Creative Director, Visual

ICF Next is seeking a Creative Director, Visual, to lead creative work across major client engagements and help define visual direction from early conversations through final production. In this onsite role in Reston, VA, you will translate complex briefs into integrated creative concepts across multiple channels while mentoring teams and shaping creative standards.

This position focuses on bringing writers, designers, strategists, and producers together around shared ambition, ensuring big ideas land with clarity and craft. You will also stay current with emerging tools and technologies, including AI, while protecting what makes strong work effective.

Role focus

• Lead creative across major client engagements, guiding work from initial problem framing to the last detail of finished output.
• Find the idea that makes everything click by setting visual direction and pushing thinking forward.
• Build alignment across disciplines by bringing writers, designers, strategists, and producers together.
• Drive integrated creative across digital, social, film, video, experiential, paid media, out-of-home, and emerging platforms.
• Start with the idea rather than the format, then carry it through decisions, feedback, and production.
• Present ideas with clarity and conviction, and build client relationships.

Creative standards and execution

• Make decisions that challenge work when it is not good enough, while keeping the best idea in view.
• Set the standard with sharp art direction and a deep respect for design, storytelling, and execution.
• Make difficult, technical, sensitive, or hard-to-explain subjects clear, relevant, and human.
• Work across disciplines, manage competing priorities, and navigate complex project realities without losing sight of the idea.
• Protect and strengthen the core idea while knowing how to push without making it personal.
• Stay curious by exploring new tools, technologies, and ways of working, including AI, without confusing what is new with what is good.

Team leadership and creative culture

• Help shape ICF Next’s creative culture through the work produced, the standards set, and the people developed.
• Inspire, mentor, and challenge creatives, providing useful feedback and recognizing talent.
• Create conditions that enable people to do the best work of their careers.
• Stand behind the work, leading rooms confidently while listening.

What you bring

• 12+ years of creative experience in an agency, design studio, or comparable environment, including senior-level creative leadership.
• A portfolio showing exceptional conceptual thinking, art direction, design craft, and integrated creative work.
• Experience leading creative teams and developing campaigns across multiple channels.
• Strong visual storytelling, strategic thinking, and presentation skills.
• Ability to take ambitious ideas from concept through production while managing complex projects, stakeholders, and deadlines.
• An art direction or design background with a focus beyond purely visual execution.
• Taste and opinions, with the ability to explain decisions clearly.
• Comfort working through difficult briefs with demanding clients and tight deadlines.
• Excitement when great work comes together.

Compensation and location

• Location: Reston, VA (onsite)
• Pay range: USD 131,256 - 223,134 per year

Application notes

• Application submission must be completed directly by the applicant for consideration. Failure to do so may result in exclusion.
• For disability or religious accommodations related to the application process, contact [email protected].

Working at ICF

• ICF is a global advisory and technology services provider.
• Equal opportunity employer; for more information, applicants should read ICF’s EEO policy.
• Qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records will be considered.

Work authorization

• All candidates must be authorized to work in the United States.
• This position is not eligible for new H-1B visa sponsorship by ICF.
• Candidates with valid current work authorization may be considered for a change of employer petition, subject to policy and applicable immigration requirements.

Candidate AI usage policy

• AI tools may not be used to generate or assist with responses during interviews (in-person or virtual).
• Candidates who need an accommodation that involves AI should contact [email protected] in advance.

Reasonable accommodations

• Reasonable accommodations are available in all phases of the application and employment process, including for disabled veterans, individuals with disabilities, and individuals with sincerely held religious beliefs.
• Requests can be made by emailing [email protected], and all information provided will be kept confidential and used only as needed to provide the accommodations.