Contract

Freelance Creative Director

Design

Posted on 8/15/2025

VSA Partners

VSA Partners

51-200 employees

Strategy and creative agency delivering outcomes

Compensation Overview

$100k - $160k/yr

Chicago, IL, USA

In Person

Category
Creative Production
Required Skills
Adobe Creative Suite
Figma
Branding/Brand Strategy
Social Media
Requirements
  • Visual Design Expertise: 10+ years of experience in design. Strong command of design principles, typography, layout, and color theory to execute top-tier, visually impactful campaigns.
  • Strong Portfolio: A robust portfolio of integrated campaign work that spans from print to digital to experiential for B2b and B2C brands.
  • Leadership & Team Management: 3+ years of managing teams. Proven ability to lead and inspire creative teams, providing direction and feedback while fostering a collaborative environment.
  • Strategic Thinking: Ability to synthesize client briefs, strategic objectives, and market insights into innovative campaign executions.
  • Communication Skills: Strong verbal and written communication skills for client presentations, team coordination, and internal collaboration.
  • Project Management: Capable of managing multiple projects simultaneously, with strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
  • Software Proficiency: Advanced skills in design tools (Adobe Creative Suite, Figma, etc.) and familiarity with project management tools (Slack, Google Suite and Workamajig).
Responsibilities
  • Creative Leadership: Enthusiastically develops and executes high-impact, visually compelling concepts for integrated campaigns
  • Brings deep production experience
  • Is fluent in full-funnel digital marketing, including trends in social media, paid search, video advertising, influencer marketing and more
  • Establishes and maintains the overall art direction, ensuring a consistent visual language across client projects.
  • Serves as a leader in the creative process, guiding teams through ideation, design, and execution.
  • Collaboration & Teamwork: Works closely with copywriters, designers, strategists, project managers and the production team to ensure cohesive creative direction that delivers on the creative brief.
  • Leads brainstorming sessions and provides constructive feedback to ensure high-quality work.
  • Acts as a liaison between the creative team and internal stakeholders, facilitating clear communication and idea flow.
  • Client Engagement & Communication: Eagerly engages in client content to best understand the client’s vision, business goals, and their products and services and then translating these into compelling creative deliverables.
  • Presents creative concepts and campaigns to clients and internal teams, articulating design decisions and the strategic rationale behind them.
  • Identifies growth opportunities within existing accounts and collaborates with client-facing teams to nurture and expand client relationships.
  • Represents the creative team in new business presentations and pitches, showcasing VSA’s design capabilities and approach to campaign work.
  • Helps identify new business opportunities and contribute to the agency’s growth strategy.
  • Project Management & Execution: Coordinates across teams to ensure that all deliverables meet deadlines and production quality standards.
  • Oversees multiple campaigns, ensuring consistency and high-quality execution across platforms and media.
  • Mentorship & Development: Supports the development of junior staff by providing mentorship and feedback to foster their growth as needed.
  • Identifies tools, resources, and processes that improve creative efficiency and team performance.

VSA Partners is a strategy and creative agency that blends consumer insights and data with human-centered design to create measurable brand experiences. It combines strategy, branding, advertising, data science, and technology, delivering tailored programs through project-based engagements or long-term partnerships. By integrating these capabilities under one roof and collaborating through the Meet The People network, it offers customized solutions aimed at delivering clear business outcomes for global brands. Its goal is to help clients grow their business and strengthen creative leadership through accountable, data-driven programs.

Company Size

51-200

Company Stage

Acquired

Total Funding

N/A

Headquarters

Chicago, Illinois

Founded

1982

Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Susan Pfeifer's Head of Operations appointment strengthens multi-market complexity management.
  • Claudia Gorelick's associate partner role elevates experience strategy to partner-level demand.
  • DetecTogether 'Response Time Matters' campaign expands into healthcare and nonprofit sectors.

What critics are saying

  • AI tools like Adobe Firefly commoditize VSA's brand strategy in 12-24 months.
  • Google, Nike in-house teams reduce VSA dependency in 18-24 months.
  • Talent attrition hits VSA's 188-person headcount in 6-12 months.

What makes VSA Partners unique

  • VSA blends consumer insights, data science, and human-centered design for measurable experiences.
  • VSA serves global brands like Google, Nike, IBM with integrated branding and technology services.
  • As Meet The People member, VSA accesses international independent agency network.

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Benefits

Health Insurance

Dental Insurance

401(k) Retirement Plan

Professional Development Budget

Performance Bonus

Company News

Chicago Business
Mar 12th, 2025
People on the Move

VSA Partners has appointed Susan Pfeifer as Head of Operations.

Little Black Book
Nov 19th, 2024
Boring Office Worker Has All the Facts in Factset Spot

FactSet, a global financial digital platform and enterprise solutions provider, has partnered with Chicago-based creative agency VSA Partners to unveil a second round of spots in its 'Not Just the Facts' campaign.

Marketing Communication News
Oct 26th, 2023
EdgeCore Unveils New Brand Identity

VSA Partners, a strategy and creative agency, recently announced the launch of new brand identity work for client EdgeCore Digital Infrastructure.

Reel Chicago
Oct 9th, 2023
Early cancer detection for firefighters is focus of new campaign

DetecTogether has joined forces with the Chicago-based creative and strategy agency, VSA Partners, to launch its "Response Time Matters" campaign aimed at a high-risk demographic - firefighters.

Ethical Marketing News
Apr 2nd, 2023
VSA Honored by 2nd Annual Anthem Awards for Inspiring Racial Justice Work – Ethical Marketing News

VSA developed “Until Justice Just Is” in collaboration with the YWCA, a group famous for its advocacy and support for women.

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