Job Description

💭About El Papi Creatives

We are a strategy-first creative agency that helps brands shape perception, spark conversations, and show up where it matters. From digital campaigns to visual content, communications strategy and narrative building, El Papi Creatives delivers full-spectrum creative and communications solutions. We’re especially known for our work in the automotive space, partnering with leading brands to build trust, engagement, and loyalty both online and on the ground. We have since expand our services into various industry such as Finance, FMCG, Health & Beauty, Government, F&B, Aviation and more.

Role Summary

We are looking for a hands-on Art Director who can both set creative direction and execute the work themselves. This is a player-coach role: you will design and produce key deliverables yourself, while also guiding the wider team and acting as the visual authority for your assigned client accounts. We need someone experienced enough to read a brand guideline once and run with it, give clients honest creative feedback when they question the work, and set the visual direction for campaigns without waiting for instructions. If you want a senior title with hands-off responsibilities, this is not the role. If you want real creative ownership and the chance to put your stamp on every piece of work that goes out, keep reading.

Key Responsibilities

Hands-on Execution

• Lead the craft: Design and produce hero deliverables yourself: campaign keyvisuals, pitch deck visuals, premium social content, and any work where the visual bar needs to be highest.
• Production work: Build out templates, layout systems, and visual frameworks that the team can extend and execute against.
• Fast-turnaround delivery: Pick up last-minute revisions and quick-turn requests directly when needed. You are not above the work.

Brand and Creative Authority

• Independent brand judgment: Read, internalise, and operate within client brand guidelines without supervision. Identify gaps, inconsistencies, or outdated elements and flag them proactively.
• Creative direction: Set visual and creative direction for campaigns, content pillars, and pitches. Decide on the look, feel, tone, and treatment, then brief the team to execute.
• Brand systems: Develop and maintain visual systems for client accounts: typography hierarchies, colour applications, photography styles, and tone of voice cues. Make sure the team has clear references to work from.

Client Leadership

• Defend the work: Defend creative work in client meetings when needed. Explain the thinking behind visual decisions clearly and confidently. When clients push back, give honest, constructive feedback rather than caving to every request.
• Creative feedback to clients: When clients question creative choices, articulate why something works (or does not) in branding terms. Help clients see what they cannot see themselves.
• Client-facing creative voice: Be the visual point of contact for assigned accounts. Build trust with clients so they come to you for creative input, not just execution.

Team Direction and Quality Control

• Direct the team: Direct the in-house team (graphic designers, video editors, videographers) through clear briefs, references, and reviews.
• Quality control: Own the final visual review for assigned accounts. Approve or send back work before it reaches the client. Nothing leaves the studio without your sign-off.
• Product-led visual storytelling: Take particular care over how products are styled, framed, and integrated within content. Currently focused on automotive, every shot, edit, and layout must reflect the product accurately and aspirationally.

Pitch and New Business

• Pitch visuals: Lead the visual side of new business pitches. Translate strategy into compelling decks, mood directions, and concept visuals that win work.
• Trend awareness: Stay across visual trends in social media, automotive marketing, and broader culture. Bring fresh references and ideas to the team and into client work regularly.

Character Traits We Value

• Ownership and accountability: You take responsibility for the work that goes out under your direction and the work you produce yourself. You don't pass the buck and you don't need chasing.
• Fast and structured: You can move quickly without losing the plot. You think in systems and templates, not chaos.
• Sharp visual judgment: You have an eye that picks up what others miss: kerning, alignment, off-tone colour, awkward product placement. You care about the small things because clients notice them.
• Confident, not arrogant: You can hold a creative position with a client without being defensive or dismissive. You explain, listen, and push back when it matters.
• Self-directed: You don't need a senior to validate your design decisions. You make the call, own the outcome, and adjust when feedback warrants it.
• Calm under pressure: You hold the line on craft when it matters, but you also know when good enough is good enough on a tight deadline.

Job Requirements

Requirements

• 4 to 6 years of experience as a senior designer, art director, or design lead within an agency, in-house brand team, or production studio. Time spent in agency environments preferred.
• Strong portfolio that demonstrates both directorial thinking (campaign concepts, brand systems) and hands-on craft (production design, layout, typography).
• Demonstrated experience working directly with clients: presenting work, taking feedback, defending creative choices.
• Deep proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign). Working knowledge of Premiere Pro or After Effects sufficient to brief and review video work.
• Comfortable in Figma, Canva, and Google or Microsoft presentation tools for pitch decks.
• Strong understanding of product photography and product treatment within content, both styled studio shots and lifestyle or event coverage.
• Ability to interpret brand guidelines independently and apply them across new contexts without step-by-step direction.
• Excellent written and spoken English. Ability to articulate visual direction clearly to designers, editors, and clients.

Preferred:

• Prior experience working on automotive brands, with a strong understanding of how cars should be shot, lit, and presented.
• Experience leading the visual side of new business pitches that have been won.
• Background in agency environments with retainer clients and multi-account workloads.
• Comfort being on-ground for shoots, directing photographers and videographers on location.

What You'll Get

• Real creative ownership. Your visual judgment will define how our work looks.
• Direct client exposure and the chance to build creative relationships, not just execute briefs.
• A small, tight creative team (designers, editors, videographer) to direct and develop alongside your own hands-on work.
• Clear pathways to grow toward Creative Director or Head of Creative as the agency expands.
• Variety of work across social, campaign, pitch, and event-led content with notable brand clients.

Skills