Art Director

About This Role

Working with the Creative Director and account team, the Art Director shapes the strategy, finds the big idea, and leads the creative team that brings campaigns to life across digital and print. This role is about campaigns, people, and strategy first, turning client goals into campaigns that kids love and parents trust.

Responsibilities

• Build compelling, strategic campaigns for clients: from the audience insight and key message to the big idea and how it rolls out across channels
• Work with the Creative Director and account team to turn client goals and briefs into clear creative strategies and channel plans
• Present campaign concepts and strategy in client meetings with a clear rationale, and refine the work through feedback
• Develop pitch concepts, RFP responses, and presentation decks for new business
• Review campaign results with the account team and bring what you learn into the next idea
• Lead and manage creatives on projects, including designers, illustrators, copywriters, photographers, and freelancers, with clear briefs, timelines, and useful feedback
• Keep projects on brief, on schedule, and on budget: scope creative hours, track timelines in our project management system, and flag risks early
• Hold the creative bar across every touchpoint, and build brand systems and campaign toolkits for clients and for Kidzsmart's own brands, including licensed properties
• Create concepts, key visuals, and layouts yourself when it helps shape or sell an idea
• Guide digital work across social, web, e-commerce, email, apps, and short-form video, with a clear sense of what works on each platform
• Guide print work such as activity books, kids' menus, packaging, and event materials — briefing production partners on brand and creative intent and reviewing proofs with them before anything ships
• Make sure kid-facing work meets advertising, privacy, and accessibility standards for children

Requirements

• 5+ years in graphic design or art direction, with experience leading campaigns and creative teams, ideally at an agency
• A portfolio of strategic, integrated campaigns that shows the insight, the idea, and how it played out across digital and print
• A strategic mind: you can connect a client's business goal to an audience insight and a compelling creative idea
• Confidence presenting to clients, and working through their feedback to a better result
• Experience managing creatives and freelancers across several projects at once, keeping work on brief, on schedule, and on budget
• Strong, proven graphic design experience: you can take an idea from sketch to finished key visual yourself
• Solid knowledge of digital channels and formats, plus enough print production know-how to brief partners and catch problems before they ship