Creative Director - Houston Landing

The Houston Landing is growing our team of passionate people on a mission to advance democracy in our communities and strengthen the lives of all Houstonians one story at a time. Houston Landing is launching soon as an independent, non-profit digital news operation that will cover a broad range of topics serving the Greater Houston community. Houston Landing is initially supported by a coalition of three of Houston’s leading philanthropies including Arnold Ventures, The Houston Endowment, and the Kinder Foundation along with the Knight Foundation and the American Journalism Project.

At Houston Landing, we are expanding our team to include a Creative Director. The Creative Director will report directly to the Chief Product & Technology Officer as a strategic thought partner and force multiplier to improve user experience. The Creative Director is responsible for developing and maintaining our initial products: an email newsletter and a mobile first website in service of our target audiences and in alignment with our mission and organizational goals. 

What you'll do:

• Conceptualizing creative ideas with internal and/or external stakeholders.
• Testing and improving the design of the website.
• Establishing design guidelines, standards, and best practices.
• Maintaining the appearance of websites by enforcing content standards.
• Designing visual imagery for websites, social media channels, and newsletters and ensuring that they are in line with branding for clients.
• Working with different content management systems like HubSpot and BlueLena
• Communicating design ideas using user flows, process flows, site maps, and wireframes.
• Incorporating functionalities and features into websites.
• Designing sample pages including colors and fonts.
• Preparing design plans and presenting the website structure.
• Website and software application designing, building, or maintaining through various tools including Wordpress, Newspack, Bluelena, Stripe, and Workable.
• Integrations into partner websites for seamless article sharing.

Requirements

Who you are:

As our lead Creative Director, you are an avid consumer of news and information across platforms and understand how to create experiences that reach and engage target audiences. You follow trends and technology updates. You are hungry to know our audience and gather new and deeper insights. You are committed to our mission to advance democracy and improve the lives of all Houstonians.

• Bachelor's degree in Web development or related field, or relevant experience.
• Solid knowledge and experience in programming applications.
• Proficient in JavaScript, HTML, CSS.
• Proficient in My SQL.
• Dedicated team player.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment.
• Solid ability in both written and verbal communication.
• Knowledge of programming language and technical terminology.
• Able to develop ideas and processes and clearly express them.
• High degree of independent judgment.
• Able to solve complex problems.

Benefits

Our Values

EXCELLENCE: We wake up every day with the intent to be the best at what we do.We hustle. We have grit. When we make mistakes, we quickly correct and learn from them.

INCLUSION: We aren’t all the same, and those differences are what make us better. We’ll respect each person’s uniqueness. Perspective, context and life experiences help us to tell the story.

AMBITION: We will be bold and creative, open to all ideas big or small. We really mean it.

FUN: We are not making widgets, although there is nothing wrong with widgets. We tell stories - and stories are often fun, so we believe in having lots of fun.

COLLABORATION: We are all in this together. We may not always agree, but we will listen to each other and communicate candidly and respectfully.

Benefits

• Compensation commensurate with experience, minimum of $100,000
• 401(k)
• Healthcare 100% premium paid for employee and 50% for dependents
• 20 vacation days
• Ten sick days
• Generous paid parental leave
• Hybrid work policy (initially we all work together to build culture)
• Stipend for development / learning

We’re committed to building an inclusive organization that represents the people and communities we serve. We encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply, including women, people of color, veterans, LGBTQ+ people and people with disabilities.