works with account teams on design budgets, provides accurate billing details for out-of-pocket costs and any work completed with a freelancer or outside vendor

•       Contributes to proposal writing as needed

Vault is a hybrid workplace in suburban Philadelphia. We offer a full suite of industry-leading benefits including: competitive compensation and profit sharing, flex scheduling, year-round "summer Fridays," 100% paid medical/dental/vision benefits, generous PTO and paid holidays, cell phone stipend and exceptional employee programming/traditions. More benefits information can be found here: https://www.vaultcommunications.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Vault_Benefits.pdf

Salary : $95,000 - $120,000