Associate Creative Director

ABOUT US

Stio® is an omni-channel mountain brand that designs, develops and sells beautiful, functional, and innovative apparel, footwear and other accessories infused with the soul of the mountain lifestyle. With headquarters in Jackson, Wyoming, Stio draws inspiration from the surrounding Teton Range and offers product via Stio.com, catalog, B2B and its Mountain Studio® retail locations.

We live and love mountain life, and as such see ourselves as caretakers of the resources that provide it. We are proud partners of Protect Our Winters and the Conservation Alliance among many other organizations. We have a strong preferred materials platform, use Bluesign® approved textiles wherever possible, audit our supply chains for best practices, and operate our workplaces responsibly.

We think that outside is the best side and that you can’t improve on nature. It’s good for mind, body and soul, and it’s our responsibility to help enable access for all people, regardless of race, gender, beliefs, background or ability. We strive for inclusion at Stio and in our local and national communities.

YOUR ROLE

As the Associate Creative Director (ACD) at Stio, you will work under the creative direction of the VP of DTC and in partnership with the Brand Director to manage a team of designers, copywriters and other creatives to produce campaigns and designs that support the creative expression of the Stio brand in marketing campaigns. You should be creative and display strong leadership, communication, and multitasking skills, and have an ability to balance the genuine needs of the business against the most relevant and impactful creative that builds the brand over time.

More specifically, the ACD will work as a member of the Stio Marketing Leadership Team to manage the Creative Team (currently 8 people) to produce seasonal visual and written creative across multiple marketing channels. This could include, amongst other things, designs for catalogs, print adverts, website assets, emails, in-store visual merchandising material, paid social creative assets, packaging design, identity / logo work, interactive / digital design and internal vendor-related marketing materials, and various other ad hoc needs. You will also be responsible for the digital asset management (DAM) tool and related design budgets and platforms. The ACD should thus have extensive experience and expertise in both print, digital and physical / in-store design, production and overall management processes.

From a high-level process perspective, the ACD will start each season with a creative design vision for the season that will be assessed in conjunction with the brand vision for the same season. These vision / direction documents will give guardrails within which all individual campaign briefs will be assessed and reviewed. The ACD will review, assign and manage all product / design / channel briefs to successful completion and will ultimately be responsible for the creation of the strongest possible creative presentation of work to hit the objectives and goals of the Brand Team, all whilst maintaining strict visual brand guidelines across all work.

A large portion of this role will be spent designing and creating print catalogs. In this regard, the ACD will partner with and collaborate closely with the Brand Director. In Performance Marketing channels, the ACD will partner closely with the Performance Marketing Director. And on website and e-commerce assets, the ACD will partner with the E-Commerce Director. Lastly, the ACD will play a key role in driving consistency in the brand across Wholesale, Retail and Corporate channels, and in this regard, the VP of B2B and Senior Director of Retail are also considered key partners.

YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES

• Supporting the Creative Team with the development of concepts, strategies, and internal presentations.
• Managing and supervising multiple projects and teams.
• Ensuring resources are allocated according to project needs.
• Directing the design and development of creative materials.
• Ensuring brand identity and message consistency across channels.
• Meeting client objectives, values, budgets, and deadlines.
• Leading and participating in brainstorming sessions.
• Keeping up with the latest trends, strategies, and technologies.
• Evaluating creative team performance and guiding improvements.
• Partner and collaborate with the team to concept and create visual design solutions for seasonal brand and product briefs
• Operate as the lead designer on regular catalogs and direct mail campaigns
• Play a leading role in developing assets for stores, retail fixtures and packaging
• Respond to marketing briefs and solve challenges using well designed creative solutions
• Maintain brand guidelines while bringing new ideas and design solutions forward
• Work with the in-house brand managers, copywriters and designers to hit campaign objectives
• Ability to problem solve, support, and collaborate with the Creative Team, e-commerce and marketing team members
• Must have the ability to multitask and handle a high volume of work while meeting multiple deadlines
• Highly organized, self-starter creative collaborator with a love of design
  

YOUR SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

• Degree in marketing, graphic design or related field.
• 5+ years of agency experience of relevant experience in a graphic design, or other design related role
• Solid knowledge of marketing, brand, and design principles and development.
• Experience leading and managing creative teams.
• Strong concept and strategy development skills.
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and presentation skills.
• Strong creative mind.
• Expertise in Adobe Creative Suite required
• Expertise in print production and design required
• Excellent organizational and multi-tasking ability
• Strong attention to finest detail
• Excellent resourcefulness and problem-solving skills
• A team player with great communication skills
• A passion for creativity and design

THE FINE PRINT

• Medical, Dental Vision plans
• Company Paid Long Term Disability
• Employee Assistance Program
• 401k with Match
• Company DEI Committee
• Generous paid time off policies
• Gear test, perks, and more

We provide competitive compensation packages, inclusive of base pay, incentives and benefits. The base salary range for this role is $110,00-$150,000. It would not be typical for someone to be hired at the top end of the range for the role, as actual pay will be determined based on several factors including experience, skills and qualifications.

This job description is not necessarily an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, skills, duties, requirements, efforts, or working conditions associated with the job. While this is intended to be an accurate reflection of the current job, we reserve the right to revise the job or to require that other or different tasks be performed. Stio is an equal opportunity employer of all qualified individuals, including minorities, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, veterans & individuals with disabilities.