Creative Design Manager Jobs
Creative Design Manager jobs are open across consumer brands, tech, media, advertising, and retail, from mid-level to director, with specializations in brand identity, digital product design, and campaign creative. Find a role that fits below and apply directly.
Find Creative Design Manager JobsOverview
Showing 5 of 72+ Creative Design Manager jobs
Creative Director - Phoenix, AZ (Full-time & In-Office)
Note to applicants: This role is a full-time, in-office position in Phoenix, AZ. Applicants must be available to complete the interview process in-person at their own expense.
WHO WE ARE: Cultivate Your Career with a Vibrant, Dedicated Team
Small Giants is a woman-owned, award-winning, highly collaborative strategic and creative agency specializing in commercial real estate and construction (CRE and AEC) clients across the country.
We believe in crafting specialized growth strategies, creative concepts, brand storytelling and strategic communications that drive our clients’ success. Our vibrant team culture thrives on collaboration, continuous learning, and shared achievement. We are committed to helping our team deepen their expertise and grow their careers at Small Giants.
Small Giants is seeking a visionary, strategically minded Creative Director to serve as the overarching creative authority across client accounts and internal agency initiatives. Operating through an empowered player-coach model, the Creative Director will drive enterprise brand positioning, spearhead multi-channel campaigns, and elevate standard client deliverables into high-impact strategic growth assets while mentoring high-performing design talent.
The Creative Director combines high-level executive direction with hands-on technical excellence, acting as a lead mentor to the Design team and a trusted advisor to clients. The ideal candidate is humble and knows there is always more to learn.
Here is what the position entails:
Brand Strategy & Execution
- Lead creative ideation, brand positioning, environmental design, event graphics, and marketing campaigns from concept through delivery.
- Extract core campaign objectives by asking clients the right foundational questions upfront and aligning creative execution with client business goals before work begins.
- Own cross-departmental alignment by coordinating closely with your team and the other skilled departments within the agency to ensure deliverables meet the brief, deadlines are met, and project workflows are efficient and repeatable.
- Anticipate needs by proactively identifying prospective client challenges and proposing tailored visual and messaging solutions before client requests arise, and train your team to do the same.
- Actively lead high-stakes creative direction while remaining ready to personally design flagship brand assets and lead production efforts when needed.
- Thoughtfully integrate AI tools to streamline design workflows and assist in repetitive tasks, while remaining a steadfast advocate for human-led creative direction. Confidently and compassionately educate clients on why AI-generated assets cannot replace original, human-centered design for their strategic brand needs.
Team Mentorship & Creative Quality Control
- Elevate the agency’s outputs by overseeing brand consistency, typography, layout hierarchy, and overall visual rigor.
- Instill a culture that views graphic design as a problem solving tool, guiding designers away from purely decorative solutions toward complex problem solving through strategic, creative deliverables.
- Promote technical excellence by acting as the internal Subject Matter Expert (SME) in software mastery (particularly Adobe InDesign), setting standard operating procedures for file efficiency and design.
- Maintain a positive, humble on-site presence to foster real-time mentorship, seamless cross-departmental collaboration, and direct client engagement.
- Proactively and consistently provide thorough design checks, spontaneous coaching, hands-on guidance and real-time feedback to accelerate junior staff growth to build a best-in-class team.
- Serve as a trusted advisor for clients, fostering deep strategic partnerships, representing the client voice internally, and handling executive-level escalations.
- Build and maintain strong cross-departmental bridges with your fellow directors, ensuring execution teams align all output with client business objectives.
Team & Operational Management
- Mentor and coach by providing ongoing technical, artistic, and strategic coaching to internal designers and partner client teams.
- Oversee department operations, including career development, performance reviews, staffing assignments, disciplinary action and resource management to ensure optimal team performance and satisfaction, as well as client coverage.
- Optimize department profitability and operational efficiency by managing utilization targets, project billability, and account resource allocation across agency retainers.
