Executive Creative Director
Job Description
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About the Role
As a Executive Creative Director, you’ll work closely with the EVP, Head of Creative to set the vision, guide teams, and deliver work that hits across every channel—digital, social, upper-funnel, and TV. This role is equal parts leadership and craftsmanship. We are looking for an Executive Creative Director to lead and elevate one of our most high-impact accounts.
You’re an integrated thinker who’s led large-scale brand campaigns and shipped work that moves. You’ve built teams, pitched and won big ideas, and navigated global markets. You know how to move seamlessly from strategy to concept to execution—because you’ve done it. And while you lead from the top, you’re not afraid to get your hands dirty.
We need a Swiss Army knife: someone hands-on, fast, and fluent in everything from cinematic brand spots to scroll-stopping social. If your book shows platform-native thinking, sharp digital ideas, and the craft to back it up, we want to see it.
Responsibilities:
- Drive the Creative Vision:
- Define and drive the creative direction, ensuring clarity, consistency, and innovation across all outputs
- Develop campaign work that’s effective, beautifully crafted, and right-sized for every platform—film, digital, social, and upper-funnel
- Maintain high creative standards with a strong emphasis on storytelling and narrative strength
- Set quarterly and annual goals for the creative department, and ensure progress is visible and measurable
- Lead, Grow, and Problem Solve:
- Lead and mentor a high-performing crew of GCDs, CDs, art directors, writers, motion artists, designers
- Foster a culture rooted in creativity, collaboration, and the Relentless Pursuit of Better™—where smart risk-taking and innovation are the norm
- Keep teams inspired and aligned across time zones and project types
- Work shoulder-to-shoulder with cross-functional partners (strategy, accounts, production) to clear roadblocks and elevate the work
- Lead with empathy, be present and accessible, and champion a clear, inclusive creative culture
- Win New Business and Foster Client Relationships:
- Lead campaign development from pitch to production—own the creative vision, back the strongest ideas, and push for best-in-class execution across formats
- Champion integrated thinking: one clear idea, delivered smartly across digital, social, upper-funnel, and TV
- Take point on high-priority and net-new creative pitches, especially for brands with strong growth potential
- Build trust with existing clients and internal teams—guiding them to bold, insight-driven creative decisions
- Spot and shape organic growth opportunities, and help evaluate incoming asks with a strategic, right-sized approach
- Use Group Creative Directors to help drive and execute your vision across workstreams
- Ensure and Expect Creative Excellence:
- Oversee all creative outputs—digital, social, upper-funnel, and TV—to ensure the work is differentiated, impactful, and high-quality
- Push both teams and clients to go further—striving for award-worthy, best-in-class work
- Align with other department leads to keep creative ideas executable, effective, and on-brief
- Create and Uphold Process:
- Build smart, scalable creative processes that improve delivery without sacrificing quality
- Lead internal training initiatives—presentation skills, storytelling, AI tools, and more
- Eliminate workflow friction and keep things moving
About You
The essentials:
- Extensive experience in a creative leadership role within at least one top-tier agency. Typically 15+ years of creative experience, 3-5 years of experience at the Group
- Creative Director level, and 10-12 years as a Creative Director in an advertising agency.
- A strong portfolio showcasing a wide range of creative work, including successful, award-winning integrated campaigns.
- Proven ability to lead and inspire creative teams.
- Excellent communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills
- Integrated ECD: A senior Executive-level creative leadership with hands-on execution
- Cross-Channel Expertise: Strong across digital, social, upper-funnel, and TV
- Brand Campaign Experience: Track record of building and launching full-scale campaigns
- Creative Leadership: Skilled at leading diverse, high-performing teams
- Global Experience: Has led work across regions
- Agility: Fast, collaborative, and solution-driven
- Swiss Army Knife: Versatile, sharp, and ready for anything
- Portfolio Must-Haves:
- Great Film: Cinematic or spot work with clear narrative power
- Native Social: Content built for the platform—not adapted to it
- Digital Experience: Campaigns that are creative, scalable, and effective
- Design Acumen: Strong design eye and high bar for craft
Not a must, but a plus:
- Deep understanding of brand, all things digital, and the latest creative and tech trends.
At Monks, we believe in fostering an environment where a diversity of perspectives can thrive. We proactively work to design hiring processes that promote equity and inclusion while mitigating bias. We celebrate diversity and are committed to building a team that reflects the communities we serve. We welcome and encourage qualified applicants, from all backgrounds, who are excited to contribute to our mission.
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What We Offer
Benefits
- Excellent, full coverage medical, dental, and vision insurance with employer-paid HRA
- Generous PTO and 15 company-wide holidays
- 401k with company contribution
- Paid parental leave
- Work-life balance with an emphasis on personal well-being
- Career growth in a disruptor space & entrepreneurial opportunities within the Monks network
- A globally diverse & inclusive culture with employee resource groups such as S4 Melanin, Pride.Monks, Cultura.Monks, and more!
- Authentic commitment to DEI efforts and sustainable growth. (Why Sir Martin Sorrell signed The Climate Pledge here!)
Monks has provided a compensation range that represents its good faith estimate of what Monks may pay for the position at the time of posting. Monks may ultimately pay more or less than the posted compensation range. The salary offered to the selected candidate will be determined based on job-related factors, but not based on a candidate’s sex or any other protected status.
About Monks
Monks is the global, purely digital, unitary operating brand of S4Capital plc. With a legacy of innovation and specialized expertise, Monks combines an extraordinary range of global marketing and technology services to accelerate business possibilities and redefine how brands and businesses interact with the world. Its integration of systems and workflows delivers unfettered content production, scaled experiences, enterprise-grade technology and data science fueled by AI—managed by the industry’s best and most diverse digital talent—to help the world’s trailblazing companies outmaneuver and outpace their competition.
Monks was named a Contender in The Forrester Wave™: Global Marketing Services. It has remained a constant presence on Adweek’s Fastest Growing lists (2019-23), ranks among Cannes Lions' Top 10 Creative Companies (2022-23) and is the only partner to have been placed in AdExchanger’s Programmatic Power Players list every year (2020-24). In addition to being named Adweek’s first AI Agency of the Year (2023), Monks has been recognized by Business Intelligence in its 2024 Excellence in Artificial Intelligence Awards program in three categories: the Individual category, Organizational Winner in AI Strategic Planning and AI Product for its service Monks.Flow. Monks has also garnered the title of Webby Production Company of the Year (2021-24), won a record number of FWAs and has earned a spot on Newsweek’s Top 100 Global Most Loved Workplaces 2023.
We are an equal-opportunity employer committed to building a respectful and empowering work environment for all people to freely express themselves amongst colleagues who embrace diversity in all respects. Including fresh voices and unique points of view in all aspects of our business not only creates an environment where we can all grow and thrive but also increases our potential to produce work that better represents—and resonates with—the world around us.
