Creative Director - Digital

ABOUT MARGLE MEDIA
Margle Media is a digitally-led marketing agency helping brands grow through strategy, content, creative, social, influencer, and performance marketing.

ROLE SUMMARY
The Creative Director owns the creative vision and execution for Margle Media's digital-first marketing campaigns — spanning paid social, display, programmatic, retail media, connected TV, web, and email, and leads the people and processes that bring that vision to life. This role blends high-level creative direction and brand stewardship with hands-on oversight of creative resourcing, freelance talent, and production workflows, ensuring every campaign is both strategically sound and exceptionally crafted.

The Creative Director works closely with strategy, accounts, media buying, and project management to translate client objectives and performance data into creative concepts that perform and leads a team of designers, editors, art directors, and freelance creative partners to execute that vision consistently across every client account.

This role is distinct from Margle's global project management function: the Creative Director owns creative quality, consistency, and workflow across static, motion, and video disciplines, not the agency-wide tracking of timelines, budgets, and logistics across creative, digital, accounts, and other departments, which sits with Project Management.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Creative Vision & Direction

Own creative vision and concept development across integrated digital campaigns; paid social, display, programmatic, retail media, CTV, web, and email, translating client objectives, audience insights, and performance goals into creative that drives engagement, conversion, and brand growth

Set and uphold creative standards for typography, layout, motion, storytelling, and digital-first design systems across all client work

Partner with strategy, media buying, and account leadership to ensure creative concepts are grounded in data and platform best practices

Team Leadership & Creative Resourcing

Lead and mentor the creative department providing feedback, guidance, and creative standards that elevate the team's thinking and execution

Assess creative project requirements and allocate internal and freelance resources, accordingly, partnering with Project Management to ensure work is properly scoped and resourced

Source, onboard, and manage a reliable network of freelance designers, editors, photographers, videographers, and other creative specialists; maintain best-practice guidelines for briefing, file delivery, and communication

Evaluate freelance and vendor performance and make resourcing recommendations

Performance-Driven & AI-Enabled Creative

Develop creative rooted in data, testing, and performance-marketing principles; collaborate with media and strategy teams to analyze creative performance and continuously optimize effectiveness across channels

Champion the use of AI-powered creative tools (generative image, video, copy, and workflow automation) to accelerate ideation, improve production efficiency, and explore new creative opportunities — while maintaining brand integrity and creative quality

Stay ahead of evolving digital trends, platform updates, and emerging creative technologies, proactively introducing new tools and approaches to the team

Client & Cross-Functional Partnership

Represent creative in client-facing planning, presentation, and review meetings, providing context and confidence around creative recommendations and execution

Build a deep understanding of client brands, audiences, business objectives, and competitive landscapes to inform creative strategy

Partner cross-functionally with account management, strategists, media buyers, copywriters, developers, and project management to keep creative execution aligned with client objectives and campaign timelines

Production & Quality Oversight

Oversee multiple concurrent projects, balancing deadlines, budgets, creative quality, and business priorities across the digital production pipeline

Maintain and organize the digital asset library, ensuring approved visuals are accessible, optimized, and usable across teams

Provide hands-on creative support — including design, editing, and production — during periods of high volume or resource constraints

Creative Workflow Bridge & Quality Control

Serve as the connective bridge between creative direction, static design, and video/motion deliverable processes, ensuring these disciplines stay aligned rather than siloed — particularly as freelancer use increases

Bring creative-trade context and technical production considerations into project meetings early, so budgets and timelines account for real production requirements before they're locked in

Own quality control for outgoing creative — both aesthetic execution and the technical structure of project files — with added rigor for freelancer-delivered work, where visibility into file assembly is more limited

Provide hands-on static design support for high-priority, quick-turn requests and freelancer rework, so the team isn't blocked waiting on production capacity

QUALIFICATIONS
Required
5+ years of experience in a creative leadership, art direction, or creative management role within an agency or digitally led marketing organization

Proven experience leading creative vision and execution for paid social, display, and programmatic advertising (Meta, TikTok, YouTube, CTV)

Experience managing internal creative talent as well as freelance creative partners and vendors

Strong static design and art direction skills (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign), with the ability to personally execute high-priority or quick-turn static work when needed

Working familiarity with Premiere Pro and video/motion workflows is helpful; deep video production or motion graphics expertise is not required for this role

Technical understanding of creative file architecture and production standards, to evaluate quality and consistency across both internal and freelance-delivered work

Hands-on proficiency with AI creative tools (generative image, video, copy, workflow automation) and a demonstrated ability to integrate them into production workflows

Ability to interpret audience research, campaign performance data, and strategic insights, and translate them into creative decisions

Excellent communication, organization, and relationship-management skills, including comfort in client-facing settings

Strong creative judgment and attention to detail, with the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced agency environment

Preferred
Agency background with direct experience across paid social, influencer marketing, digital display, CTV, and performance-driven campaigns

Experience developing freelancer and vendor management processes and best practices

Deep understanding of how creative performs across digital platforms, with the ability to shape decisions based on platform-specific formats and behaviors

Experience mentoring or managing junior creative staff

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE
Creative consistently aligns with strategic objectives, brand standards, and client expectations across every digital platform

Creative projects are properly resourced — internally and with freelance talent — before production begins

Campaign creative performance continuously improves through data-informed iteration and AI-enabled production

Clients feel confident in Margle's creative expertise, from concept through execution

The creative team operates efficiently, with clear standards, strong mentorship, and a scalable freelance network