Assistant Director for Creative/Brand

About Dutchess Community College:

Located in the heart of New York's beautiful and historic mid-Hudson Valley, just 90 minutes north of New York City, Dutchess Community College (DCC) is one of 64 colleges within the State University of New York, the largest comprehensive public higher education system in the country.

DCC's strategic direction is guided by four lenses through which we view our work: Students. Learning. Community. Growth. We are committed to respecting individuality, embracing diversity, being "student-ready," partnering with and serving our community inclusively. The College welcomes and seeks to grow pools of prospective employees who share and are anxious to support the institution's core values: Excellence. Collaboration. Engagement. Equity. Innovation.

Job Description:

Position Summary

Primary focus: Day-to-day creative direction, brand consistency and production leadership The Assistant Director, Creative & Brand leads the day-to-day creative and brand work of the College. Working from department strategy and priorities established by the Executive Director, the role translates goals into clear visual direction and coordinated execution across design, photography, video, digital, print, signage and campus spaces.

The role is responsible for creative quality, brand consistency, practical project planning and timely feedback. It provides functional leadership within Creative & Brand without owning department-wide strategy, institutional messaging or final decisions on major brand changes.

Role on the team-the Assistant Director, Creative & Brand and the Assistant Director, Marketing and Communications are peer roles that report to the Executive Director. This role leads creative and brand initiatives of the College. The Assistant Director/Marketing and Communications leads media relations, messaging, public relations strategy and written content. The Website Administrator reports to the Executive Director and supports both areas.

This role provides day-to-day creative direction to the Graphic Designer and Multimedia Content Producer and coordinates closely with the Communications Strategist and Website Administrator. The Executive Director sets overall department priorities, allocates resources and makes final decisions on major, highly visible or sensitive work.

The Assistant Director, Creative and Brand ensures that:

• The College's visual identity is consistent, recognizable and appropriately applied across channels.
• Creative staff receive clear priorities, useful context and timely feedback, with workloads that reflect available capacity.
• Major campaigns and initiatives are visually coordinated and move through production on a clear path.
• Projects require fewer preventable revisions because scope, roles and approvals are clear from the beginning.

Responsibilities

Creative direction and brand

• Develop the visual direction for assigned campaigns, publications, events and institutional initiatives within the approved strategy.
• Maintain and apply the College's brand standards across channels, and improve templates and shared assets when a clear need exists.
• Review concepts and final work, provide timely and actionable feedback, and approve routine creative deliverables within the role's scope.
• Build accessibility, readability and appropriate representation into creative planning and review.

Planning and production

• Turn project goals into concise creative briefs that identify the audience, deliverables, roles, timeline and approval path.
• Coordinate the day-to-day creative work of the Graphic Designer and Multimedia Content Producer, balancing assignments against available capacity and raising conflicts to the Executive Director.
• Guide assigned projects through production, keeping quality, schedules, specifications and approvals aligned.
• Coordinate approved vendors when specialized production or outside support is needed.

Collaboration and workflow

• Plan major work with the Executive Director, PR & Communications and Website Administrator so messaging, design, multimedia and web needs are aligned early.
• Advise campus partners on scope, timing, brand requirements and realistic deliverables.
• Maintain straightforward processes for project intake, review, file management and final delivery.
• Track active work, flag risks early and bring priority or resource decisions to the Executive Director rather than stretching the team's capacity.

Requirements:

Qualifications

• A bachelor's degree in graphic design, visual communication, marketing, communications or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
• At least five years of progressively responsible experience in creative direction, brand management, design or marketing communications.
• A portfolio demonstrating strong brand application, campaign development and work across multiple channels.
• Experience providing functional leadership or supervision to creative professionals and guiding projects from concept through delivery.
• Advanced working knowledge of Adobe Creative Cloud or comparable professional design and production tools.
• Strong judgment, organization and communication skills, including the ability to give clear feedback and manage competing priorities.

Preferred experience

• Experience in higher education, the public sector, a mission-driven organization or an agency serving complex clients.
• Experience with digital accessibility, asset management, vendor coordination and print, signage or multimedia production.
• Experience supporting enrollment, workforce, reputation or community-engagement campaigns

Application Instructions:

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Dutchess Community College is an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status. Applications from minorities, veterans, the disabled and all others are encouraged (AA/EOE).