Associate Creative Director

Contract Creative

has just launched a major new brand campaign — and we need a hands-on contract creative who can help expand and activate it across every channel. Not someone to maintain it from a distance. Someone who wants to be in the work: art directing, designing, storytelling, and pushing it further. If you're a player/coach who gets restless just reviewing other people's decks, read on. This position is hybrid in Newark, NJ. This is a direct report to the Head of Creative with creative leadership responsibility for the brand globally. A new brand campaign at this scale doesn't come around often. You'd be stepping in at the moment of activation — when the creative direction is set but the opportunities to expand it are wide open. Not inheriting a finished system. Pushing it somewhere new.
What You'll Actually Do
This isn't a management role with occasional creative input. You'll be the one making the work. Make great work. Art direct and design high-profile campaigns, pitch decks, and multimedia content. Your output is the benchmark the team rallies around. Expand the campaign. Take new brand campaign and find new ways to activate and extend it across channels. Build on the visual system, push the narratives further, and find new ways to make complex investment concepts feel compelling and clear. Elevate the team. Coach and mentor internal creatives through craft, not just critique. Show what world-class looks like by doing it yourself. Own brand quality. Be the final set of eyes. Keep everything sharp, on-brand, and visually excellent across every touchpoint. Collaborate and lead. Partner with strategy, production, media, and business units. Manage agency relationships and budgets. Present ideas to senior leadership with clarity and conviction. Stay inspired. Stay tuned to what's next — in design, technology, and culture — and bring those ideas into the work.
What Makes This Contract Different
A new brand campaign already in market — rare timing to step in and help define where it goes next, with real creative influence over its evolution. True player/coach role: make, don't just manage. You'll have creative freedom and the resources of a global financial powerhouse to back it up. A team that genuinely cares about craft and quality, not just output volume. Hybrid flexibility that respects deep work time as much as collaboration.
Who You Are
You have a sophisticated eye and you're not shy about using it. You can walk into a room of financial analysts and make a complex data story feel inevitable. You've worked in investment management, asset management, or financial services — so you understand the difference between retail and institutional audiences, and you know how to balance creative ambition with regulatory reality. You're fluent in Adobe Creative Suite (InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator daily). You know your way around video and animation workflows. You've led creative work while actively executing it. That's the sweet spot. That's this job.
Skills & Experience
5–8 years of art direction or design experience in investment management, asset management, or financial services
Portfolio showing sophisticated art direction, campaign work, data visualization, and strategic branding for financial audiences
Expert-level Adobe Creative Suite (InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator)
Multimedia fluency: video production, animation principles, Adobe Premiere
Strong data storytelling — turning financial complexity into beautiful, clear visuals
Proven player/coach track record: you've led creative while staying in the work
Compliance-aware: you understand how to innovate within financial services regulatory constraints
Bachelor's degree in Graphic Design, Fine Arts, Advertising, or related field