Executive Creative Director (Managing Director, Creative)

About Darkroom

Darkroom is the next-generation growth marketing firm engineering the brands of tomorrow. We fuse human creativity with the power of Matter, our proprietary AI commerce layer, enabling us to deliver world-class creative, measurable performance, and omnichannel brand acceleration for some of the most innovative consumer companies in the U.S.

We’ve driven billions in attributable revenue, built industry-defining brands, appeared on the Inc. 5000 as one of the fastest-growing companies in America, and our founders have been recognized by Forbes 30 Under 30 for redefining the future of commerce and marketing.

Now, we are searching for a once-in-a-generation creative leader to take our creative organization into its next era.

About the Role

Darkroom is hiring an Executive Creative Director (Managing Director, Creative) — a visionary creative leader who sits at the intersection of short-form performance advertising, brand storytelling, AI-driven creative systems, and omnichannel marketing.

In this role, you will oversee all creative output across:

• Performance Creative (Meta, TikTok, YouTube, CTV)

• Creative Strategy & Campaign Architecture

• Short-form video ideation + direction

• Brand + Design (in partnership with our Principal Designer)

• Creative innovation + AI tooling integration

You will lead a growing 30+ person creative team — designers, editors, creative strategists — scaling it to 60+ over the next 18–24 months. You’re responsible for elevating taste, strengthening craft, systematizing quality, and ensuring Darkroom remains the most innovative creative performance firm in the industry.

This role reports to our VP of Creative Ops and partners closely with Paid Media, Social Commerce, Digital Product, and Client Strategy to shape the creative engine behind Darkroom’s growth programs.

What You’ll Lead

1. Performance Creative & Short-Form Video Excellence (Top Priority)

• Build and direct best-in-class creative for Meta, TikTok, and paid social

• Architect ad concepts, hooks, visual pacing, frameworks, and testing strategies

• Elevate creative quality through clear taste leadership, rapid iteration, and cultural fluency

• Review and critique ads weekly with leadership (including Oren John) and set the creative bar for the agency

• Champion creative systems that consistently produce high-volume, high-performance ads

2. Creative Strategy & Omnichannel Campaigns

• Lead concept development for multi-platform campaigns across DTC, retail, Amazon, CTV, social commerce, and brand

• Translate performance insights into unified creative worlds and brand platforms

• Ensure creative work ladders up into larger brand narratives and cross-channel consistency

3. AI-Driven Creative Innovation

• Lead the integration of AI-powered creative workflows (Midjourney, Veo3, Nano Banana, Runway, Flora, etc.)

• Build repeatable systems for scaling creative volume, speed, and ideation

• Maintain Darkroom’s reputation as the most innovative creative-performance agency in the U.S.

4. Creative Leadership & Team Management

• Lead and scale a multidisciplinary creative team (30 → 60+)

• Mentor designers, editors, and creative strategists while building the next generation of creative leadership

• In partnership with VP of Creative Ops, create strong processes, training systems, and operating rhythms

• Partner with Talent to hire world-class creatives and embed a culture of excellence, experimentation, and performance

5. Brand & Design Oversight (Supporting Priority)

• Oversee the brand + design studio (led day-to-day by Principal Designer)

• Provide top-level creative direction, taste, and critique on brand identity, web design, and digital product

• Help position Darkroom as a creative leader across design + brand systems

You Should Apply If You Are:

• A modern Executive Creative Director with 10+ years leading performance or brand creative teams

• A short-form video expert who deeply understands Meta and TikTok creative

• A world-class storyteller with omnichannel brand fluency (DTC, retail, Amazon, CTV, social)

• A hands-on maker when needed (video editing, storyboards, design tweaks, concepting)

• A leader who can scale creative organizations with operational discipline

• Someone who is obsessed with creative innovation, culture, and AI

• A taste-maker with a strong portfolio demonstrating performance + brand craft

• An exceptional presenter and communicator with clients and internal stakeholders

• Based in New York, NY (or willing to relocate)

Hard disqualifiers:

• No Meta performance creative experience

• No short-form video creation experience

• Strategy-only creatives

• No portfolio

• Weak managerial track record

Why Darkroom

You’ll lead one of the most advanced creative departments in the industry, shape the future of creative x AI, and build a legacy at one of the fastest-growing agencies in America — working alongside industry leaders, including advisor Oren John and Darkroom’s full executive team.

Working at Darkroom

Darkroom is not a typical agency. We are looking for A players that want to build something great. There is no room in our organization for mediocrity and candidates that are not at the top of their game do not last. We move fast, think deeply, and expect every team member to bring insight and rigor to everything they touch. We hold a high bar for performance, creativity, and ownership — but we also support each other relentlessly. No egos, no red tape — just world-class talent building something remarkable.We believe in autonomy with accountability, truth over comfort, and outcomes over optics. If you want to build and win alongside some of the smartest people in the business, you’ll thrive here.

• Work-Life Balance: We recognize that time away from work is essential for growth and well-being. Our generous paid time off policy ensures you have the time you need to maintain a healthy work-life balance and perform at your best.

• Location, location, (or no) location: Remote-first culture with a strong community base. While many roles remain fully remote, employees hired to work from our New York or Lisbon HQs (opening early 2026) are expected to adopt a hybrid working model, including weekly in-office appearances. Hub locations also include the Bay Area, Philly, São Paulo, and Barcelona.

• Health & Wellness: Company-sponsored medical, dental, and vision benefits with, so you can stay as healthy as can be.

• Generous Quarterly Bonuses: Your productivity directly translates to your compensation. We offer a competitive quarterly bonus structure that is both substantial and customized to your role, ensuring your hard work is consistently and generously rewarded.

• Finances, growth, and retirement: After one year with Darkroom, we deliver a robust 401k program with company match, equity incentives, and a profit-sharing opportunity so we can help you save as the company grows.

• Endless opportunities for growth: Our agency is founded on an interdisciplinary approach, giving Darkroomers insights into services far beyond your job description. Grow your skills and interests beyond your niche and stay at the forefront of the industry through total immersion in cross-functional collaboration.

• Parental Leave: flexible parental leave benefits to support new parents during this important transition, ensuring time to bond with their families while maintaining work-life balance.

Our Hiring Process and Compensation:

The hiring process for this position typically follows three stages; phone screen, hiring manager, and Executive calls.

Equal Opportunity Statement

Darkroom is an equal opportunity workplace—we are dedicated to equal employment opportunities regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national orientation, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, or Veteran status. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements