Lead On-Set Art Direction 

• Lead art direction for all on-set location and studio photography and video for women’s and girls’ apparel, ensuring premium quality and alignment with Athleta’s brand standards. 

• Oversee shot execution—including composition, lighting, framing, casting considerations, styling POV, and prop integration. 

• Build and deliver mood boards, creative decks, shot lists, and direction documents that guide photographers, stylists, producers, and on-set crews. 

• Direct live shoots with clarity and purpose, ensuring every image reflects Athleta’s elevated aesthetic and brand values. 

• Ensure all production aligns to budget, timing, and quality benchmarks. 

Drive Conceptual Storytelling 

• Create compelling seasonal concepts based on seasonal marketing briefs, in partnership with editorial, styling and marketing leads  

• Translate seasonal concepts into cohesive, elevated and aspirational product stories 

• Push creative boundaries to deliver fresh, innovative content that resonates across brand channels. 

• Ensure storytelling ladders up to Athleta’s purpose-driven platform, weaving performance, style, innovation, community, and culture into imagery. 

• Create breakthrough, emotionally resonant imagery across brand channels 

Own End-to-End Creative Production 

• Communicate clearly and confidently with photographers, directors, videographers, stylists, models, agency and production partners to align on creative vision. 

• Work with producers, PMs, and DAM teams to ensure seamless workflow 

• Manage shot lists, timelines, and budgets across high-volume production 

• Elevate processes, tools, and systems to drive creative efficiency and scale 

• Ensure on-set teams are accountable for delivering final assets that meet the brief and uphold Athleta’s standards of excellence. 

Collaborate Across the Brand 

• Partner with marketing, agency partners, merchandising, styling, and retail teams 

• Present creative direction to leadership and cross-functional partners 

• Align on-set crews to deliver premium imagery that brings concepts to life 

Lead + Mentor 

• Support and coach creative team members 

• Foster a culture of innovation, curiosity, and high craft 

• A strong portfolio demonstrating world-class art direction for location and studio photography + video, particularly in women’s fashion, lifestyle, social or performance categories. 

• 8+ years of experience creating for commercial studios, in-house or agency, fashion and consumer goods, retail, or e-commerce industries is a must. 

• Expert understanding of composition, lighting, color, movement, and emotional storytelling. 

• Deep understanding of photography and videography, lighting, composition, color, movement, and storytelling 

• Experience in high-volume, fast-paced production environments 

• Strong conceptual, communication and presentation skills 

• Ability to lead, inspire, and influence cross-functional teams in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment. Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite; familiarity with Capture One + DAM systems and Figma. 

• Retail/e-comm experience is a plus