Career Spotlight: Creative Director

Career Spotlight: Creative Director

Creative Directors play a vital leadership role at agencies and brands. As charismatic leaders and architects of big ideas, they bring together the worlds of writing, design and strategy by leading teams of creative specialists.

Each week, The Creative Ladder’s Career Spotlight, presented by Smartsheet , features one of the many creative industry roles that today’s rising talents might want to consider as a rewarding career path.?

And if you want a career that’s flexible, wide-ranging, leadership-oriented and never boring, Creative Director could be a great fit.?

What this role does:

A Creative Director oversees the creative direction and production of everything their team creates, from ads on billboards to the look and feel of a website. They lead teams of creatives (typically writers and designers), organize brainstorming sessions, and meet frequently with clients to understand their needs.?

Salary range:

$124,000–$224,000 (average $165,000), per Glassdoor; $63,000–$200,000 (average $111,376), per Indeed.

Personality traits that thrive in this career:?

  • Creativity: Innovative thinking and a love for developing new ideas
  • Leadership: Stepping up to help a group of talented individuals succeed together?
  • Communication skills: Discussing, educating and inspiring, in writing or in person?

What they love about their job:

“I get to teach, not just design.” — Aaron Sanchez , Creative Director

What recruiters look for when hiring for this role:

  • Proven leadership ability
  • Strong presentation skills
  • Hands-on experience in writing and/or design (Creative directors are typically promoted from Art Director or Copywriter roles)
  • Though direct experience tends to be more important than college education, many Creative Directors begin by seeking bachelor’s degrees in advertising, design or communications. Some attend “portfolio schools,” two-year programs specializing in creative development for advertising.

A sample career path for this role:

  • Copywriter or Art Director (entry-level role)?
  • Associate Creative Director?
  • Creative Director
  • Group Creative Director
  • Executive Creative Director
  • Chief Creative Officer

Do you know the next great Creative Director?

If you know someone who might be a great fit for a career like this, please share this post with them! Here's a web version to share with those who don't use LinkedIn.

And if you’d like to learn about more creative industry career paths, check out The Creative Ladder’s Career Finder at quiz.creativeladder.org.?

Special thanks to Smartsheet for sponsoring The Creative Ladder’s Career Spotlight series. Learn more about how Smartsheet can help creative professionals thrive through its enterprise work management platform.?

Find more Career Spotlights on CreativeLadder.org.

Travis Menezes

Product Compliance - Amazon Prime Video & MGM Studios

10 个月

Let's say one wants to get into "creative" side of things in terms of work but he is working in somewhat "Trust and Safety" division in the broadcast media sector, how should he take steps in that case?

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Destiny Deming

Creative Strategist | Marketing Media Manager

10 个月

Love this! As someone looking to *eventually* pivot from creative production and strategy to creative directing , I’d love to hear advice from Creative Directors about their journey!

Kennyatta Collins

Brand Strategist | Photographer | Chronic Odds Defier

10 个月

I love this as a series, more often than not the challenge in making progress in your career is in knowing where you’re looking to progress to. A series like this helps shed light on that for all of us. This is a banger ????

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