Executive Leadership & Industry Engagement
- Contribute to the strategic direction of the agency, applying your expertise to the company’s long-term success, through active participation on our leadership team, the Small Giants strategy and business development.
- Actively represent Small Giants at key industry events, leveraging industry presence to identify new business opportunities and deepen connections with key regional decision-makers.
- Represent the agency across the regional creative community through active participation in organizations like AIGA, Phoenix Design Week, and academic/industry speaking engagements.
- Partner closely with agency leadership to ensure our strategic client work proactively positions us for contract renewals and expanded scopes of work.
Qualifications
- Must have extensive experience with an established creative agency or marketing services firm, including a proven history of managing a team of creatives where you were accountable for conducting 1:1s, performance reviews, hiring and disciplinary action.
- A strong portfolio that demonstrates mastery in transforming high-level business goals into actionable creative concepts. The portfolio should include comprehensive brand identity systems, multi-channel campaigns, environmental design/spatial graphics, and publication work showcasing deep typography and layout expertise.
- Proven track record of progressive experience in graphic design, brand strategy, and creative direction, with experience managing high-stakes enterprise client relationships.
- Exceptional people management and mentorship capabilities with a track record of cultivating talent and fostering professional growth in a culture of accountability.
- A history of professional stability, demonstrating long-term commitment and sustained growth with previous employers.
- Proven deep technical mastery of the Adobe Creative Cloud suite, with advanced/expert-level proficiency in Adobe InDesign (layout automation, master pages, typography, print/digital production standards).
Previous experience in understanding and executing strategic spatial/environmental design, large-format graphics, event branding, and integrated multi-channel campaigns. - Strong capacity to thrive in a fast-paced agency environment, with the ability to pivot rapidly in response to client needs while maintaining clear strategic focus and team alignment.
- Substantial hands-on design ability, including proficiency in Figma and modern prototyping methods, with the willingness to personally tackle critical design problems.
Important note to applicants
- This role requires on-site presence at our Phoenix, Arizona office.
- Applicants outside of the Phoenix area must be available to complete the interview process in-person at their own expense, and must be willing to relocate to the Phoenix area within commuting distance of our office.
- Applicants must have independent authorization to work in the U.S. without requiring employer sponsorship.
Creative Director - Phoenix, AZ (Full-time & In-Office)
Note to applicants: This role is a full-time, in-office position in Phoenix, AZ. Applicants must be available to complete the interview process in-person at their own expense.
WHO WE ARE: Cultivate Your Career with a Vibrant, Dedicated Team
Small Giants is a woman-owned, award-winning, highly collaborative strategic and creative agency specializing in commercial real estate and construction (CRE and AEC) clients across the country.
We believe in crafting specialized growth strategies, creative concepts, brand storytelling and strategic communications that drive our clients’ success. Our vibrant team culture thrives on collaboration, continuous learning, and shared achievement. We are committed to helping our team deepen their expertise and grow their careers at Small Giants.
Small Giants is seeking a visionary, strategically minded Creative Director to serve as the overarching creative authority across client accounts and internal agency initiatives. Operating through an empowered player-coach model, the Creative Director will drive enterprise brand positioning, spearhead multi-channel campaigns, and elevate standard client deliverables into high-impact strategic growth assets while mentoring high-performing design talent.
The Creative Director combines high-level executive direction with hands-on technical excellence, acting as a lead mentor to the Design team and a trusted advisor to clients. The ideal candidate is humble and knows there is always more to learn.
Here is what the position entails:
Brand Strategy & Execution
- Lead creative ideation, brand positioning, environmental design, event graphics, and marketing campaigns from concept through delivery.
- Extract core campaign objectives by asking clients the right foundational questions upfront and aligning creative execution with client business goals before work begins.
- Own cross-departmental alignment by coordinating closely with your team and the other skilled departments within the agency to ensure deliverables meet the brief, deadlines are met, and project workflows are efficient and repeatable.
- Anticipate needs by proactively identifying prospective client challenges and proposing tailored visual and messaging solutions before client requests arise, and train your team to do the same.
