Art Director — New Initiatives

Job Title

Art Director

Job Description

People Inc. is the largest digital and print publisher in America. From mobile to magazines, nearly 200 million people trust us to help them make decisions, take action, and find inspiration. People Inc. has more than 40 iconic brands, including PEOPLE, Entertainment Weekly, Better Homes & Gardens, Verywell, Food & Wine, The Spruce, Allrecipes, Byrdie, REAL SIMPLE, Investopedia, and Southern Living. We are building engaging experiences that excite users and amplify the voices of our brands.

We are seeking an Art Director — New Initiatives to work closely with the Senior Creative Director and partners across marketing, editorial, product, commerce, and growth. This new role specializes in branding and marketing design for paid memberships and premium products, including Southern Living Insiders, as well as other cross-brand and net-new initiatives. The Art Director will help develop distinctive identities, launch campaigns, and scalable creative systems that express the value of premium experiences and engage audiences across channels.

As Art Director — New Initiatives, you will be responsible for leading the visual development and execution of high-visibility, high-value initiatives from concept through launch and ongoing optimization. You will create and evolve identity systems, premium brand expressions, and integrated marketing campaigns; translate strategy into clear, compelling creative; and provide flexible senior-level design capacity that can shift as organizational priorities change.

Responsibilities

Own assigned branding, campaign, and premium product design projects from brief through launch and ongoing optimization, following established processes to ensure smooth delivery of creative assets.

Partner with the Senior Creative Director to establish the visual direction for Southern Living Insiders and other priority initiatives, ensuring execution is distinctive, premium, and consistent across teams and channels.

Lead the creation of identity systems, launch assets, integrated marketing campaigns, and scalable toolkits and templates that work cohesively across digital experiences, editorial touchpoints, and promotional channels.

Collaborate with marketing, editorial, product design, commerce, growth, and cross-brand partners to translate business goals and audience insights into effective creative.

Build and maintain identity guidelines and creative systems, and continually optimize work using campaign performance, audience learning, and stakeholder feedback.

II. Essential Job Functions

Accountabilities, Actions and Expected Measurable Results

30%

Creative Direction

Provide creative direction for Southern Living Insiders and other new initiatives; communicate brand standards clearly and ensure a consistently premium level of execution across internal teams and external partners.

30%

Design

Use business requirements, audience insights, and stakeholder feedback to design premium visual assets, including identity systems, launch materials, integrated marketing campaigns, static and motion creative, and reusable templates.

30%

Collaborate Across Marketing, Editorial, Product, Commerce, and Growth

Lead the visual direction for launches, acquisition and retention campaigns, audience engagement, editorial integrations, and cross-brand initiatives.

Present strategic design concepts and solutions, articulate the rationale behind the work, and build consensus among a broad range of stakeholders.

Help build and maintain a collaborative, inclusive, and creatively ambitious culture within the design team.

Lead and participate in brainstorming and critique sessions that foster big-picture thinking, strengthen concepts, and raise the bar on craft and premium brand expression.

10%

Process Management

Keep project plans and tickets up to date, communicate progress and dependencies, maintain organized files and reusable assets, monitor stakeholder feedback, and meet deadlines across multiple concurrent initiatives.

III. Minimum Qualifications and Job Requirements | All must be met to be considered.

Education:

Bachelor’s degree, or equivalent education and experience

Experience:

3–5 years as an Art Director and 5–10 years as a designer, with experience leading brand and marketing work from concept through execution

Specific Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

Strong typography skills

Strong integrated brand and marketing campaign design skills

Strong identity system and brand guideline development skills

Working knowledge of motion graphics

Proficient in Figma

Proficient in Adobe Creative Suite, including Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, After Effects, and Premiere

Experience in publishing, media, membership, subscription, or other premium consumer products

A portfolio demonstrating brand identities, premium product launches, and integrated marketing campaigns

Self-directed, adaptable, and comfortable moving between priority initiatives

Strong attention to detail

Excellent communication, presentation, and stakeholder-management skills

A collaborative team player ready to work in a fast-paced, matrixed environment

It is the policy of People Inc. to provide equal employment opportunity (EEO) to all persons regardless of age, color, national origin, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, race, religion, creed, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, genetic information, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law. In addition, the Company will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities. Accommodation requests can be made by emailing [email protected].

The Company participates in the federal E-Verify program to confirm the identity and employment authorization of all newly hired employees. For further information about the E-Verify program, please click here:https://www.e-verify.gov/employees

Pay Range

Salary: New York: $90,000 - $110,000 Washington: $90,000 - $110,000

The pay range above represents the anticipated low and high end of the pay range for this position and may change in the future. Actual pay may vary and may be above or below the range based on various factors including but not limited to work location, experience, and performance. The range listed is just one component of People Inc's total compensation package for employees. Other compensation may include annual bonuses, and short- and long-term incentives.In addition, People Inc. provides to employees (and their eligible family members) a variety of benefits, including medical, dental, vision, prescription drug coverage, unlimited paid time off (PTO), adoption or surrogate assistance, donation matching, tuition reimbursement, basic life insurance, basic accidental death & dismemberment, supplemental life insurance, supplemental accident insurance, commuter benefits, short term and long term disability, health savings and flexible spending accounts, family care benefits, a generous 401K savings plan with a company match program, 10-12 paid holidays annually, and generous paid parental leave (birthing and non-birthing parents), all of which may vary depending on the specific nature of your employment with People Inc. and your work location. We also offer voluntary benefits such as pet insurance, accident, critical and hospital indemnity health insurance coverage, life and disability insurance.

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