Senior Creative Manager

Vitamin Angels Alliance, Inc. (VA) is a global non-profit organization with headquarters in Santa Barbara, California, USA. It is working to improve nutrition and health outcomes for underserved women and children worldwide through evidence-based nutrition interventions in 65 countries.

Position: Senior Creative Manager
Employer: Vitamin Angels Alliance, Inc.
Division: Marketing
Date: December 2022
Location: Flexible. This person can work remotely from anywhere in the U.S. or from our corporate headquarters in Goleta, CA or our office in Chicago, IL, or any combination thereof.
Salary: $90,000-95,000/year

About Vitamin Angels

Founded in 1994, Vitamin Angels is a public health nonprofit working to improve nutrition and health outcomes in low-resource settings worldwide. We strengthen, extend, and amplify the impact of our partner organizations working to reach the most nutritionally vulnerable groups – pregnant women, infants, and children – who are underserved by existing systems. We deliver evidence-based interventions and offer technical assistance, including ongoing monitoring and evaluation, to ensure program quality, scale, and impact. Vitamin Angels works with over 1,200 local organizations, including governments, to reach more than 70 million women and children in 65 countries annually. Both Charity Navigator and GuideStar give Vitamin Angels their highest marks for financial transparency.

Vitamin Angels is an equal-opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We are committed to fostering a supportive environment where everyone can contribute, thrive, and grow.

Role or Purpose of the Position

The Senior Creative Manager is a new position within the Marketing Division at Vitamin Angels. This individual will lead the strategic evolution of the brand’s visual identity, consolidate, and elevate its application across internal and external teams, and drive it forward in support of the organization’s mission.

Major Duties and Responsibilities

Creative Direction and Evolution

• Lead the creative development for all projects.
• Advocate for and inspire great ideas and work dynamically within multidisciplinary teams.
• Manage the strategic concepting and deliver the creative designs that challenge the status quo while staying true to the brand’s core, being data-driven, and responding to business needs.
• Develop compelling creative assets across multiple and varied marketing touchpoints from consumer-facing activations on VA and corporate partner channels to presentation frameworks and infographics for technical audiences.
• Develops creative direction and style guides for all creative applications of the brand, including but not limited to brand content, fundraising campaigns, key observances, and divisional deliverables.
• Collaborate cross-divisionally and with the Content Marketing Manager to promote the evolution of innovative storytelling both editorially and visually.
• Collaborate with and coach the brand team to develop and test new ideas, present results, and identify areas for improvement; continually delivering with excellence.

Brand Visual Identity + Application

• Strategic oversight and development of the brand visual identity, creating a recognizable and “ownable” brand.
• Responsible for developing and implementing brand visual identity standards, style guides, and processes for compliance and feedback across the organization and external entities; this includes, but is not limited to:
• Application by third parties and review process.
• Brand marks and IP
• Photography style standards
• Videography style standards
• Graphic treatments, illustration styles, iconography, and the like.
• Typography
• Color palette
• Digital-specific standards and accessibility requirements
• Overseeing and supporting the appropriate interpretation and adaption of the global brand by individual country sub-brand identities and divisional identities.
• Promote the successful application and adoption of the brand visual identity by identifying pain points, developing tools, socializing examples, providing feedback, and maintaining open communication channels.
• Identify opportunities for new/improved tools, processes, and applications – either proactively or in response to aggregated feedback analysis.
• Direct and oversee the consistent and holistic application of the visual identity across all marketing channels.
• Direct and oversee freelance creators and graphic designers in applying the visual identity and style guides to uphold creative standards and ensure that their work aligns with the brand’s strategic direction and priorities.
• Review and provide direction or feedback on VA’s visual identity application by internal teams and third parties.

Level of Decision Making

Within the bounds of VA’s mission, values and policies, and sound professional practices, the Senior Creative Manager has the broad discretion to use independent judgement to manage their activities in whatever way will best serve VA clients, partners, employees, and mission. The Associate Director of Brand Marketing will determine specific authorities associated with this position and its implementation.

