Creative Director

Company Name: Packaging, Displays & Retail Marketing Solutions Leader

Location: Chicagoland Area (On-Site)

Position Title: Creative Director

The Opportunity:

This is a unique opportunity to assume a highly influential leadership role within a well-established organization as part of a planned succession strategy. The current Creative Director is retiring after a remarkable forty-year tenure, creating an opening for a leader who can honor a strong legacy while helping shape the future of the business.

The organization is seeking a hands-on creative executive capable of leading both Industrial Design and Graphic Design functions while serving as a key partner to executive leadership, sales, engineering, operations, and manufacturing teams. This individual will have the opportunity to build upon an experienced and successful creative organization while elevating innovation, customer engagement, and design excellence across the business.

Success in this role extends well beyond managing creative teams. The Creative Director will play a critical role in helping the organization win new business, strengthen customer relationships, inspire more innovative design solutions, and improve the company's competitive position within the marketplace. Leadership is specifically looking for someone who can bring fresh thinking, encourage creativity, and help move the organization from a primarily customer-request-driven design approach toward more aspirational and differentiated solutions.

The successful candidate will inherit a talented team, strong internal partnerships, and a supportive leadership structure while having significant influence on the organization's future growth and creative direction.

The Company:

Our client is a financially strong, privately held manufacturing and design organization focused on creating custom retail environments, permanent displays, fixtures, branded experiences, and shopper engagement solutions. The company serves a diverse customer base and works with a variety of materials, including metal, wood, plastics, and graphics.

The business combines the stability and resources of a larger enterprise with the entrepreneurial atmosphere of a decentralized operating model. Leadership continues to invest in growth, innovation, talent, and operational excellence, creating an environment where employees can make meaningful contributions while advancing their careers.

The organization has established a reputation for quality, customer service, and long-term relationships, while maintaining an ongoing commitment to innovation and continuous improvement.

The Boss:

The Creative Director will report directly to the Vice President and General Manager, a highly experienced leader who has spent the majority of his career within the organization and its predecessor businesses. His longevity and deep industry knowledge provide a strong foundation of operational expertise, business insight, and leadership stability.

He values collaboration, continuous improvement, and strategic thinking while maintaining a strong appreciation for the people and processes that have contributed to the company's success. He is looking for a creative leader who can bring fresh ideas, inspire teams, support growth initiatives, and help elevate the company's creative capabilities while building upon its strong foundation.

This role offers direct visibility to executive leadership and meaningful opportunities to influence strategic decisions across the business.

The Position:

The Creative Director serves as the senior leader for Industrial Design and Graphic Design functions, overseeing creative strategy, concept development, team leadership, customer engagement, and project execution.

This individual will be responsible for balancing creative innovation with business objectives while ensuring projects are executed efficiently, profitably, and to the highest standards of quality. The position requires strong leadership, customer-facing capabilities, business acumen, and the ability to work effectively across multiple functional areas.

Essential Functions (Other duties may be assigned):

• Lead, mentor, and develop Industrial Design and Graphic Design teams.
• Establish and maintain high standards of creativity, quality, innovation, and accountability.
• Direct the creative process from concept through engineering, prototyping, production, and launch.
• Review and approve concepts, presentations, renderings, and design solutions.
• Partner closely with sales teams on customer presentations and business development initiatives.
• Facilitate brainstorming sessions and creative workshops.
• Manage workloads, schedules, project timelines, and resource utilization.
• Oversee internal creative resources as well as freelance and contract design support.
• Collaborate with engineering, manufacturing, estimating, operations, and sales teams.
• Monitor key performance indicators and departmental effectiveness.
• Provide hands-on design leadership when necessary.
• Support organizational growth, process improvement, and strategic planning efforts.
• Drive innovation through emerging design methodologies and creative technologies.

Qualifications:

• Proven experience leading multidisciplinary creative organizations.
• Strong understanding of product development and design processes.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple projects and priorities simultaneously.
• Strong customer-facing presentation and communication skills.
• Ability to connect creative solutions to business objectives and customer outcomes.
• Experience working cross-functionally with sales, engineering, manufacturing, and operations.
• Strong leadership, coaching, and team development capabilities.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor's degree in Industrial Design, Graphic Design, Product Design, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
• Minimum of five years of leadership experience directing design, creative, or innovation teams.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary design organizations.
• Strong knowledge of concept development, CAD, rendering, prototyping, and manufacturing processes.
• Experience supporting customer presentations and business development efforts is preferred.
• Experience in retail displays, fixtures, branded environments, shopper marketing, experiential marketing, or related industries is preferred.
• Knowledge of fabricated materials such as metal, wood, plastics, and graphics is preferred.
• Familiarity with AI-enabled creative tools and emerging design technologies is preferred.

Competencies:

• Strategic Leadership
• Creative Vision
• Business Acumen
• Team Building and Development
• Customer Focus
• Collaboration and Influence
• Innovation
• Project Management
• Resource Planning
• Decision Making
• Communication Skills
• Accountability
• Adaptability

Work Environment:

• Primarily on-site leadership position.
• Frequent interaction with creative, engineering, manufacturing, operations, and sales teams.
• Fast-paced environment with multiple priorities and deadlines.
• Exposure to product development, prototyping, and manufacturing activities.
• Occasional travel for customer meetings, presentations, site visits, and industry-related events.