ASSOCIATE CREATIVE DIRECTOR

M^cMillan is a creative B2B agency. We specialize in brand development and campaigns for clients around the world, and we’re looking for an associate creative director to join our team.

Here’s how we describe the creative team at M^cMillan: happy people creating magic together.

Creativity can come from anywhere—and in this position, so can you.

You might have proven your design, motion storytelling, strategy, or writing skills, or some freaky combination of those, and elevated your game by demonstrating an ability and willingness to inspire and challenge others in an interdisciplinary team to push towards delivering award-winning creative.

You also show an understanding of digital marketing methodologies, especially as it influences and challenges B2B-related work. Your coworkers look to you as an emerging beacon of creative and industry knowledge.

Last, but not least, you’ve got an easy affinity for developing an understanding of clients and their businesses and competitive landscapes. You’re adept at quickly building trusted relationships. And you do the same with members of your own team, motivated by a genuine concern that each has what they need to be successful.

Your role, in which you’ll report to a creative director, entails providing mentorship and direction to other members of the creative team through clear, reasoned judgment and accountability. You’ll also interact daily with individuals in our senior management, strategy, creative, client services, and finance teams.

Your responsibilities

Our Associate Creative Directors are expected to be doers as well as leaders; you will be expected to materially contribute to brand development and campaign execution by employing the disciplinary skills you have developed as a writer, designer, strategist, or UX practitioner. Beyond that, expect to be busy and engaged with multiple projects. Your responsibilities will include:

• Co-directing a creative team at every project phase, from kick-off through to delivery
• Taking responsibility for a client account at times, with some support from a creative director
• Striving to deeply understand and fluently converse about your clients’ industries, customers, needs, key challenges, brands, and messaging
• Crafting and delivering pitches—both internally and to clients—with confidence and clarity
• Helping to build M^cMillan’s brand by contributing to awards submissions

In all areas, you’ll need to be an excellent listener, communicator, and presenter with a firm grasp of established goals and metrics for shared success.

Your success

It starts, of course, by carrying out your responsibilities in a way that adds value. You take your role seriously (yourself less so), and you know how to keep clients and internal teams on track and in-scope. And you are comfortable with change—except undocumented scope change—and taking advantage of the opportunities it affords.

But there’s something else. Win or lose, we do it as a team. At the same time, all employees at M^cMillan are expected to strive towards being recognized as sought-after, trusted advisors by clients and colleagues alike. That recognition is earned by displaying:

• Curiosity – You show a genuine interest in clients and coworkers and ask tough questions (when appropriate) to inform, explore, and encourage fresh perspectives and solutions. At the same time, you seek to continuously widen and improve your own knowledge and skills, while also expanding your competency in other disciplines within the agency, so that you can generate ideas that are both strategically informed and creatively unexpected.
• Expertise – You combine expert proficiency in your role with industry-specific awareness. You exude confidence, yet know when receiving constructive feedback is important. In fact, a critical part of the M^cMillan culture embraces both giving and receiving feedback in the moment, to make all of us better people and turn good work into something that’s great.
• Service – You communicate clearly, stay calm under pressure, anticipate the needs of others, respond promptly to requests, show a sincere desire to build relationships, and prove yourself to be a reliable, go-to player on the M^cMillan team.

You bring

• 5+ years’ experience in a creative or similar role, combined with demonstrated leadership instincts and skills
• A deep understanding of new media platforms, digital trends, and non-traditional opportunities to build brand awareness
• A proven ability to motivate team members and support an environment in which award-winning creative work is actively promoted

A solid understanding of intuitive website functionality, interaction, and user-centred experience design and digital marketing, and skills in creating compelling motion storytelling, will be considered assets.

Experience working with global B2B clients will be regarded as an advantage.

You should expect

Overtime and some travel may be required.