Creative Director

POLA Marketing is hiring a Creative Director to lead, elevate, and scale our creative output across brand, digital, and production. This is not a “big ideas only” role—you will be responsible for both the vision and execution quality across every deliverable that leaves the agency.

You will oversee a team of designers and creatives, own creative standards, and work directly with leadership and clients to ensure the work is strategically sound, commercially effective, and consistently high-level.

If you need hand-holding, this is not the role. If you can push teams, defend decisions, and deliver better work under pressure—keep reading.

Creative Leadership

• Set and enforce creative direction across all client work (branding, campaigns, digital, social, video)
• Raise the bar on design, concepting, and execution—consistently
• Ensure work aligns with strategy, not just aesthetics

Team Management

• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of designers and creatives
• Review and approve all major creative deliverables
• Give direct, actionable feedback (not vague opinions)
• Identify skill gaps and elevate team performance

Client & Strategy Integration

• Collaborate with account and strategy teams on campaign direction
• Present creative concepts to clients with confidence and clarity
• Push back when necessary—internally and externally

Production Oversight

• Work closely with our in-house studio team (photo/video)
• Ensure creative translates properly from concept → shoot → final deliverable
• Maintain quality control across all formats and platforms

Process & Standards

• Build and refine creative workflows
• Establish brand and design standards across accounts
• Improve efficiency without sacrificing quality

• 6–10+ years in a creative role, with agency experience required
• Prior experience leading a team (this is not an IC role)
• Strong portfolio showing real client work, not just passion projects
• Ability to move between high-level concepting and detailed execution
• Comfortable in fast-paced, multi-client environments
• Strong opinions backed by reasoning—not ego
• Experience across:
  • Branding & identity systems
  • Paid social & digital campaigns
  • Production (photo/video) workflows
• Bonus: experience working with consumer brands and product-based businesses

• You meet deadlines
• You can take and give criticism without spiraling
• You don’t blame the team—you fix the problem
• You understand that “good enough” isn’t good enough here

• Not a purely conceptual role detached from execution
• Not a “design everything yourself” position
• Not a passive leadership role

• High-growth agency with a strong creative reputation
• In-house production studio (you’re not guessing how things get made)
• Direct access to leadership and real influence on direction
• Opportunity to shape the creative culture—not inherit a broken one

• Competitive salary based on experience
• Performance-based incentives
• Full-time
• Benefits package available

Send:

• Portfolio (required — no portfolio, no review)
• Resume
• Short note on how you approach leading creative teams