Creative Director

MSI Communications, Inc. is hiring a Creative Director in Anchorage, Alaska to lead the creative team and raise the standard across client work and every channel it touches. This is a senior leadership role at the Anchorage headquarters, built for long-term growth into a VP of Creative Services.

Creative leadership across channels

• Own the creative product for every MSI client and channel, including brand campaigns, broadcast and video, digital, social, print, out-of-home, and web design.
• Set the bar and run critique: push concepts beyond the first safe idea and keep work moving until it is ready.

New business and client-facing creative

• Lead creative for new business through pitches, RFP responses, and spec work that helps win accounts.
• Present creative as the agency’s voice: deliver ideas with conviction, take feedback, and return with work the client and the team can align on.

Cross-functional partnership

• Partner with strategy, account service, PR, media, and video so ideas are grounded in what the client needs and designed to perform where they will run.

Department ownership and development

• Run the creative department as a business: scope creative work, estimate hours, deliver within budget, know what the work costs, what it bills, and the difference between the two.
• Mentor designers and art directors daily through critique and hands-on work, supporting growth across the team.
• Build a recurring program to sharpen craft, concepting, and presentation skills throughout the department.
• Represent MSI creative in the Anchorage business community, the industry, and in award competitions.
• Lead by example, working alongside the team when deadlines require it, then returning focus to direction and oversight.

Requirements

• 10+ years in agency creative, including at least 3 years leading a creative team as a Creative Director, Associate Creative Director, or Group Creative Director.
• A portfolio covering integrated campaign work across video or broadcast, digital, social, print, and out-of-home, including results you can speak to and a clear view of which parts were yours.
• Craft credibility on at least one side: design and art direction, or copywriting and concepting.
• Experience presenting creative to senior clients and leading creative in competitive pitches.
• Experience managing the business side of a creative department, including scoping and estimating, budget and timeline management, and directing vendors and freelancers.
• Working fluency with generative AI tools in the creative workflow, plus a point of view on where they help and where they do not.

Benefits

• Health Care Plan (Medical, Dental & Vision)
• Retirement Plan (401k, IRA)
• Life Insurance (Basic, Voluntary & AD&D)
• Paid Time Off & Holidays
• Short Term & Long Term Disability

Role reporting and growth: The Creative Director reports to the President of MSI Communications, Inc., and the position is built to grow into a VP of Creative Services.