Creative Director (Remote, US)

Why You'll Love This Role: We are looking for a Creative Director (Director, Creative) to join our Marketing team. Reporting to the Chief Marketing Officer , you will define and evolve Newsela's creative vision across our portfolio of brands, ensuring every customer touchpoint reflects a cohesive, differentiated, and high-impact brand experience. As the senior creative leader within Marketing, you'll partner with executive stakeholders to translate business strategy into compelling creative direction while building the operating model that enables scalable, high-quality creative execution.

While remaining close to the creative work, you'll personally lead design for select high-visibility initiatives and serve as a trusted advisor to executive leadership on brand, storytelling, and customer experience. What You'll Be Doing: Creative Strategy Define and evolve Newsela's creative vision and visual identity across Newsela's portfolio of brands, ensuring a cohesive, differentiated, and high-impact customer experience. Translate business priorities, audience insights, and brand strategy into compelling creative direction across marketing campaigns, product launches, and corporate initiatives.

Develop and evolve scalable visual systems, design frameworks, and brand standards that enable consistency while allowing each brand to maintain its unique identity. Lead ongoing brand governance by reviewing and elevating creative assets across brands to ensure consistency, quality, accessibility, and alignment with Newsela's brand standards Establish and uphold creative standards that drive excellence across digital, print, motion, web, and campaign creative. Serve as the final creative authority for high-impact campaigns, executive communications, and major brand initiatives.

Partner with Marketing leadership to align creative priorities and investments with business objectives and measurable business outcomes. Creative Leadership & Execution Lead the creative vision and execution for Newsela's highest-priority marketing campaigns, digital platforms, corporate initiatives, and executive communications. Provide hands-on creative leadership for select initiatives while establishing the quality standards and creative direction that guide all work across the portfolio.

Partner cross-functionally to deliver integrated creative solutions that advance business objectives and strengthen customer engagement. Serve as the creative lead throughout the lifecycle of strategic initiatives, ensuring exceptional quality, consistency, and business impact. Operational Architecture You will establish the operating model that enables the Creative function to scale, ensuring the team delivers exceptional work with speed, consistency, and efficiency.

Establish and continuously optimize the creative operating model, including intake, prioritization, resource planning, production timelines, and quality standards. Develop scalable workflows, governance, and creative review processes that improve collaboration across Marketing and cross-functional partners. Balance internal team capacity with external agency and contractor resources to meet evolving business needs.

Identify opportunities to improve operational efficiency while maintaining a high bar for creative excellence. Executive and External Partnership Partner with Marketing leadership and cross-functional stakeholders to shape creative strategy and campaign direction from concept through execution. Serve as a trusted advisor to executive leadership on brand positioning, visual storytelling, customer experience, and creative strategy.

Influence creative priorities and investments by aligning recommendations with business objectives, customer insights, and marketing goals. Build, manage, and optimize relationships with external agencies, freelancers, and creative partners to expand the team's capabilities.