About BUCK
BUCK is a talent-driven, global creative company with offices in Los Angeles, New York, Sydney, London and Amsterdam. Since 2004 we have been building a home for the world’s most talented dreamers, makers, and doers in a collaborative, ego-free culture that breeds partnership and creative ambition. At our core, we exist to find creative opportunities in every challenge, not just to think, but to make, and ultimately put extraordinary things into the world that inspire people.
Job Description
As a Brand Creative Director at BUCK (Freelance), you will lead and shape the creative vision for global brands from concept to delivery. Your expertise in 360 world building and visioning, brand identity, visual identity, brand design systems, playbooks, and storytelling will guide and lead a talented team to develop innovative and visually compelling work. You will collaborate with strategy and cross-functional teams, both internally and externally, and effectively present ideas to stakeholders. In addition to brand builds, you will also develop deeper brand expression and systems for established brands. Your strong communication skills and ability to conceptualize, shape projects, inspire teams, sell ideas to clients and win pitches is a must. Balancing strategic rationale, creative problem solving and scalable design system rigor is key in this role. While 3D, motion and campaign experience is not required, it is a strong plus.
This is a freelance position with the potential of converting to full time.
Creative Leadership Capability
- Provide visionary leadership to the creative team, inspiring them to push the boundaries of design and animation
- Set the creative direction for all projects, ensuring alignment with client briefs and brand guidelines
- Exhibit a strong and unique individual point of view
- Comfortable with undefined client asks, and able to bring creative solutions to the table
- Lead projects with minimal to no oversight when required
- Stay up-to-date with industry best practices and emerging trends in design and animation, incorporating them into our work where relevant
- Maintain high-quality standards across all creative output, reviewing work to ensure it meets client expectations and aligns with project objectives
Presentation & Relationships
- Act as the primary point of contact for key clients, building strong relationships based on trust, transparency, and open communication
- Contribute to and lead successful pitches / proposals with little to no oversight
- Work effectively as part of a team, even in situations where there are other creative leads.
- Demonstrates strong organization on client calls and presentations
- Ability to craft a narrative flow in presentation decks and rounds of development while threading in strategic rationale
- Clearly communicate complex (and often abstract ideas) to both our internal teams and clients
- Lead meetings effectively and efficiently, from dailies to resourcing calls
Adaptability & Flexibility
- Lead projects of varying complexity and mediums
- Lead projects with ‘non traditional’ deliverables (i.e., not just motion jobs.)
- As a leader, be able to manage unexpected or stressful situations with grace and humility
- Handle and interpret negative client feedback in a way that leads towards a constructive outcome
Management & Production
- Oversee the entire lifecycle of projects from concept to delivery
- Effectively manage time and work across multiple work streams simultaneously
- Operate effectively and understand execution and production timelines while finding production efficiencies specific to work streams
- Help guide and establish timelines and calendars and resource planning
- Anticipate potential issues preemptively and react / adjust accordingly
Requirements
- 15+ years of experience
- Proven experience in a creative leadership role, preferably within Design Studio, Branding Agency or Brand
- Exceptional portfolio showcasing a range of brand, design, systems and animation work across various mediums, styles, and platforms
- Strong leadership and communication skills, with the ability to inspire and motivate a team
- Proficiency with the Adobe Creative Cloud suite, Figma, Google suite
- In-depth knowledge of design software, animation techniques, visual effects, and motion graphics pipelines is highly desired in order to navigate our wide range of projects
- Excellent project management skills, with the ability to prioritize tasks, manage multiple projects simultaneously, and meet deadlines
- Strategic thinker with a creative mindset, an expert eye for design and a passion for storytelling
- Strong client-facing skills, with experience presenting and pitching creative concepts
- Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment and adapt to changing priorities and requirements
- Day Rate Range: $850-1100
