Brand Creative Director

Burton HQ, 180 Queen City Park Rd, Burlington, Vermont, United States of America

Job Description
At Burton, we are a purpose‑led brand rooted in snowboarding and the outdoors. We fight for the future of our people, planet, and sport. We aim to maximize our positive social impact and minimize our negative environmental impact while delivering high‑quality performance products.

As a global leader in snowboarding, we’re committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion for the long‑term health of our company, sport, and community. Through these efforts, we aim to make snowboarding and the outdoors accessible to all.

Role Overview

Reporting to the Chief Marketing Officer, the Brand Creative Director drives brand meaning and guides narrative architecture and storytelling systems for Burton and Anon.

Partnering closely with the CMO, this role defines what stories we tell, why they matter, and how they build over time across brand, category, sport, retail, digital and commerce.

More than a traditional creative director, this leader shapes Creative Strategy & Story as a discipline. They ensure storytelling is intentional, cumulative and culturally resonant—instead of episodic or campaign‑by‑campaign. They operate upstream of execution, partnering closely with Product Creative, Brand + Sports Marketing, Category Marketing, Integrated Marketing, Creative Studio and Creative Operations to ensure clarity, consistency and impact at scale.

This is a senior leadership role with influence and authority, leading through vision, narrative clarity, cultural intelligence and decisive creative judgment—not hierarchy. This role is ideal for a low‑ego, high‑taste creative leader who thrives at the intersection of sport, culture, community, product innovation and commerce—and who is energized by shaping a globally beloved brand’s next chapter through story.

Creative Strategy & Story Mandate

This role leads development of Creative Strategy & Story for marketing.

The Brand Creative Director:

Defines the narrative architecture for Burton and Anon

Decides what constitutes a campaign vs. a supporting story vs. editorial

Establishes seasonal storytelling arcs and long‑term story pillars

Ensures brand, category and commercial storytelling ladder together

Protects meaning as creative scales globally across channels and regions

Key Responsibilities

1. Brand Narrative & Creative Strategy Leadership

Lead and evolve Burton and Anon’s brand narrative architecture, including long‑term story pillars, seasonal arcs and campaign hierarchy

Define what the brand is saying each season and why it matters now

Ensure storytelling builds over time, reinforcing brand meaning rather than resetting each cycle

In partnership with CMO, serve as final authority on marketing creative strategy, storytelling and expression

2. Creative Identity, Frameworks & Stewardship

Build flexible, scalable creative and storytelling frameworks that enable global consistency with room for local expression

Define and maintain storytelling hierarchy (hero narratives, supporting stories, editorial layers)

Ensure all marketing expression honors product creative intent while elevating brand storytelling

3. Cultural Intelligence & Story Application

Serve as Burton’s senior cultural intelligence leader, deeply connected to Gen Z culture, emerging sport communities, style, creators, platforms and subcultures

Translate cultural insights into clear storytelling implications—what stories to tell, what to stop telling, and how tone, casting, pacing and platforms should evolve

Partner with Product Creative on cultural trends and emerging aesthetics as inputs into product design direction

Balance youth relevance with multi‑generational resonance, honoring legacy riders while attracting new ones

4. Cross‑Functional Creative Leadership

Serve as the upstream creative strategy partner to Brand/Sports and Category Marketing teams—shaping how stories are framed emotionally and narratively across brand, product and commerce

Participate in seasonal Product Creative reviews to provide cultural insight and downstream storytelling perspective (input, not approval)

Rally teams behind creative direction with clarity, confidence and collaboration

5. Brand × Product Moments & Co‑Creation

Partner with Product Creative Director to establish creative direction for major moments where brand and product are inseparable (collaborations, limited editions, anniversaries, special projects)

Collaborate with the Product Creative Director to ensure these moments honor product vision while maximizing cultural and storytelling impact

Represent brand creative in external partnerships alongside Product Creative leadership

6. Category, Retail & Commerce Storytelling Fluency

Bring enterprise‑wide storytelling fluency across Burton hardgoods, softgoods and Anon

Offer strategic guidance to ensure brand narratives translate cohesively into DTC and wholesale environments

Act as a consultative partner to Creative and Production leadership, reinforcing clarity and consistency in how category and regional stories ladder to the global brand

Bring a fast‑moving, resourceful, “scrappy but smart” approach to creative problem‑solving

Leverage AI‑powered tools to accelerate strategic exploration, test narrative directions and rapidly visualize storytelling systems (not to replace craft)

Be hands‑on when needed—concepting, shaping narratives, building references, and inspiring teams

Leads by example, inspiring an “infectious enthusiasm” for Brand stories

Mentor designers, writers, producers and cross‑functional partners—building taste, confidence and creative clarity

Lead with humility, generosity and collaboration

Model a culture of curiosity, progression and respect

Build a strong creative partnership culture with Product Creative teams

9. Executive & External Representation

Represent Burton and Anon’s brand creative strategy to founders, executive leadership, the board and key partners

Present creative strategy, cultural insights and competitive positioning at GTM gates, sales meetings and board meetings

Serve as a senior creative voice in leadership forums

Decision Rights & Escalation

Brand Creative Director: Final authority on marketing creative strategy, storytelling and expression in partnership with CMO

Product Creative Director: Critical decision authority on product design direction

Joint escalation to CMO/CPO for conflicts at the intersection of brand and product

This role does not own creative production, trafficking or localization

Required Experience & Expertise

10–15+ years in senior creative leadership roles

Proven ability to lead through influence and partnership

Demonstrated success shaping brand narratives across seasons, not just campaigns

Brand, Culture & Storytelling

Deep experience with modern heritage, sport, lifestyle, youth culture or performance brands

Strong narrative sensibility across film, photography, motion and systems

Ability to translate culture into strategy—not just aesthetics

Category & Channel Fluency

Experience working across hardgoods, softgoods, accessories, and/or technical products

Strong understanding of retail, wholesale, DTC, and omni‑channel storytelling

Modern Creative Practices

Comfort using AI and modern creative tools for exploration and system‑building

Experience modernizing brand systems without losing soul

Leadership Style & Personal Attributes

Low ego, high taste, solid risk, big heart

Calm, decisive, and clear under pressure

Curious, culturally connected and authentic

Passionate about sport, community, joy and creativity

Energized by regrounding an iconic brand into its future

Inherent influencing and motivational leadership to mobilize teams around evolving creative direction

Travel

This position is located in Burlington, VT requiring periodic domestic and international travel for cultural research, creative partnerships and seasonal alignment

#J-18808-Ljbffr