Recess Studios is a brand agency built to challenge the expected. With offices in Portland and New York, we deliver end-to-end brand solutions, foundational development, consistent application across every touchpoint, and strategic amplification that drives impact. Our multidisciplinary team imagines worlds, crafts honest narratives, and creates experiences at the intersection of culture and commerce. We prize Good Honest Work by Good Honest People, building lasting partnerships through clear standards, tidy operations, and results that exceed expectations.
JOB OVERVIEW
The Creative Director at Recess Studios is a seasoned expert in brand creative, blending strategic insight with visionary leadership to drive remarkable creative work for world-class brands. This role requires an inspiring leader who can elevate brand narratives through compelling creative strategies and executions. You will champion creativity within our agency, fostering an environment where creatives thrive and produce exceptional work that resonates with audiences and achieves client objectives.
The Creative Director is responsible for defining, steering, and upholding the creative direction of our work. This role sets the creative point of view for brands and ensures that every expression of that point of view, across concepts, design, copy, content, and execution, is coherent, intentional, and delivered to the highest standard.
You are accountable for establishing the creative direction and creating the conditions for the team to execute against it successfully. This means providing clear vision, guidance, and standards, enabling others to do their best work, and stepping in directly when hands-on creative leadership or execution is required.
This role balances leadership and craft. You are both a creative decision-maker and a working creative, able to guide teams and contribute meaningfully to the work itself.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Creative Direction & Quality Control
- Set and articulate the creative direction for client work, ensuring a clear throughline from initial concept to final execution.
- Own the creative standard across all outputs, reviewing work to ensure it aligns with the established direction, intent, and quality bar.
- Translate high-level ideas into actionable creative guidance that designers, writers, and makers can execute with clarity and confidence.
- Ensure creative consistency across channels, formats, and touchpoints, even as work scales or evolves.
Team Enablement & Leadership
- Set your team up for success by providing clear direction, context, and expectations before work begins.
- Lead and mentor creatives through feedback, guidance, and example, helping them strengthen both craft and judgment.
- Manage creative resourcing, prioritization, and workflow in partnership with production and project leads.
- Create an environment where creatives understand not just what to make, but why it matters.
Collaboration & Translation
- Partner closely with Strategy and Client Services to translate briefs into creative direction that is compelling, feasible, and aligned with business objectives.
- Guide ideation sessions to extract strong creative thinking from cross-functional partners while maintaining a cohesive point of view.
- Ensure that creative decisions are well-informed, well-communicated, and aligned with client goals.
Hands-On Creative Contribution
- Contribute directly to creative development as needed, including concepting, design direction, writing, or refinement of key deliverables.
- Step in to solve creative problems, unblock teams, or elevate work when higher-level creative judgment is required.
- Lead by example through active participation in the work, especially on high-impact or high-visibility projects.
Creative Culture & Standards
- Establish and uphold a culture of accountability, clarity, and excellence within the creative team.
- Encourage thoughtful risk-taking while maintaining discipline around quality and execution.
- Continuously refine creative processes and standards to support stronger work and smoother execution.
QUALIFICATIONS
- 8+ years of experience in brand creative roles, with demonstrated leadership in a creative agency or comparable environment.
- Proven ability to set creative direction and translate it into clear guidance that teams can execute across design, copy, content, and production.
- Strong creative judgment and taste, with a track record of delivering cohesive, high-quality work across multiple channels and formats.
- Hands-on creative capability. Comfortable contributing directly to creative development when required, including concepting, design direction, writing, or refinement.
- Experience leading and mentoring creatives through feedback, critique, and example, with an emphasis on clarity, accountability, and craft.
- Ability to manage creative work at both the concept and execution level, ensuring consistency from idea through delivery.
- Strong collaboration skills, particularly with strategy, client services, and production partners, to translate briefs into executable creative direction.
- Comfort making decisions, setting standards, and holding the quality bar without reliance on founders or senior leadership.
- Understanding of creative workflows, resourcing, and timelines in an agency environment.
- Clear, confident communicator who can articulate creative decisions internally and to clients.
- High attention to detail and discipline around review, iteration, and final output.
- Experience working with world-class brands or high-expectation clients.
BENEFITS
- Salary: $130,000 - $150,000
- Medical, dental & vision insurance
- Life Insurance
- Competitive company Holidays
- Flexible PTO
- WFH Flexibility
- 401K w/ Company match