- Actively lead high-stakes creative direction while remaining ready to personally design flagship brand assets and lead production efforts when needed.
- Thoughtfully integrate AI tools to streamline design workflows and assist in repetitive tasks, while remaining a steadfast advocate for human-led creative direction. Confidently and compassionately educate clients on why AI-generated assets cannot replace original, human-centered design for their strategic brand needs.
Team Mentorship & Creative Quality Control
- Elevate the agency’s outputs by overseeing brand consistency, typography, layout hierarchy, and overall visual rigor.
- Instill a culture that views graphic design as a problem solving tool, guiding designers away from purely decorative solutions toward complex problem solving through strategic, creative deliverables.
- Promote technical excellence by acting as the internal Subject Matter Expert (SME) in software mastery (particularly Adobe InDesign), setting standard operating procedures for file efficiency and design.
- Maintain a positive, humble on-site presence to foster real-time mentorship, seamless cross-departmental collaboration, and direct client engagement.
- Proactively and consistently provide thorough design checks, spontaneous coaching, hands-on guidance and real-time feedback to accelerate junior staff growth to build a best-in-class team.
- Serve as a trusted advisor for clients, fostering deep strategic partnerships, representing the client voice internally, and handling executive-level escalations.
- Build and maintain strong cross-departmental bridges with your fellow directors, ensuring execution teams align all output with client business objectives.
Team & Operational Management
- Mentor and coach by providing ongoing technical, artistic, and strategic coaching to internal designers and partner client teams.
- Oversee department operations, including career development, performance reviews, staffing assignments, disciplinary action and resource management to ensure optimal team performance and satisfaction, as well as client coverage.
- Optimize department profitability and operational efficiency by managing utilization targets, project billability, and account resource allocation across agency retainers.
Executive Leadership & Industry Engagement
- Contribute to the strategic direction of the agency, applying your expertise to the company’s long-term success, through active participation on our leadership team, the Small Giants strategy and business development.
- Actively represent Small Giants at key industry events, leveraging industry presence to identify new business opportunities and deepen connections with key regional decision-makers.
- Represent the agency across the regional creative community through active participation in organizations like AIGA, Phoenix Design Week, and academic/industry speaking engagements.
- Partner closely with agency leadership to ensure our strategic client work proactively positions us for contract renewals and expanded scopes of work.
Qualifications
- Must have extensive experience with an established creative agency or marketing services firm, including a proven history of managing a team of creatives where you were accountable for conducting 1:1s, performance reviews, hiring and disciplinary action.
- A strong portfolio that demonstrates mastery in transforming high-level business goals into actionable creative concepts. The portfolio should include comprehensive brand identity systems, multi-channel campaigns, environmental design/spatial graphics, and publication work showcasing deep typography and layout expertise.
- Proven track record of progressive experience in graphic design, brand strategy, and creative direction, with experience managing high-stakes enterprise client relationships.
- Exceptional people management and mentorship capabilities with a track record of cultivating talent and fostering professional growth in a culture of accountability.
- A history of professional stability, demonstrating long-term commitment and sustained growth with previous employers.
- Proven deep technical mastery of the Adobe Creative Cloud suite, with advanced/expert-level proficiency in Adobe InDesign (layout automation, master pages, typography, print/digital production standards).
Previous experience in understanding and executing strategic spatial/environmental design, large-format graphics, event branding, and integrated multi-channel campaigns. - Strong capacity to thrive in a fast-paced agency environment, with the ability to pivot rapidly in response to client needs while maintaining clear strategic focus and team alignment.
- Substantial hands-on design ability, including proficiency in Figma and modern prototyping methods, with the willingness to personally tackle critical design problems.
Important note to applicants
- This role requires on-site presence at our Phoenix, Arizona office.
- Applicants outside of the Phoenix area must be available to complete the interview process in-person at their own expense, and must be willing to relocate to the Phoenix area within commuting distance of our office.
- Applicants must have independent authorization to work in the U.S. without requiring employer sponsorship.
