Vice President of Creative Services

POSITION SUMMARY:
The Vice President of Creative Services is responsible for the leadership of our Creative Services area. This person plays a critical role in aligning the creative and marketing teams, and the broader organization as it creates, develops and executes brand campaigns and storytelling. They will oversee all aspects of creative development from concept to execution including editorial photography, ecommerce photography, art direction, graphic design, and video production. The VP will manage and inspire internal and freelance teams while navigating top-down creative input from the founder. They will continually elevate our brand image balancing creative vision with business needs, partnering with senior business and creative leaders. 

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
•   Lead all visual brand expressions across lookbooks, campaigns, retail, and ecommerce.
•   Develop best-in-class creative campaigns and brand voice that both elevates and drives conversion across all channels including ecommerce, digital and social.
•   From developing concepts to directing photo and video shoots, ensure the creative output reflects our brand ethos and engages with customers.
•   Responsible for the aesthetic of all creative projects, continually striving to elevate the brand while ensuring thoughtful and brand-consistent execution.
•   Ensure execution of high-quality designs for various mediums, including advertising campaigns, digital assets, and marketing collateral.
•   Create and monitor the studio operations and creative budgets while partnering closely with production teams to calendarize, schedule and staff studio, ecommerce shoots, and special projects.
•   Build, own and deliver against a creative budget, strategically allocating resources for photography, freelance talent, technology, tools, and other investments to drive our business priorities forward.
•   Develop and maintain relationships with a roster of external talent including freelancers, photographers, videographers, models, re-touchers, etc.
•   Maintain awareness of all current activity within the creative studio and institute tools that enhance the team’s ability to self-manage.
•   Contribute to campaign development, including ideation, mood boards, storyboarding.
•   Partner with design, product, marketing and ecommerce teams to ensure creative assets align with marketing strategies and objectives.
•   Partner with the CEO, VP of Global Visuals, and Sr. Art Director to align and set priorities for team projects and goals.
•   Remain well-informed of industry trends, competitive landscape, emerging technologies, and best practices to continuously innovate, streamline processes, and drive efficiencies.
•   Motivate, inspire, and lead a robust team of creatives while pushing boundaries to create
elevated and on-brand assets.

REQUIREMENTS:
•    10+ years of experience in a creative leadership role, with a strong portfolio of successful campaigns, projects, and strategies
•    Proven experience in leading and managing creative teams
•    Must have a robust network of photographers, stylists, producers, agencies, freelancers, etc.
•    Ability to motivate and inspire others to achieve their best work and to create an enriching, high performance culture
•    Ability to make crucial creative decisions in a timely manner and serve as a composed and solution-oriented leader
•    Understanding of digital, social, PR, experiential, emerging platforms, and the evolving media landscape
•    Strategic and analytical thinking (know what will move the needle)

 $190,000 - $240,000 base salary (This range represents the low and high end of the anticipated base salary range for this NYC - based position. The base salary will depend on numerous factors such as: experience and qualifications for the role, experience level, skillset, and balancing internal equity relative to other AO employees.)

This job description is not an exhaustive list of all functions that the employee may be required to perform, and the employee may be required to perform additional functions. Additionally, the job responsibilities may change at any time as necessitated by business demands.