Head of Creative

Introduction to Position:

The Head of Creative is a key member of our leadership team who leads our Product Design team in establishing and executing exceptional creative vision and strategy across our client portfolio. You'll drive design excellence and innovation while ensuring business impact, elevating both the quality of our work and its strategic value to clients.

In this role, you'll cultivate a creative culture that balances bold innovation with strategic business outcomes. You'll inspire and mentor design talent while building strong relationships with key stakeholders to ensure creative solutions align with business objectives.

A typical day might involve:

• Providing creative direction and thoughtful feedback to design team members
• Presenting strategic concepts to senior client stakeholders
• Collaborating with strategy and product teams to align creative vision with broader business objectives
• Contributing to high-level business development efforts
• Identifying emerging design trends and technologies to keep our creative approach fresh and forward-thinking

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Serve as a key member of the leadership team, contributing to organizational strategy and growth initiatives
• Lead creative strategy as a core component of our product strategy service
• Direct, manage, coach, and mentor a high-performing team of designers, including hiring, performance evaluations, and accountability
• Own and manage the design department's budget, ensuring optimal resource allocation and financial performance
• Develop modern visual concepts that transform client work from transactional to inspiring
• Oversee high-quality product design execution across websites, mobile apps, and custom software
• Translate creative strategy into tangible designs ready for technical implementation
• Establish and maintain design standards, processes, and quality controls
• Present design concepts and strategy to clients with confidence and clarity
• Contribute to business development and digital strategy across client portfolio
• Execute and steward Modea's visual identity across all touchpoints
• Provide thought leadership through content creation, speaking engagements, or industry participation
• Champion and embody our core values, mission, and vision throughout the organization
• Travel to client sites or Modea offices for collaboration sessions, presentations, or team building
• Performs other duties as assigned that are reasonably within scope of this position

Critical Competencies:

• Strategic Leadership: Ability to serve as a key leadership team member, contributing to organizational vision while aligning creative strategy with business objectives
• Creative Vision: Ability to develop inspiring, modern visual concepts that elevate both client work and Modea's brand while maintaining practical applicability
• Design & Team Leadership: Demonstrated success in building and directing high-performing design teams through complex projects, maintaining quality and consistency in execution while implementing effective hiring, coaching, performance management, and accountability systems to foster a culture of creativity, excellence, and continuous improvement
• Budget Management: Experience owning departmental budgets with proven ability to optimize resource allocation and drive financial performance
• Client Communication: Exceptional ability to articulate creative concepts to clients at all levels, translating design decisions into business value
• Strategic Thinking: Capacity to connect design solutions to broader business objectives and integrate design thinking into overall product strategy
• Business Development: Ability to contribute to growth initiatives and support sales efforts with compelling creative vision
• Business Acumen: Understanding of how creative and design efforts contribute to business outcomes for both clients and Modea
• Collaboration: Demonstrated ability to work effectively across disciplines, particularly with product management and engineering teams
• Organizational Stewardship: Dedication to championing company values and embodying the mission and vision throughout all activities
• Adaptability: Flexibility to pivot between creative ideation and practical implementation as projects evolve within agile, iterative development cycles

Minimum Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in Graphic Design, Visual Communication, User Experience Design, or related field
• 8+ years of progressive experience in visual/product design with at least 3 years in a practice leadership or team management role, directly overseeing designers and guiding design strategy
• Proven track record of leading creative strategy and execution for digital products (websites, applications, or software)
• Proficiency with Figma and other industry-standard design tools (Adobe Creative Suite, etc.)
• Experience presenting design concepts to clients and stakeholders
• Portfolio demonstrating both creative strategy and visual design execution
• Strong understanding of user-centered design principles and methodologies
• Experience working within agile processes and iterative software development environments

Additionally, here is a list of preferred skills and qualities:

• Experience in a consulting or agency environment
• Familiarity with design systems and component libraries
• Background in mentoring junior designers
• Knowledge of front-end development concepts (HTML/CSS)
• Experience contributing to business development efforts

Work environment:

Modeans are able to work at any location in Virginia, Tennessee, or North Carolina, unless as otherwise required by job responsibilities. We offer modern offices located in Nashville, TN and Blacksburg, VA. Our office provides an indoor space with moderate temperatures and noise levels. This allows employees to choose a fully-office, fully-remote, or hybrid work experience. Employees may occasionally need to travel to our offices or other locations for items such as training or client visits. We will also provide employees with tools to do their job at home as well as in the office.

Physical Demands:

Must be able to remain in a stationary position during the duration of the workday. Individuals must have the ability to constantly operate a computer. Must have the ability to converse with and exchange information to clients and coworkers both in person and through a computer. Capable of occasionally transporting items of 10lbs or less to and from the office.

Additional Information:

We aspire to be an highly inclusive employer ? providing fair and appropriate opportunities to as many people from different backgrounds as possible, being welcoming and meeting their needs as best we can. We are committed to keeping great people representative of a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills, not just because it's the right thing to do, but because we believe it makes Modea stronger.

You must be legally authorized to work in the United States for this position.

Modea participates in the E-Verify program.

Modea is committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace. Modea is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, veteran status, disability, age, or other legally protected status.

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