Design Director — United States

Our client, an established, multi-brand retail and consumer products organization, is seeking a Director of Design & Creative Services to lead its in-house creative department. This individual will oversee creative strategy, team leadership, and operations, ensuring high-quality, consistent execution across retail, digital, packaging, and marketing channels.

Title: Director of Design & Creative Services

Type: Full-Time, Salaried

Location: Remote (Chicago area preferred)

Salary: $140K–$150K + up to 20% bonus

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor a multidisciplinary creative team across design, copywriting, production, and project management.

• Establish creative vision, standards, and brand consistency across multiple retail locations and consumer brands.

• Oversee creative workflows, resource allocation, capacity planning, and project prioritization.

• Proactively identify opportunities to improve processes, streamline production, and increase team efficiency.

• Champion the adoption of AI-powered creative tools and emerging technologies to optimize workflows.

• Partner with cross-functional stakeholders and senior leadership to align creative initiatives with business priorities.

• Manage creative budgets, staffing needs, freelance resources, and external agency partners.

• Oversee omnichannel creative execution across print, digital, retail, social, and packaging.

• Drive strategic planning while providing hands-on creative guidance when needed.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in design, creative services, or marketing communications.

• 5+ years of leadership experience managing multidisciplinary creative teams.

• Strong multi-location retail experience required, ideally supporting high-volume creative needs across numerous locations.

• Proven experience with creative operations, workflow optimization, capacity planning, and resource management.

• Experience implementing or leveraging AI tools within creative processes.

• Strong stakeholder management, communication, and strategic planning skills.

• Proficiency with Adobe Creative Suite and creative project management platforms.

• CPG, packaging, or multi-brand experience is a plus.

Ideal Candidate: A strategic, solutions-oriented creative leader who can balance creative excellence with operational efficiency, proactively improve processes, and empower a team to deliver impactful work at scale.