Director – Brand Creative

The Role

ZenBusiness is seeking a part-time Director of Brand Creative (contract) to establish and build our Brand Creative function through a blend of creative thinking, strategic vision, and hands-on execution.

This leader will report into the VP, Brand Marketing, and be responsible for establishing and scaling the Brand Creative function, combining a consistent and resonant creative strategy with emotional storytelling. The Director will serve as the brand’s creative steward,driving creative systems that bring our brand strategy to life in every touchpoint across brand marketing, performance marketing, product experiences, corporate communications, and company culture. 

Our ideal candidate will be strong in the following areas:

• Bring a standout design career with a portfolio that demonstrates creative, strategically driven work across diverse digital and brand experiences.
• Thinks big-picture, connecting concept, art direction, design, typography, photography, and video storytelling.
• Excels at being organized and entrepreneurial with a keen eye for detail and a systematic approach to take projects from concept to completion.
• Drives results through experience using creative to increase awareness, build consideration, and support growth marketing goals across channels.
• Collaborates naturally across Brand Marketing, Growth Marketing, Content, Product Design, and other teams that shape creative standards.
• Manages effectively, handling multiple projects with competing priorities and using strong communication to set clear expectations with stakeholders.
• Adapts with agility, making thoughtful, efficient decisions in the face of shifting priorities and tight deadlines.

Finds the balance between creativity and practicality, pushing boundaries while staying on budget.

Responsibilities

• Build & Scale the Function: Establish the Brand Creative team, including external partners and agencies, while fostering a culture of inspiration, collaboration, and high performance.
• Evolve Brand Expression: Lead the creative direction, ensuring consistency and distinctiveness across campaigns, product experiences, and internal culture.
• Raise the Creative Bar: Push boundaries of quality and distinctiveness with compelling and emotional storytelling that connects our brand to the highs and lows of entrepreneurship. 
• Design Creative Systems: Build a visual identity with scalable frameworks that empower our teams and ensure a cohesive customer experience.
• Operational Excellence: Manage multiple projects with competing priorities, ensuring on-time, on-budget delivery of high-impact creative.
• Leverage AI in Creative Production: Utilize AI tools and workflows to drive more efficient creative development and production for increased speed, scalability, and innovation.
• Oversee Creative Production: Lead creative efforts across pre-production, on-set shoots, post-production, and other deliverables to ensure executions stay on track and on budget.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in brand and creative roles, with at least 3 years managing teams.
• Deep design sensibility: fluent in current design trends while grounded in design history and classic references — able to draw from both to inspire ideas, cite best-in-class examples, and create compelling creative work.
• Strong experience creating brand systems — not just one-off campaigns, but frameworks that scale across channels and teams.
• Proven ability to deliver both brand-building creative (inspirational, emotional storytelling) and performance marketing creative (conversion-focused, paid acquisition).
• Creative production tools: Proficiency across digital, print, and video production platforms (e.g., Figma, Adobe Creative Cloud, and emerging creative software and AI tools).
• Creative operations tools: Familiarity with project management and collaboration platforms for tracking revisions, approvals, and versioning to ensure efficient, scalable production.
• Familiarity with tools and methods for leveraging AI in creative development.
• Expertise in web and mobile technologies, with a conceptual understanding of programming languages, web design, and agile methodology.
• Experience collaborating with and overseeing agencies, contractors, and partners.
• Strong leadership and collaboration skills with a proven ability to inspire, mentor, and align teams across functions and initiatives.
• Excellent presentation and storytelling skills — able to clearly articulate creative vision to gain alignment across internal and external stakeholders, and support from senior leaders.

Bonus Qualification

• Advanced visual design skills (illustration, typography, iconography, layout design).
• Motion & multimedia production (video editing, animation, motion design, 3D).
• Experience with SMB-focused brands: Deep familiarity with small business and entrepreneurial audiences.