Art Director

This is an in-office position located in our headquarters at the Arboretum area in north Austin. This is not a hybrid or remote position.

The ideal candidate will be responsible for understanding the goals of our company and be able to oversee project strategy to project completion. By having a knowledge of emerging technologies in the area, this candidate will be able create cross-channel deliverables to educators and schools that meet their needs. 

Responsibilities

• Create visually appealing and actionable creatives including instructional design, training presentations, videos, social networking and networking.
• Execute marketing campaign concepts across digital, video, social, traditional (print), and event/experiential channels and virtual platforms from conception to completion.
• Collaborate directly with CEO, VP of Sales and VP of Marketing to understand client objectives and project design, developing and presenting creative projects that support agreed upon goals and strategy.
• Collaborate with the CEO and VP of Marketing to develop a new brand guideline that meets the vision of the company.
• Collaborate with the head of development and head of content development to make sure all products on the platform are of the highest quality, insuring all QA fixes are addressed in a timely manner and all assets are shared with minimal mistakes.
• Create cross-channel visual communication strategies (digital, print, and motion)
• Work closely with project managers and directors on resource allocation and assigning tasks and projects to graphic designers and junior graphic designers.
• Supervise and guide graphic designers, contractors and junior designers on creative deliverables including best practices, and overseeing and coaching on theme interpretation, ideation, concept development and the creative process. Approval of clocked hours on payroll. Guidance to voice actors and video editors, with collaboration with the voice talent manager and video producer will be required.
• Report weekly KPIs and discuss targets and quarterly goals with the CEO, also setting quarterly SMART goals for all full-time graphic designers.
• Set annual budgets for the art department with the CEO and CFO.
• Stay up-to-date on industry trends for design and education, best practices, and emerging technologies.
• Identify and integrate applicable/new creative applications and trends (design, motion, video, illustration, etc.), products and programs that elevate design deliverables, promote team efficiency, and optimize creative and marketing functions for internal clients and state and local schools.
• Collaborate with vendors, like print shops and stock image companies, to meet deadlines for nation conferences and projects.
• Keep a consistent list of creative priorities, maintaining a keen awareness of, and attention to the business objectives in a fast-paced environment.
• Keeper of the assets – ensure an organized online system for all creative assets to be easily accessible for all designers, including contractors and marketing department, and read-only web versions for customers, directors of partnership, and instructional specialists alike.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in graphic design or visual communications
• 6+ years of digital and print design or advertising experience
• 4+ years of leadership and art direction experience
• Be comfortable in a fast-paced, and ever changing, education environment
• Willingness to work overtime outside of MF 8-5 during busy seasons
• Remembrance to blink a few times, do some toe-touching stretches, take deep breaths and enjoy the sunshine every now and then
• Breadth of style and design capability

Software

• Adobe Creative Suite, including Frameio, with strong emphasis in inDesign
• Monday.com, Trello and Jira
• Slack
• Google Suite, including Google Drive

Summit K12