Freelance Creative Director

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About Us
Monks is a digital-first marketing and advertising services company connecting the dots across content, data & digital media and technology services. Inspired by the connectivity and flexibility of technology APIs, Monks' single-P&L model offers brands seamless access to a nearly 7,000-strong team of digital talent organized across 57 talent hubs in 33 countries.

Together we stand for artistry, commitment and a global community of talent from different personal and professional backgrounds. People who are not in it for themselves but for each other and the work. Day after day, curious, detail-obsessed and passionate. We want to build something with the potential to change the heart of our industry, and we'd love to include your unique perspective.

The Role
As Creative Director working across multiple brands, but focused on one of the largest automotive companies in the world, you will work on the evolution of all creative and marketing expressions for the brands and sub-brands.

You will be collaborating with a team of creative practitioners that develop groundbreaking digital experiences, social campaigns, experiential engagements, assets at scale production, and future innovation opportunities.

In practice, this means steering the team towards excellence while also actively participating in hands-on creative development and production. This pivotal position requires you to navigate multiple responsibilities, serving as both creator and supervisor simultaneously. You have exceptionally high standards in your work, elevating craft, inspiring impact in ourselves and our skills. You bring a progressive creative instinct and bold vision to the work and you know how to nurture teams and talent to do the best work of their careers. You will always be across multiple projects and will have worked with regional delivery teams in previous roles.

You will work closely with account leadership on how we continue to grow and support our strong relationship with one of the largest automotive companies in the world. Also pivotal to your success in this role is having a strong partnership with the other discipline leads and contributing to an environment of teamwork and mutual understanding. You will need to work collaboratively and inclusively across brand, strategy, product, content and integrated marketing teams through a variety of opportunities while also supporting your ever-growing creative team. Of equal importance is your influencing prowess with clients while ever being humble and adaptable.

Key Responsibilities
Creative Leadership and Accountability:

• Partner with the existing team in elevating creative expression of the client brands to new levels of creative excellence.
• Provide creative direction and inspiration to client projects and teams. Guide the conceptual and aesthetic direction of campaigns, experiential or design projects.
• Provide input into the allocation of creative resources and talent to ensure optimal team performance and project success.
• Comfortable presenting ideas, concepts, using human-centric design practices that also include rationale based on customer research and best practices that keep business outcomes in mind.
• Improve accountability across your creative teams through stellar management, building strong morale and cultivating a positive creative environment.
• Active contributor for ideation on all projects and pitches for our key client brands.

Client Interaction And Building Trust

• Work closely with multiple senior and day-to-day clients and teams to understand their vision and objectives. Present creative concepts and ideas persuasively. Foster strong relationships with clients, ensuring their needs are met and expectations exceeded.
• Participate in potential new business pitches and ongoing organic new business development.
• Lead the development of our creative practice, with a focus on evolving processes in our own ways of working and creation.

Client Strategy And Business Growth

• Work closely with senior business leaders to shape growth strategies for creative services and team up with cross-functional teams to tackle client goals, challenges, and opportunities.
• Maintain and manage positive client relationships, serving as a reliable creative ally, and guaranteeing client satisfaction and retention.
• Collaborate with clients to devise creative strategies and solutions that align with their business objectives and catalyze results.

Innovation And Creative Process

• Contribute to the creative process from concept ideation to production, ensuring high-quality, consistent, and innovative work. Critique all major deliverables, ensuring they meet our standards. Participates and presents work alongside CDs in Executive Creative Leadership reviews of in-production work.
• Drive innovation and creativity, setting new industry standards and ensuring that the company's work is smart, creative, and innovative.

Qualifications

• This Creative Director role is ideally suited to an experienced conceptual digital creative with a proven background in either copywriting or art direction. The right candidate will have a strong portfolio that demonstrates work across brand, digital, and integrated campaigns, and the confidence to present and share their ideas effectively.
• You have 10+ years global experience working for a wide range of clients and brands, ideally agency and/or on client-side.
• You have a strong desire to build and nurture diverse teams and nurture diverse perspectives, empowering the voices that are both close and abroad.
• Strong passion for innovation and emerging technologies, with an active interest in the role of AI in creativity.
• You inherently understand digital and think way beyond traditional ad formats and budgets, with an exceptional creative background.
• You are not afraid of leveraging data and research to help identify unique opportunities for the brand and be able to represent creative vision and philosophy.
• Ability to concept, pitch, and execute big brand ideas that resonate across multiple touchpoints.
• Experience working with offshore delivery teams, briefing, quality control and team management & inspiration
• Ability to think clearly and contribute constructively to discussions and strategy during the entire creative process, from concept through production.
• You are self-motivated, hard working, and work well in a fast-paced environment.
• A people first mentality and experience in building a best-in-class global creative team.
• Automotive and production experience is highly desired.

About Monks
Monks is the global, purely digital, unitary operating brand of S4Capital plc. With a legacy of innovation and specialized expertise, Monks combines an extraordinary range of global marketing and technology services to accelerate business possibilities and redefine how brands and businesses interact with the world. Its integration of systems and workflows delivers unfettered content production, scaled experiences, enterprise-grade technology and data science fueled by AI—managed by the industry's best and most diverse digital talent—to help the world's trailblazing companies outmaneuver and outpace their competition.

Monks was named a Contender in The Forrester Wave: Global Marketing Services. It has remained a constant presence on Adweek's Fastest Growing lists , ranks among Cannes Lions' Top 10 Creative Companies and is the only partner to have been placed in AdExchanger's Programmatic Power Players list every year In addition to being named Adweek's first AI Agency of the Year (2023), Monks has been recognized by Business Intelligence in its 2024 Excellence in Artificial Intelligence Awards program in three categories: the Individual category, Organizational Winner in AI Strategic Planning and AI Product for its service Monks.Flow. Monks has also garnered the title of Webby Production Company of the Year , won a record number of FWAs and has earned a spot on Newsweek's Top 100 Global Most Loved Workplaces 2023.

We are an equal-opportunity employer committed to building a respectful and empowering work environment for all people to freely express themselves amongst colleagues who embrace diversity in all respects. Including fresh voices and unique points of view in all aspects of our business not only creates an environment where we can all grow and thrive but also increases our potential to produce work that better represents—and resonates with—the world around us.