Creative Manager

The Creative Manager is a strategic leader responsible for driving the visual storytelling and creative direction of the brand, blending artistic vision with business goals to deliver impactful, KPI-driven results. This role provides leadership to the creative and photography teams, fostering growth, optimizing workflows, and collaborating across departments to ensure consistency and innovation in brand expression. With expertise across diverse design formats and channels, the Creative Manager oversees the execution of creative projects, manages vendor relationships, and contributes to long-term strategic planning to enhance the brand's identity and user experience.

Creative Manager Primary Functions:

• Lead visual brand storytelling by blending artistic vision and marketing strategy.
• Translate marketing objectives and conceptual ideas into creative direction and compelling visuals and multi-media content that deliver on KPIs.
• Consistently propose innovative ideas and execute creative development that supports brand goals.
• Bring the Clayton brand to life and build brand identity through high-quality multi-media content.
• Develop long-term creative planning and strategy development.
• Provide recommendations and solutions that will drive business goals and the best user experience through digital design.
• Lead strategy for digital design projects across multiple business units by aligning project goals, brand guidelines, and user journey to create a world-class digital experience.
• Lead and mentor the creative team: prioritize and manage work, foster team growth/development, provide feedback, optimize processes, provide quality control, oversee timelines, manage budgets, provide training, develop team culture.
• Lead and mentor the photography team: foster team growth/development, provide feedback, inform priorities.
• Represent creative team to executive audiences: pitch ideas, report on progress, provide recommendations.
• Closely collaborate with cross-functional teams to provide creative direction.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with stakeholders to identify collaboration points and enhance brand consistency.
• Foster a culture of creativity, innovation, and collaboration within the creative and photography teams.
• Act as a brand ambassador, ensuring all creative work adheres to brand guidelines.
• Oversee the end-to-end creative process, from concept development, to final execution, across all creative assets.
• Ability to leverage multiple design formats to provide creative solutions to marketing briefs.
• Expertise in photography and videography branding and best practices
• Design and create vision for the development of communications across all touch points including 2D, 3D, motion graphics, copywriting, on-device demos, digital, and experiential.
• Collaborate with developers and digital product managers to create intuitive and visually appealing interfaces.
• Managing agency relationships, from identification, to creative direction, to day-to-day communication
• Other duties as assigned.

Creative Manager Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Design, Marketing, Communications, or equivalent practical experience
• Minimum of 7 years of related experience required; 8+ years of related experience preferred; experience in creative / design industry preferred.
• Proficient in design software (Adobe Creative Suite, Figma, etc.) and video editing tools
• Ability to develop on-brand creative copy.
• Organizational and time management skills
• Diverse portfolio of relevant work sample across branding, creative direction, photography, UI/UX, art direction, visual system, copywriting, and design
• Strong understanding of digital design across various media, including websites, landing pages, social media platforms, and point of purchase.
• Propensity for idea generation and strategic design
• Experience managing in-house and agency creative resources.
• Ability to provide create direction across multiple channels and creative formats.
• Marketing and business acumen
• Enterprise-focus
• Track record of successful design and integration, and the delivery of projects on-time.
• Excellent communication, presentation, interpersonal, and analytical skills
• Ability to communicate design concepts clearly and persuasively across different audiences and varying levels of the organization.
• Strong strategic thinker with the natural ability to collaborate with others

Why Clayton?

• Full-time team members have the flexibility to create their own health, dental, and vision benefits package. Clayton provides competitive 401K programs, including investment options and company matching for full and part time employees after one year to help our team members achieve their financial goals. Additional benefits include paid parental leave, tuition reimbursement, Employee Assistance Programs, and more.
• As part of Clayton’s commitment to Opening Doors to a Better Life, Clayton is now providing paid time for Team Members to volunteer to causes that are meaningful to them through the Clayton Impact program.
• Clayton is proud to have earned spots on the following Forbes lists: America’s Best Employers, America’s Best Employers by State, Best Employers for Diversity, Best Employers for Women.
• At Clayton, we encourage holistic wellness with physical, nutritional, social, financial, spiritual, and occupational programs available online or in-person for team members.
• Clayton’s Home Office campus offers an onsite restaurant, onsite fitness facility with full gym, in-person and virtual workout classes, yoga / barre studio, volleyball, and basketball courts, walking paths, and a disc golf course.

Business Unit - B00015