Freelance Associate Creative Director

We are looking to add Freelance Associate Creative Directors to our Talent Roster for quick turnaround, shorter-term project engagements!

As an Associate Creative Director, you bring a creative voice with strategic thinking to projects. You have a diverse array of experiences to bring to the roll—from conceptual development to client relations to the execution of creative deliverables. Creating and communicating concepts, creating and implementing marketing strategies, and developing interactive solutions is on you. But you always ensure and rationalize all creative results against user experience management objectives to deliver excellent digital experiences.

Leading multidisciplinary teams—creative, technology, planning, account and project management, partners, and clients to name a few—doesn’t faze you. Balancing creative thinking with interpersonal skills, you justify concepts to both the client and the project team. You build long-term client relationships with expertise on client vertical markets. Most importantly, you embody and embrace our values—to be honest, inspired, drive, passionate and real—in everything you do.

You Will:

•  Contribute creative solutions and innovations.
•  Build and guide the creative team around account and company needs and vision.
• Drive creative discipline, operational, and industry vertical excellence and expertise to promote continuous improvement and a culture of excellence and accountability.
• Perform strategic account planning with senior management in vertical marketing groups.
• Conceive and create experience design solutions that fulfill strategic business objectives.
• Effectively communicate creative ideas and strategies to all project stakeholders.
• Lead and partner with multidisciplinary teams.
• Provide regular team mentorship and constructive feedback on all accounts.
• Develop, monitor, and modify creative department staffing strategies and plans, including team compensation and performance, skills, training, and mentorship.
• Develop, implement, and monitor quality standards across all creative department artifacts and deliverables.
• Improve upon creative department methods, problem-solving models, and best practices.
• Set and meet expectations for deliverables, estimations, and project plans.
• Support and lead human resource initiatives with a focus on performance management.
• Understand, embrace, and communicate corporate mission and values.

You Have:

• 8 years visual communication education.
• 8 years design, marketing, and communications interactive work experience.
• 8 years art direction experience.
• Passion for design and eagerness to collaborate with other creative people.
• Solid knowledge and appreciation for the distinction between creative expression and commercial reality.
• Experience developing Internet commerce, electronic marketing, and online brand management and integration, with demonstrated results.

Nice To Have

• Conceptual and systems thinking to turn complex AI topics into clear, scalable ideas that enterprise audiences can understand
• Strong narrative and communication skills to shape clear concepts, content structures, and messaging across platforms
• B2B and enterprise experience, with an understanding of how large organizations evaluate, adopt, and scale technology
• Data literacy, able to use insights and performance signals to inform creative and strategic decisions
• User-centered mindset, ensuring concepts remain grounded in real human needs and use cases
• Leadership experience, guiding multidisciplinary creative teams and aligning them around shared goals
• Account and delivery awareness, able to oversee multiple projects, timelines, and resourcing without losing quality
• Client-facing experience, confident presenting, defending, and evolving ideas with senior stakeholders
• Collaboration skills, working closely with strategy, technology, product, and account partners
• Curiosity and continuous learning, staying current with AI, digital platforms, and industry shifts
• Quality judgment, with a clear ability to distinguish good work from great and raise the overall standard

Critical Mass is an equal opportunity employer. 

Critical Mass uses artificial intelligence in our recruitment process to enhance job postings, filter keywords during the review of prospective candidates, and, in some cases, transcribe interviews with our recruiters. Human review remains central to the process, and all hiring decisions are ultimately made by our team.

The Critical Mass Talent Acquisition team will only communicate from email addresses that use the URLs criticalmass.com, omc.com and us.greenhouse-mail.io. We will not use apps such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, or Google Hangouts for communicating with you. We will never ask you to send us money, technology, or anything else to work for our company. If you believe you are the victim of a scam, please review your local government consumer protections guidance and reach out to them directly.

If U.S. based: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/job-scams#avoid
If Canada based: https://www.canada.ca/en/services/finance/consumer-affairs.html
If U.K. based: https://www.gov.uk/consumer-protection-rights
If Costa Rica based: https://www.consumo.go.cr/educacion_consumidor/consejos_practicos.aspx