Creative Director

About This Role

Leading the creative vision and direction across a portfolio of hotel brands and related businesses is the core of this senior, hands-on role. The Creative Director will set the creative direction, personally shape the company’s most important work, and lead an in-house creative team that works alongside agencies, hotels, and regional teams around the world. This role translates brand strategy into distinctive, commercially effective creative, protecting the clarity of each brand and the integrity of the wider portfolio.

Responsibilities

• Define and champion a distinctive creative vision for each brand, turning positioning and audience insight into visual identities and brand experiences across every touchpoint
• Protect brand architecture, identity systems, and naming conventions, and challenge work that dilutes brand equity or creates unnecessary inconsistency
• Own and evolve brand guidelines as practical, digital-first design systems, with templates, toolkits, and asset libraries that let corporate, regional, and hotel teams execute consistently and well
• Lead creative direction for brand launches, refreshes, rebrands, conversions, and pre-opening programs, in partnership with the Vice President Marketing and brand governance forums
• Personally develop concepts and art-direct priority work, from first idea through to final execution, setting the standard by example
• Conceive and direct integrated campaigns across digital, social, video and motion, CRM, web, photography, print, and out-of-home, with one clear idea and visual language across channels
• Lead art direction and visual storytelling for photography, film, and content production, from brief and mood boards through to shoot oversight and post-production review
• Champion social-first and creator-led storytelling that feels native to each platform and true to the brand
• Use customer insight, performance data, and testing to improve relevance and results, without compromising brand standards
• Work with interior design, food and beverage, operations, and development teams so each brand is expressed consistently in physical touchpoints such as signage, print, packaging, and in-room items
• Review property-level work that falls outside approved templates, and advise on property photography, collateral, campaigns, and pre-opening creative
• Balance global brand consistency with local market relevance across Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, the Indian Ocean, Europe, and the Americas
• Lead, coach, and inspire the in-house creative team through regular design reviews, mentoring, and constructive critique, building a culture of craft, curiosity, and accountability
• Shape the team’s structure, skills mix, and capacity across design, art direction, motion, video, and content; lead recruitment, succession planning, and career development
• Set clear priorities, stay close to important briefs, and empower team members to own their work
• Run an effective creative operation covering briefing, prioritization, workload planning, turnaround standards, and reporting, with clear visibility of timelines, dependencies, and risks
• Manage the creative budget and production costs, and decide when work is best delivered in-house or through external partners
• Evaluate and introduce AI-enabled creative tools where they improve quality or efficiency, with clear guardrails on brand safety, intellectual property, data privacy, usage rights, and disclosure
• Ensure creative assets are reviewed before publication for brand compliance, accuracy, cultural sensitivity, and accessibility
• Build and manage a roster of creative, design, photography, film, and production partners, including briefing, pitching, selection, negotiation, quality control, and performance review
• Give clear direction and feedback to partners, and take accountability for the quality, consistency, timing, and value of external creative output
• Partner with Marketing, Digital, Social Media & Creator, Content, CRM, Revenue, PR, and hotel teams to align creative priorities with business objectives
• Present creative strategy and work with confidence to senior leadership and owners, explaining the rationale and responding constructively to feedback
• Guide the photographic and film direction for each brand, defining visual style and storytelling approach so that visual expression is distinctive to each brand and consistent across the portfolio
• Conduct and art-direct photo and video shoots when required, including campaign, pre-opening, and priority-property shoots, covering briefs, shot lists, mood boards, location and talent direction, on-set creative direction, and post-production review
• Brief, select, and direct external photographers, filmmakers, and production crews for larger productions, ensuring all content meets brand standards and delivers value for money
• Maintain brand photography and film guidelines and an organized, current asset library with clear usage rights, so that hotel and regional teams can find and use approved imagery with confidence

Requirements

• At least 10 years’ experience in creative, design, art direction, or brand roles, in agency and/or in-house environments, including at least 5 years leading creative teams
• A portfolio that shows both strategic creative leadership and hands-on craft: original concepts, brand identity systems, integrated campaigns, and digital or motion work
• Experience across multiple brands and markets, including brand launches, refreshes, rebrands, or major creative transformation
• A deep understanding of brand strategy, brand architecture, and governance in a multi-brand, multi-market organization
• Experience directing photographers, filmmakers, agencies, and production partners from brief to delivery, and managing budgets and suppliers
• Expert knowledge of Adobe Creative Cloud and Figma, with a sound understanding of motion and video workflows, digital asset management, and AI-enabled creative tools
• A strong grasp of digital and social-first creative, web, and CRM, and the ability to use data to improve creative effectiveness
• Commercial judgment that connects creative decisions to brand equity, guest experience, and business results
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, and the ability to influence senior executives, owners, regional teams, and hotel leaders
• Cultural awareness, with a practical understanding of localization and accessibility
• A Bachelor’s degree in Design, Visual Communication, Advertising, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience
• Fluent English, written and spoken
• Willingness to travel as required

Nice to have:

• Experience in hospitality, luxury, travel, fashion, lifestyle, or premium consumer brands

About the Company

Minor Hotels is a global hospitality leader with over 600 hotels and resorts across six continents, a diverse portfolio of F&B businesses, and a selection of luxury transportation services. With over five decades of experience, Minor Hotels has built a global network of hotel and hospitality brands driven by one key philosophy – we don’t need to be the biggest, but we do need to be the best. Perpetually driven by an entrepreneurial spirit, the company creates better hospitality brands, businesses, and partnerships.