[Hiring] Art Director @Ursus

Role Description

We are looking for a creative problem solver who is passionate about telling stories and bringing them to life with art direction and design that makes the technical feel human and authentic. You are a conceptual thinker and storyteller with a strong strategic backbone, comfortable working across all digital mediums. When you decide to make something, you see your vision from concept to launch without any hand-holding.

Generative AI is central to how work gets made on this team. It is the medium we work in every day, across every project, rather than a capability we are beginning to explore. You will originate campaign concepts for digital performance/direct response advertising, then design the work yourself: the ads across every placement and format, and the storyboards our motion designers animate from. You are collaborative and can set a vision to brief in and direct a GenAI artist to support your work but can also direct and create AI art independently.

You are equal parts conceptual thinker and hands-on maker. The people who do well in this role came up through art direction and design at an advertising agency, and have since made generative AI part of how they make work, without giving up the craft standard they built along the way.

Responsibilities

• Creative concept and design/art direct advertising and marketing materials from concept to completion for multiple quick-turnaround creative projects.
• Art direct, design and concept direct marketing campaigns across digital mediums, with a strong understanding of how art direction, design and conceptual ideas can be used to tell a story to drive performance.
• Create original, breakthrough work, and translate complex strategic approaches into easily accessible creative concepts.
• Present ideas in a clear and focused way that builds consensus within the team.
• Design digital ads across placements, formats, and aspect ratios, and extend campaigns across audiences and markets without the standard slipping.
• Build video storyboards and key frames that give motion designers a clear blueprint for sequence, pacing, and shot progression.
• Create, build and maintain the brand-locked templates and component systems that strategic initiatives run on.
• Ability to generate AI art and direct other designers for AI art generation.
• Act as a brand steward: hold the line on brand systems, product accuracy, and image quality in AI-generated work, catching spec breaks, brand errors, and generative artifacts before delivery.
• Work collaboratively within a cross-functional team environment.

Qualifications

• Concept and art direction
• 5+ years at agency/in-house concepting and art directing ideas for brand and product.
• Can design, art direct and articulate conceptual design decisions.
• Expertise in graphic design, art direction, typography, and industry-standard design tools (Figma, Adobe Creative Suite).
• Proficient in Weave for AI art generation.
• Demonstrated experience working on mobile-first campaigns.
• A track record of concept-driven campaigns you owned from the start, not only executions you refined.
• Design craft
• Command of typography, layout, composition, color, and hierarchy, plus retouching and finishing.
• Experience building storyboards or sequential frames for video, with a real feel for pacing and shot progression.
• A track record of building beautiful, well-made templates and component libraries that other designers want to work in.
• AI-native production
• Experience exploring and applying emerging technologies to design workflows.
• Experience creating and directing generative image work, or the art direction judgment to do it credibly, and the eye to hold the creative standard on AI-generated work.
• Must be eligible to work in the US.

Benefits

• Individual compensation is determined by skills, qualifications, experience, and location.
• Compensation details listed in this posting reflect the base hourly rate or annual salary only, unless otherwise stated.
• In addition to base compensation, full-time roles are eligible for Medical, Dental, Vision, Commuter and 401K benefits with company matching.

Fair Chance Policy

Pursuant to the California Fair Chance Act, Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, and San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, qualified applicants will be considered for assignment with arrest and conviction records. Criminal history may have a direct, adverse, and negative relationship with some of the material job duties of this position. These include the duties and responsibilities listed above, as well as the abilities to adhere to company policies, exercise sound judgment, effectively manage stress and work safely and respectfully with others, exhibit trustworthiness, meet client expectations, standards, and accompanying requirements, and safeguard business operations and company reputation.