Organizational Relationships

VA operates under a collaborative management model. The Senior Creative Manager reports to Director of Marketing Operations and Brand concerning overall assignments and performance and interacts daily with other team members to coordinate their activities. The Senior Creative Manager establishes their daily work priorities but does so with the support and mentorship of the VP of Marketing and in collaboration with the Marketing Division at large.

Reports to:	Director of Marketing Operations and Brand
Supervises:	N/A
Primary working relationships:	Marketing TeamFreelance creators and graphic designers
Travel required	10%

Experience & Qualifications

Required:

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Graphic Design, Fine Arts or a related field and 5+ years of experience in brand marketing, creative direction, and project management.
• Deep experience and practical expertise in branding, strategy, usability, interaction and visual design.
• Experience overseeing multiple brands under one umbrella, while supporting differentiated audiences and journeys.
• Broad knowledge of industry levers to measure, test and grow brand awareness and affinity.
• Ability to see opportunities for the brand and crystalize them into clear and inspiring strategic frameworks.
• Expert in ideating, developing, executing, and refining brand strategies throughout the funnel.
• Ability to build programs from the ground up, as well as iterate legacy programs for continuous improvement.
• Ability to develop creative assets for use across multiple marketing touchpoints.
3+ years of management experience, working with internal teams and external agencies or freelance contractors.
• Strong, articulate, natural leader, able to successfully motivate and challenge a team of talented and creative people.
• Is a collaborator—resourceful and methodical in bringing people together, motivating them to achieve a common goal and deliver results.
• An experienced leader with creative teams, capable of ideating and pressure testing creative concepts and visuals.
• Strong communication with a variety of stakeholders and the ability to articulate the value of your work.
• Excellent people skills to interact with staff, colleagues, cross-functional teams, and clients.
• Genuine curiosity and a strong desire to continuously learn and grow.
• Self-starter and entrepreneurial; ability to deal in ambiguity and find innovative solutions.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, high-growth and collaborative environment.
• Ability to respond quickly to changing business needs while completing quality projects with multiple stakeholders on time.
• Operate with discipline, strong attention to detail and desire to execute with excellence.
• Ability to manage stress, including but not limited to stress resulting from local and foreign travel, large crowds, open spaces, shared office space, and daily activities.
• Ability to remain seated for extended periods of time, including but not limited to prolonged air travel, and general job assignments perform at a desk.

Highly Desirable:

• Experience in public health, nutrition, healthcare, nonprofit/NGO, or journalism.
• Global, and multicultural marketing experience.
• Applied experience with creative interpretation of documentary content, including ethical depiction of human subjects.
• Graphic design and creative/campaign concepting for third-party brands; cause- marketing.
• A valid passport and the ability to travel internationally.
• Ability to walk or hike in conditions which may include uneven surfaces, inclinations, stairs, extreme weather, long distances, elevation changes or extremes, and / or other conditions associated with foreign travel.
• Ability to receive necessary vaccines and medication for travel to certain countries.

Challenges of the Position

Challenges unique to the Sr. Creative Manager position are multi-fold. To be successful in this role, the SCM will need to: Collaborate cross-divisionally to introduce this position into existing team dynamics, demonstrate value, and establish processes for application of the visual identity and review practices; Generate, pitch, and execute on creative concepts that elevate and evolve the existing visual identity, and inspire consumer/donor action, while remaining true to the vision and values of the organization; foster an understanding of the need for brand consistency and continuity across divisions and teams including coaching on basic design principles; refine and define opportunities for third parties to leverage the visual identity in new and relevant ways that address business needs; and evaluate, update and enforce brand standards, across myriad stakeholders some of which do not currently have clearly defined review and approval protocols.

From an organizational perspective, this person must function effectively within an environment i) undergoing continual transformation and growth, ii) dependent on self-initiative and collaboration among many team members, both internal and external, and iii) in which team members are situated in different time zones and accessible only by phone, email, or videoconferencing software.

Benefits

Comprehensive benefits package includes Medical, Dental, and Vision Care, Life Insurance, 401(k), Paid Time Off, Holidays, Wellness Program, and more.

Application

Applications will be accepted until January 11, 2023, or a qualified applicant is identified.

Apply Here