Photo Art Director: E-Commerce Photo Studio - Straub Collaborative

Straub Collaborative's teams are well-versed in developing stable workflows and infrastructure to handle 500, 2000, or 50,000 samples at a time. We can be in your distribution center and manage 24-hour turnarounds. We can help you build style guides, manage your DAMs, and leverage your product data more efficiently.

We don't stand up and wave our arms. We don't push. We don't overpromise and under-deliver. We sit at YOUR table. And give you exactly what you need — quality, high-volume, fast-turn content — exactly when you need it. With studios and resources worldwide, we can help you reach the content scalability and production redundancy you're looking for without losing your brand's uniqueness.

Location: Edgemere, MD - In Studio position.

Position Summary:

The Photo Art Director leads creative team members to formulate and execute creative strategies for large retail clients. The Art Director will partner with the Creative Director and clients to strategize, conceptualize design, and direct creative solutions for a wide range of projects, including seasonal PDP imagery, digital and social promotional as well as campaigns. This position will utilize a mix of artistic, marketing, and business expertise to enhance our business offering and provide added value to our clients.

The Photo Art Director is responsible for leading creative team members in the execution for their clients and leading the work from original brief and style guide creation to execution workflow through revisions and on to delivery with minimal oversight. This position will oversee creative quality and adherence to style guides by making selects on final images, creating post-production notes, and reviewing imagery and video after final postproduction work and before delivery.

The Photo Art Director is well versed in current eCommerce visual trends and comfortable being in front of senior clients, leading client meetings, directing the creative teams, ensuring they are motivated, and working at their highest ability. And when it comes to collaborating with Straub Collaborative many departments and production partners, it means communicating clearly and decisively in a way that best maintains and builds on the agency's excellent creative reputation.

Essential Functions:

• Oversee assigned creative staff by hiring, training, assigning, scheduling, and mentoring staff.
• Establish creative department standards for production, productivity, quality, and client service.
• Ensure the team adheres to style guides and established processes, identifying opportunities for continuous improvement and proposing and creating processes and tools to support design operations.
• Develop presentation approaches, styles, and techniques for the team to implement.
• Analyze market trends in retail and eCommerce, consumer need, and the competitive landscape, and track campaign performance.
• Collaborates with Creative Director, clients, and key stakeholders to formulate creative strategies, producing art layouts & concepts, creating style guides and creative execution strategies to produce outstanding creative content.
• Meets client and industry standards by following production, productivity, quality, and customer service standards.
• Works with operations staff to produce creative that achieves operational efficiencies while producing top-quality work.
• Partners with cross-departmental leadership to resolve operational roadblocks.
• Identifies work process improvements.
• Meets company and project standards by monitoring expenses and implementing cost-saving actions.
• Formulates visual concepts by supervising staff engaged in executing photography and video content to be presented by visual communications media.
• Keeps customers informed by reviewing illustrative material for presentation.
• Reviews project production factors by studying budget, background information, objectives, presentation approaches, styles, and techniques.
• Selects and secures illustrative material by formulating basic layout design concepts and conducting research.
• Obtains client approval by presenting final presentations, storyboards, and illustrations; and responds to client commentary and requests.
• Improves quality results by studying, evaluating, and re-designing processes.
• Updates job knowledge by participating in educational opportunities, reading professional publications, and participating in professional organizations.
• Take full ownership of a project; have a creative vision that is communicated and executed.
• Oversee multiple pieces of business at once, effectively managing time and delegating work.
• Manage productions with minor check-ins and reviews from senior leaders.
• Build client relationships with a deep understanding of clients, their business needs, and our role in their success. Establish full client trust in their instincts and decisions.
• Lead internal and client presentations while making people feel, not just understand. Take client feedback and parse out what is valid and how to respectfully and effectively push back on what isn't

Required Skills & Qualifications:

• 8-10 years of experience in visual concepts and strategies for retail with 5+ years of experience in a management role
• Bachelor's degree in Fine Art, Graphic Design, Video or Photography Production or equivalent education and experience in Photography or Video content production
• Highly skilled in leading a team of creative talent.
• Deep knowledge in Photography and Video capture technologies, studio lighting and various post-production and color augmentation programs.
  
• Exceptional visual presentation skills with the ability to tell a story to convey a feeling through pictures and video.
• Strong creative vision with an understanding of business objectives
• Proficiency with design software, such as Adobe Creative Suite, PowerPoint, or Keynote.
  
• Proficient in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere.
  
• Experience with Capture One, Canon, PhaseOne, and Profoto lighting is required.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office software programs, specifically Word and Excel. Within Excel, the candidate should be able at a minimum, to execute a search, sort a list by applying multiple filter settings, populate a new column of data in an existing spreadsheet, and manage file conversions among CSV and text-based files to Excel.
• Experience with ShotFlow or other digital image workflow systems is required.
• Experience with ProWorkflow or other project management software is required.
• Must have excellent problem-solving ability and creatively respond to set needs.
• Must have proficient math skills and the ability to read, write, and speak English.

Benefits:

The salary range for this full-time position is $115,000 - $125,000, commensurate with experience and skills.

Straub Collaborative offers excellent benefits, including:

• 401(k) matched at 4%
• Full medical, dental, and vision (company contribution based on employee's selection and family status)
• Health Care Spending Account (HSA)
• Flexible Spending Account (for healthcare & dependent care)
• Life insurance, disability, and accidental death are covered by the company at 100%
• Flexible paid time off (with approval from supervisor)
• 11 paid holidays
• Company lunches & events (at Studio locations)

Culture/ EEO Statement

Straub Collaborative profoundly embraces diversity and believes in the power of a shared table to bring people together as we are committed to building a culturally inclusive team. We see diversity and inclusion as central to our organization. This means that we stand up against discrimination and harassment wherever we operate.

Straub Collaborative is committed to providing equal employment opportunity (EEO) and equal pay to all persons regardless of age, color, national origin, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, race, religion, creed, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, genetic information, marital status, status concerning public assistance, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law.

Applicants must be authorized to work for ANY employer in the US. We cannot sponsor or take over sponsorship of the employment Visa at this time.