About the role:
The Associate Creative Director is the creative engine of the studio. You are responsible for the quality, consistency, and ambition of all creative output across Walden, Chamberlain, and AUC — ensuring design, copy, and video work together in service of each brand's distinct voice and audience. You partner closely with the Business Director and Program Director to manage creative throughput against SLAs, and you set the quality standard for both traditional and AI-assisted production workflows via Pencil.
This is a craft authority role with team leadership responsibility. You maintain a hands-on creative approach while guiding Art Directors, Integrated Designers, and Senior Copywriters to deliver to the highest standard.
What you will be doing:
- Lead creative direction for all studio output across Walden University, Chamberlain University, and AUC — ensuring brand integrity, audience relevance, and creative quality across every channel and format
- Guide and mentor Art Directors, Integrated Designers, and Senior Copywriters, establishing clear quality benchmarks and a culture of craft excellence
- Partner with the Business Director and Strategy Lead to translate CRM, email, paid social, and video briefs into compelling, brand-true creative executions
- Establish and govern AI-assisted creative workflows using Pencil, creating initial video and asset output from approved scripts and creative direction; manage internal review cycles and feedback rounds to strengthen scene relevance, voice-over accuracy, and creative consistency
- Work within OMG to prioritise creative resources, manage review cycles, and maintain SLA compliance across all active workstreams
- Lead creative onboarding and brand immersion for new team members, building deep institutional knowledge of our client’s brands, audiences, and compliance requirements
- Review and approve all creative output before client delivery, ensuring accuracy, brand compliance, and creative quality at every stage
- Present and advocate for creative decisions to senior client stakeholders, building confidence and trust in the studio’s work
- Collaborate with the Senior Producer and video team to ensure integrated creative direction across static and GenAI video formats
- Contribute to studio culture: proactive, insider-minded, and outcome-focused
What you need to be great in this role:
- A strong portfolio demonstrating creative leadership across digital channels — email, paid social, display, video, and/or web — with clear evidence of brand stewardship and quality output
- Experience leading and developing creative teams in an in-house, agency, or hybrid studio environment
- Proficiency across art direction, design systems, and/or copy — with the ability to evaluate and direct across disciplines
- Experience working within structured, high-volume production environments, with a process-oriented approach to creative quality and throughput
- A genuine understanding of our client’s audiences — including adult learners, working professionals, healthcare workers, and career changers — and the empathy required to create content that connects with people making high-stakes decisions. Students are increasingly ROI-conscious, seeking clear career pathways; adult learners and working professionals are central to growth strategies; persistent healthcare workforce shortages drive demand for specialised programmes
- Familiarity with higher education or healthcare marketing is a meaningful differentiator
- Strong stakeholder communication skills, with experience presenting creative rationale to senior clients or internal decision-makers
- A collaborative mindset with the ability to work effectively across a distributed, multi-location team
- Experience establishing AI quality standards and governance for a creative team
- Ability to integrate AI tools — including Pencil, where work is created and optimised — across team workflows and client deliverables
- Guides the team in responsible AI adoption; mentors others on critically evaluating AI outputs
- Demonstrates agentic leadership, taking a systematic approach to creative direction and team development
- Drives AI innovation and shares best practices across the OLIVER network
- At the time of this posting, the base salary for this position may range from $127,500.00 to $142,500.00. Individual compensation varies based on job related factors, including location, business needs, level of responsibility, experience, and qualifications. The range listed is just one component of OLIVER’s total compensation package.