Creative Design Manager Jobs by Experience Level
See All 72 Creative Design Manager Jobs
Find roles that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
Find Creative Design Manager JobsCreative Design Manager Job Market
Who's Hiring
Top Industries Hiring
- Retail
- Insurance
- Technology & Software
- Marketing & Advertising
What Employers Look For
The qualifications that appear most often in creative design manager jobs.
- Five or more years of experience in a design role with at least two years managing a team
- Proficiency in Figma, Adobe Creative Suite, or both depending on the team's discipline
- Demonstrated experience leading brand, campaign, or product design from brief to delivery
- Ability to present creative concepts and defend decisions to cross-functional stakeholders
- Experience managing design workflows, timelines, and feedback cycles across concurrent projects
- Bachelor's degree in graphic design, visual communications, or a related creative field
Tips for Your Creative Design Manager Job Search
Tailor your portfolio to leadership
Creative design manager roles expect evidence of direction, not just execution. Annotate portfolio case studies to show how you briefed teams, resolved creative disagreements, and shaped a campaign or product from concept to delivery.
Quantify output your team produced
Hiring managers want to see the scale you managed. Call out how many direct reports you led, the volume of concurrent projects your team carried, and the production output your design org delivered in a given period.
Target openings by design discipline
Creative design manager roles split between brand, digital product, and content production. Filter your search by discipline so you're not applying to roles where the core output, like motion or UX, falls outside your team's depth.
Apply early to roles that fit
Migrate Mate lists creative design manager openings from across the United States in one place, so you can find roles that match and apply directly to each listing.
Prepare a creative brief as a work sample
Some panels ask you to present how you'd onboard a new campaign or rebrand. Preparing a sample brief in advance shows strategic thinking and signals you can operate at the intersection of creative direction and stakeholder management.
Negotiate scope before accepting an offer
Ask explicitly how design decisions are made, whether the role owns the final creative call or routes through marketing or product leadership. Misaligned authority structures are the most common reason creative design managers leave within a year.
Creative Design Manager Jobs: Frequently Asked Questions
Which companies are hiring the most creative design managers?
The companies hiring the most creative design managers right now include NBCUniversal, Apple, and Verizon, with the largest share of openings in California, New York, and Texas, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of November 2026. Consumer brands, media companies, and in-house agency teams tend to post the highest volume of these roles.
How many creative design manager jobs are remote?
About 77% of creative design manager openings are fully remote or hybrid as of November 2026, with availability varying by company size and industry. Brand identity and digital campaign roles tend to have the highest share of remote options, while roles tied to physical production, packaging, or retail environments are more likely to require on-site presence.
How do you become a creative design manager?
Most creative design managers move into the role after several years as a senior individual contributor who starts informally leading project teams. Building that path means developing skills in creative direction and critique, taking on mentorship of junior designers, and demonstrating you can run a brief end-to-end without day-to-day oversight. Formal management experience, even on a small team, is what most employers require before making the transition official.
Can you get hired as a creative design manager with limited management experience?
Some employers will hire a strong senior designer into a creative design manager role if the portfolio shows clear creative leadership, even without a formal direct-report history. Freelance art direction, leading agency project teams, or managing contractors all count as relevant experience. Framing your portfolio around decisions you owned, rather than tasks you completed, is what moves a resume past the screening stage.
What does the creative design manager interview process look like?
The process typically starts with a recruiter screen followed by a hiring manager conversation focused on your design philosophy and leadership style. A portfolio presentation to the broader team is standard, and many employers include a creative brief exercise or scenario where you walk through how you'd handle a real production challenge. Final rounds often bring in a cross-functional stakeholder, such as a marketing or product lead, to assess how well you collaborate outside the design org.
Where can I find and apply to creative design manager jobs?
You can find and apply to creative design manager jobs on Migrate Mate, which lists current openings from companies across the United States. Search the roles available, find the ones that match your experience and discipline, and apply directly to each listing.
See All 72 Creative Design Manager Jobs
Find roles that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
Find Creative Design Manager Jobs