Creative Director

Industrial Color | New York, NY | Hybrid | Full-Time

If you're a creative leader who wants to do more than inherit someone else's vision, we'd love to see your work.

The Opportunity

Industrial Color is a creative production company with a presence in New York and Los Angeles, working with leading brands to bring ambitious ideas to life through photography, film, digital content, and emerging creative technologies.

We're looking for a Creative Director with an exceptional creative eye, a strong point of view, and the ambition to build something.

This isn't a role where you'll inherit a fully staffed department, step into an established process, and simply oversee the work. We're rebuilding our creative team, and we're looking for someone who sees that as an opportunity.

You'll help shape the creative direction of Industrial Color, lead concept development and pitches for our clients, and build a talented, collaborative team around you. You'll have the freedom to influence how the department operates, the talent we bring in, and the kind of work we're known for.

You'll also be hands-on. Particularly in the beginning, you'll be developing ideas, shaping pitches, working alongside production, and helping turn compelling creative concepts into work that can actually be made.

We're looking for someone who is as excited about building the team as they are about making the work.

What You'll Do

Lead the Creative

• Develop original, compelling creative concepts for brand campaigns, pitches, and productions across photography, film, digital, social, and other platforms.
• Take creative ownership from initial brief and ideation through presentation, production, and final delivery.
• Bring a distinctive creative perspective that challenges conventional approaches while remaining true to each client's brand and objectives.
• Lead the development of multiple creative directions, balancing bold thinking with the practical realities of budgets, timelines, and production.
• Collaborate closely with producers, directors, artists, retouchers, and post-production teams to ensure creative ideas translate into exceptional finished work.
• Contribute creative thinking and direction across Industrial Color's broader capabilities, including retouching, motion, AI-driven content, and emerging technologies.
• Help define and elevate Industrial Color's creative identity and the work we bring to market.

Build the Team

• Help rebuild and shape Industrial Color's creative department, identifying the talent, structure, and capabilities needed for long-term success.
• Partner with Talent Acquisition to recruit Art Directors, Designers, Copywriters, and other creative professionals.
• Identify and develop relationships with freelance creative talent to support pitches, productions, and evolving client needs.
• Create an environment where collaboration, curiosity, feedback, and creative excellence are part of how the team works.
• Mentor and develop creative talent, helping individuals strengthen their skills, confidence, and creative judgment.
• Establish processes, templates, and ways of working that enable the team to operate efficiently without sacrificing creativity.
• Help determine how best to deploy internal and freelance resources as the department grows.

Connect Creative Thinking to the Business

• Work closely with production leadership from the earliest stages of creative development to ensure ideas are achievable within client budgets and timelines.
• Partner with account, sales, and business leaders to develop compelling creative responses to new and existing client opportunities.
• Build strong relationships with clients, understanding their brands, audiences, objectives, and creative challenges.
• Contribute to pitches and client presentations, communicating the thinking behind creative concepts and helping bring clients along on the journey.
• Bring a resourceful, commercially minded approach to creative challenges, understanding when to push an idea further and when to find a smarter way to execute it.
• Help identify opportunities to expand Industrial Color's creative offerings and strengthen its position in the market.
• Embrace new tools and technologies, including AI, as opportunities to expand creative possibilities and improve how work gets made.