Art Director

*** This is not a job at ForceBrands ***

Department: Marketing

Reports To: CMO

Location: TBD / Hybrid

Employment Type: Full-Time

ROLE SUMMARY

The Art Director will lead all creative output for the marketing organization — setting the visual direction of the brands in the portfolio (Laird Superfood, Navitas Organics, and Terrasoul), overseeing content and asset production, and building a modern, scalable creative infrastructure with an emerging tech stack. Reporting to the CMO, they will be the primary creative partner for the Social Manager, Content Manager, Growth Manager, and Brand team, as well as the internal point of contact for project-based creative agencies. This is a hands-on leadership role: in the near term, the Art Director will be producing work directly while building systems for the team to scale.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Brand Visual Identity & Direction

• Establish and maintain a cohesive visual identity for the brand across all channels — DTC, Amazon, social, retail, and paid media
• Develop and document brand creative standards and guidelines in collaboration with brand team
• Ensure all creative output — internal and agency-produced — is on-brand and meets quality standards
• Act as the creative voice in cross-functional planning sessions, providing input on how brand strategy translates to visual execution

Campaign & Content Creative

• Lead creative development for all marketing campaigns — from concept through final asset delivery
• Brief and oversee project-based creative agency partners for larger campaign work
• Produce DTC ad creative, landing page visuals, and email templates — prioritizing new assets for upcoming summer campaigns as the first major deliverable
• Develop social content creative in collaboration with social team
• Create and maintain a content asset library that supports the social content calendar with pre-produced, on-brand visual templates

Amazon & Retail Asset Production

• Own the visual production of Amazon PDP imagery — hero shots, lifestyle images, infographics, and A+ content modules
• Partner with the digital team to prioritize and execute the PDP overhaul for the A+ and A+ premium content as an early priority
• Develop retail creative assets for WMT.com, COSTCO, and key retail accounts as needed
• Support packaging design for new product introductions in collaboration with the Brand Manager, Navitas

Seeding Kits & PR Materials

• Design the standard influencer and press seeding kit — product selection insert card, brand one-pager, and kit packaging
• Develop brand collateral for media and press outreach once a PR agency is onboarded
• Ensure seeding kits are production-ready and stocked for the influencer program launch

Asset Library & Creative Infrastructure

• Lead the migration from the current outdated asset platform to a modern Digital Asset Management (DAM) system with AI tagging capability
• Define the DAM taxonomy, naming conventions, and access structure for the full marketing team and agencies
• Implement AI-assisted creative workflows where applicable — image generation, asset resizing, copy-to-visual briefing
• Build a prompt library for AI creative tools in collaboration with the broader team as part of the AI tooling initiative
• Identify production management tool and partner with broader marketing team to build process, training, and workflow integration

Team & Agency Creative Management

• Provide creative direction and feedback to Content Manager on all content assets
• Brief, direct, and review work from project-based creative agencies — ensuring deliverables meet brand standards and timelines
• Build repeatable briefing templates and creative review processes as the team scales

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• 8+ years of creative experience, including at least 3 years in a Creative Director or senior creative lead role
• Strong portfolio demonstrating brand-building creative across digital channels — social, DTC, email, and paid media
• Proven experience art directing and producing Amazon PDP imagery (hero shots, A+ content, infographics)
• Hands-on design proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign) and Figma
• Experience briefing and managing external creative agencies and holding partners to quality and timeline standards
• Track record of building or modernizing creative infrastructure — DAM systems, templates, asset libraries
• Ability to move fluidly between strategic creative direction and hands-on production in a lean team environment
• Strong communicator — can translate brand strategy into a clear creative brief and give actionable feedback
• Bachelor's degree in graphic design, visual communications, or related field preferred

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience in consumer packaged goods, food/beverage, health/wellness, or lifestyle brands
• Familiarity with AI-assisted creative tools — Midjourney, Adobe Firefly, or similar — and a view on how to integrate them into a brand-safe workflow
• Prior experience managing a DAM migration or building a creative asset management system from scratch
• Understanding of DTC conversion creative best practices — what performs on paid social, email, and landing pages
• Experience directing social-first content and working alongside a social media manager on a shared content calendar
• Packaging or retail display design experience is a plus
• Experience working inside a brand with multiple product lines or a portfolio structure