Wild Places is hiring: Creative Director in Atlanta

: Atlanta (Prefered), Dallas, Nashville, Los Angeles, Remote / Hybrid

: www.wildplaces.co

Wild Places is seeking a hands-on Creative Director who leads with vision and delivers with thoughtful excellence. This role blends traditional CD leadership (direction, team development, client narrative) with active execution (designing and building brand identities, decks, UI / UX, motion).

CD must be a multi-disciplined designer who can talk to clients, steer the room, and bring creative vision and feedback to life while also guiding and training the creative team in new skillsets and innovative processes and technologies. They’ll set the creative bar across brand, digital, and campaign-based design executions, and will be on the floor designing — building systems, shaping concepts, and pushing pixels when the work demands it.

This position will report to the Wild Places President and collaborate closely with the Strategy, Business Development, and Design teams across Summit House Family of agencies to deliver excellent work quickly in a high-trust, fast-moving environment. If you’ve been operating as a Senior/Lead Designer or Design Director and are ready to step into a bigger role while simultaneously staying close to the craft — this is for you.

• Lead and own the creative vision across brand and digital initiatives.
• Design and direct brand identities, digital assets, and presentation systems while mentoring designers.
• Build scalable design systems and effective campaign strategies.
• Set and uphold design quality standards through critiques, libraries, and reusable components.
• Align brand and digital executions across strategy, content, and development teams.
• Guide, design, or collaborate on motion and animation assets.
• Craft and present compelling pitch narratives and proposal materials, leading pitches and presentations with clarity and composure.
• Support business development through expertise and industry relationships.
• Lead client interactions, simplify complexity, and maintain stakeholder alignment.
• Deliver high-quality work at scale, balancing creativity with efficiency.
• Align brand and digital systems across strategy, content, and development teams.
• Integrate emerging tools and technologies (AI, prototyping, motion) to boost quality and speed.
• Provide strong critique and coaching to elevate team performance, mentor designers through hands-on feedback, and craft development.
• Foster optimistic, collaborative team culture within and across agency partners.
• Scope creative workstreams, manage resourcing, and anticipate project risks.
• Make informed decisions in fast-paced, startup-like environments.

• 7–10+ years in brand / digital design with a portfolio that spans identity systems, digital design, and even product / UI; prior leadership or management of multidisciplinary teams.
• Expert level proficiency in Adobe CC, Figma, After Effects or equivalent, AI Models, and other industry-standard toolsets
• Fluency in modern creative workflows: libraries, playbooks, prototyping, versioning, and light dev collaboration (experience in development handoffs preferred).

• Salary range: $100,000 – $125,000, based on experience
• Unlimited vacation policy
• 401(k) plan with percentage-based employer matching
• Health benefits including medical, dental, and vision
• Opportunity for leadership growth and career advancement within a high-visibility role