Art Director

Urban Emu seeks a talented Washington, DC-based Art Director to join our growing team. You’ll help lead and manage projects from conception to delivery, including concept development, art direction, site/app design, email marketing, paid media, and organic social. In addition, reporting to our Creative Director, you’ll work with colleagues to develop visual solutions for integrated campaigns for current clients and new business proposals.

You must have a strong track record of creative excellence, helping lead the visual development of multi-channel campaigns combined with fresh and progressive thinking. Experience should include developing campaigns for health and wellness clients from the Federal government to the private sector. You will help lead branded 360 campaigns supporting projects ranging from UX/UI for websites and mobile apps to video, advertising, branding, and social content. You’ll create and translate design concepts and marketing needs into inspiring and compelling stories and campaigns—ensuring consistent brand expression across all B2C and B2B facing materials, marketing campaigns, digital content and omnichannel experiences.

Urban Emu has a flexible hybrid working environment, and employees can split their time between the DC and home offices.

Responsibilities Include

• Develop strategic visual ideas that appeal to heads and hearts for 360 campaigns ranging from promotions, activations, and social media experiences.
• Conceptualize and execute social storytelling and content creation across all customer-facing materials, marketing campaigns, digital content and omnichannel experiences.
• Collaborate with a cross-functional team of account leads, creative directors, designers, copywriters, strategists, and project managers.
• Conduct discovery, research, competitive audits, persona development, and trends to inform/formulate campaign and communication strategies.
• Review and approve campaign ideas, art, and copy developed by the team, ensuring deliverables effectively address marketing goals and challenges.
• Deliver exceptional creative work on time, on target and budget.
• Present concepts and designs to clients and respond to feedback professionally and effectively.
• Stay current with media innovation, technology, and design trends while continually contributing to discussions to push our work forward.
• Manage multiple projects and priorities simultaneously while meeting deadlines.
• Work closely with creative and account teams to develop project scopes, timelines, and budgets.
• Take direction from creative leads on projects and work independently.
• Check and approve all visual materials through all stages of pre-production and production.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Design (e.g., graphic, interaction, or visual communications) or a related field or equivalent practical experience
• At least 6-7 years of experience helping lead concept, layout and design
• Understanding of branding, marketing, and advertising principles
• Portfolio of work samples that include the development of successful campaigns, and omnichannel experiences, including advertising, brand identity and social storytelling
• Familiarity with design techniques such as storyboarding, user research and wireframes
• Client-facing presentation skills
• Possesses attention to detail, can work independently, and multi-task
• High proficiency with design tools (Sketch, Figma, Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Canva, etc.)
• Basic understanding of HTML and CSS
• Experience in an agency or advertising industry is preferred.

If interested, please send us an email to hello@urbanemu.com and include your resume and cover letter.