Creative Director

New York, NY/Hybrid
Salary Range: $225,000 - $240,000

The Creative Director role is responsible for driving creative strategy, advancing brand development, and spearheading marketing innovation at Apple Bank. As a senior leader, this position plays a pivotal role in shaping client engagement across all channels, with particular emphasis on consumer deposit products, commercial lending, small business services, wealth management, and digital banking. The ideal candidate will demonstrate a strong blend of creativity, compliance expertise, and strategic design, while fostering internal capabilities to reduce dependency on external agencies.

This position oversees the full spectrum of creative functions, including brand strategy, campaign development, visual identity, and multi-channel storytelling. Additionally, the Creative Director will contribute significantly to go-to-market strategies, uphold brand standards, and participate in executive initiatives aimed at enhancing both market presence and customer experience.

The successful candidate will possess extensive knowledge of financial marketing compliance, proven leadership skills, experience with usability testing, and a history of developing cohesive brand marketing materials and campaigns that produce quantifiable business outcomes.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Direct and develop the Bank’s creative strategy and brand positioning for all customer segments, including consumer, commercial, small business, and wealth management.
• Supervise creative output across digital, print, video, social, mobile, and experiential channels.
• Work collaboratively with Legal, Compliance, Risk, and Product teams to ensure creative work meets regulatory and brand requirements.
• Oversee agency relationships and creative vendors, managing teams of designers, writers, and UX specialists; prepare creative briefs and manage vendor execution.
• Promote data-driven design decisions by integrating customer insights and marketing analytics into creative plans.
• Support consistency and development of the brand across the organization, including executive communications, internal branding, and the employee value proposition.
• Represent the creative function at senior leadership meetings; provide strategic guidance to business line leaders.
• Collaborate with enterprise leaders on growth initiatives, product launches, and digital transformation programs.
• Coordinate with branch administration and sales strategy leadership to align creative concepts with retail and sales objectives throughout the branch network.
• Balance visual innovation with risk considerations, ensuring creative compliance with industry regulations and facilitating streamlined approval processes.
• Establish scalable and compliant creative procedures that adhere to FDIC, FINRA, SEC, CFPB, and internal regulatory standards.
• Lead usability testing efforts with vendor partners, develop test plans, oversee execution, and incorporate results into design strategies.
• Manage the direction of the Bank's public-facing website, maintaining alignment with internal principles such as trust, transparency, and professionalism.
• Ensure consistent brand identity across digital platforms, including typography, iconography, color schemes, and imagery, in accordance with financial sector norms.
• Set creative direction for new product introductions, service updates, or website rebranding.
• Guide the development of accessible and secure digital experiences for various customer groups, including investors, individuals, institutions, and advisors.
• Support designs that facilitate user activities, such as account openings, product exploration, use of calculator tools, and advisor searches.
• Supervise UX/UI designers in creating responsive layouts compatible with multiple devices and adhering to WCAG accessibility guidelines.
• Track key performance indicators, including click-through rates, bounce rates, conversion funnels, and SEO metrics.
• Encourage ongoing improvement through analysis of heatmaps, session recordings, usability testing, and site analytics.
• Promote a culture focused on combining analytics with creative design.
• Create workflows, timelines, and briefs to manage web projects within predetermined scope and deadlines.
• Oversee external marketing agency in areas such as visual design, copywriting, UX/UI design, while mentoring and reviewing outputs for quality and uniformity.
• Manage and support junior graphic designers to enhance work quality, consistency, and brand representation generated internally.
• Carry out management tasks per company policies and laws, including interviewing, hiring, training, assigning work, evaluating staff, handling rewards, discipline, complaints, and conflict resolution.
• Perform other assigned duties.

SKILLS, EDUCATION, & EXPERIENCE

• Bachelor’s degree is required, advanced degree a plus.
• A minimum of 12 years of creative leadership experience, including at least 5 years within financial services marketing (ideally in banking, wealth management, or fintech).
• Demonstrated expertise managing creative initiatives in regulated environments, with thorough knowledge of FINRA, SEC, CFPB, or FDIC marketing compliance standards.
• Strong portfolio showcasing high-impact, multi-channel campaigns.
• Proven record of successfully leading large teams and collaborating cross-functionally with Compliance, Legal, Product, Branch Administration, and Sales departments.
• Advanced visual and verbal storytelling abilities, with proficiency across both traditional and digital formats.
• Comprehensive understanding of customer journeys, segmentation, personalization, and creative optimization strategies.
• Executive presence with outstanding communication skills; experienced in presenting to Boards and C-suite executives.
• Skilled in developing usability testing plans, coordinating usability studies, and analyzing results.
• Highly organized, proactive, collaborative, and energetic self-starter with a results-oriented approach.
• Demonstrated ability to independently initiate and complete complex tasks.
• Capable of rapidly assimilating and synthesizing complex technologies.

Visa sponsorship not available.

We are an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, military and/or veteran status, or any other Federal or State legally-protected classes.