Job Summary: Great Wolf Resorts is the world's largest waterpark resort company. Our mission is to Bring Joy to Families. The Creative Services Director will have the ability to translate business needs into powerful creative executions. This role will lead a dedicated team of creative professionals and work with internal cross-functional teams and external agency partners to ensure our creative supports our overall brand strategy, achieves business objectives, and is delivered through a customer-centric approach. The ideal candidate is collaborative, resourceful, has an in-depth understanding of the creative production process, experience managing and directing creative teams and a track-record of growing a brand with high-volume creative requirements effectively.
Responsibilities:
- Elevate the quality of design and conceptual work to advance our branded content used in multiple channels including, but not limited to, lodges, web, email, social and digital.
- Provide strategic, innovative, and design thinking-led solutions that facilitate fresh, compelling creative concepts delivering business objectives. Demonstrate direction through hands-on execution.
- Provide guidance, leadership and mentorship to the creative services team by managing performance and developing team members, both professionally and personally.
- Oversee, design, and develop content and assets both in-house and through agency partners.
- Build strong relationships with cross-functional business partners within Great Wolf including Retail, Digital, Web, Food & Beverage, Operations, Communications and lodges to drive quality work, scope projects, develop briefs and budgets, and timelines.
- Facilitate creative project kick-offs with clear briefing and implement brainstorming sessions with internal creative team while ensuring consistency with brand standards.
- Advance new ideas and approaches, within the brand voice, to keep the Great Wolf brand evolving and unique.
- Lead multiple projects simultaneously in a fast-paced environment including creation of work plans and budgets, management of timelines and building a culture of accountability.
- Determine best tools, frameworks, systems and other resources that allow teams to scale creative excellence.
Qualifications:
- 8-10+ years' experience of leading creative for a large relevant, consumer brand/or in retail/hospitality preferred
- Experience leading an in-house creative studio or similar environment.
- Demonstrated strong creative background (graphic design, copywriting, production, etc.) including expertise with Adobe Creative Suite such as Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign.
- Demonstrated track record of team management experience including growing, developing and building teams and people.
- Experience working cross-functionally and managing workflow effectively.
- Demonstrated excellent communication skills, written and verbal.
- Experience across mediums (video, photo, interactive, print, etc.) and channels (TV, digital advertising, web, email, mobile, social media, on-property, etc.).
- Demonstrated ability to work well under pressure, excel and be at ease with ambiguity and achieve results in a fast-paced environment.
- Willingness to roll-up sleeves, get into the details and execute work alongside the team.
- Demonstrated team player, motivated to build internal excitement and alignment.
- Willingness to travel up to 20% to Great Wolf's lodge locations across the country.
- Willingness to work out of Great Wolf's Corporate Office located in Chicago, IL (Monday/Friday optional work from home, Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday in office, with the ability to leverage 'work from anywhere weeks' for added schedule flexibility).
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