Creative Director, Art and Design
Passport Brand Design · New York, New York, United States ·
- Category
- Design
- Salary
- USD 100,000 – 230,000 / year
Senior creative leadership role at Passport Brand Design (a WPP/VML brand agency) based in New York, leading a large team of art directors, designers, and copywriters on brand identity, packaging, and integrated campaign design—primarily for tobacco industry clients. Hybrid role, four days a week in office.
Who We Are
With offices in Newport Beach, New York, Toronto and Montréal, Passport Brand Design, part of WPP, is rapidly putting itself on the map as a trusted brand partner. We’re passionate about offering creative leadership to global businesses seeking direction on high-level brand strategy, evergreen and seasonal campaigns, and creative executions across all touch points. Our holistic approach to brand identity begins by creating a strategic positioning and brand purpose, which is then translated into a core creative idea that has the power to align teams and guide a fully integrated marketing process. We are looking for people who love what they do, who want to stay inspired and inspire others, who want to do great work and work with great people.
About WPP
Passport is part of WPP, the trusted growth partner for the world's leading brands. Powered by exceptional talent and our agentic marketing platform WPP Open, WPP unites cutting-edge media intelligence and data solutions, creativity, production, enterprise solutions and expert strategic counsel.
Who We Are Looking For
Passport Brand Design, a VML company and part of the WPP network, is seeking a forward-thinking Creative Director of Art & Design to lead a talented, large-scale team of art directors and designers. As a globally respected premium brand agency, we rely on this senior leadership role to drive conceptual and design excellence across brand identity, packaging, and campaign design.
As part of the WPP network, Passport Brand Design is committed to a Human First approach. You will bring this to life by deeply investing in the growth of your team, helping them translate technological and creative capabilities into meaningful, high-impact outcomes for our clients.
Please note: This role primarily supports creative work within the tobacco industry. We share this upfront to ensure transparency and alignment with your personal preferences and comfort level.
What You'll Do
- Lead and Inspire: Mentor, manage, and empower a team of art directors, designers, and copywriters, fostering a culture of creative excellence that elevates the agency's overall output.
- Drive Creative Vision: Own the creative direction and execution across multiple simultaneous accounts, delivering premium brand identity, packaging, and integrated campaign designs that drive measurable brand growth.
- Present with Confidence: Articulate and defend creative concepts to executive-level clients with clarity, conviction, and strategic grounding to build trust and consensus.
- Collaborate Cross-Functionally: Partner closely with strategy, account management, and production teams to ensure all work is strategically sound, flawlessly executed, and aligned with business objectives.
- Embrace Constraints: Navigate the nuances of a highly regulated industry, using parameters as a catalyst to deliver innovative, compliant, and standout creative solutions.
- Champion Standards: Act as a steward of the agency's premium design standards, ensuring consistency, craft, and quality across all deliverables.
- Execute Conceptually: Lead the creation of strong conceptual campaigns across print, out-of-home, digital, experiential, and activations to build cohesive brand experiences.
Who You Are
- A strategic, curious problem-solver who can distill complex category rules into elegant, compelling design systems.
- An empathetic leader who builds trust, champions collaboration, and creates an inclusive space for creatives to do their best work.
- A bold idea-driver who is comfortable with ambiguity and has the conviction to push for exceptional, high-impact work, even within regulated spaces.
What You'll Need
- Proven Creative Director experience within an agency environment, with a demonstrated ability to orchestrate and manage creative workflows.
- A compelling, high-caliber portfolio demonstrating exceptional craft in brand identity, packaging, and campaign design.
- A proven track record of managing, mentoring, and developing large creative teams.
- Exceptional client-facing skills, including experience presenting to and aligning with C-suite stakeholders.
- Comfort and willingness to work on tobacco industry accounts.
- Willingness and ability to accommodate occasional required travel.
The base salary range for this position at the time of this posting is indicated below. Individual compensation varies based on job-related factors, including location, business needs, level of responsibility, experience, and qualifications. We offer a competitive benefits package, click WPP Benefits for more details.
We believe the best work happens when we're together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection. That's why we’ve adopted a hybrid approach, with teams in the office an average of four days a week. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process.
WPP (Passport Brand Design) is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers.
When you click "Submit Application", this will send any information you add below to VML. Before you do this, we think it's a good idea to read through our Recruitment Privacy Policy. California residents should read our California Recruitment Privacy Notice. This explains what we do with your personal data when you apply for a role with us, and, how you can update the information you have provided us with or how to remove it.