SUMMARY/OBJECTIVE: Reporting to the Senior Vice President of Marketing, the Director of Brand & Creative Services provides strategic creative leadership and serves as the brand steward, lead creative director, and visual storyteller for all business units under the Tiber Health corporation, primarily Ponce Health Sciences University (PHSU). The Director establishes the creative vision and design standards that define and strengthen the university's brand across print, digital, web, video, environmental, and branded applications.
The Director translates business and institutional priorities and marketing strategies into compelling, audience-focused creative that increases brand visibility, supports student recruitment and retention, and advances the PHSU’s academic, research, and clinical reputation. The Director is accountable for conceptualizing and delivering creative solutions from concept to completion, on-brand, on-time, and on-budget.
Additionally, the Director works closely with leaders across other Tiber Health units to ensure consistent brand application, share creative resources, and best practices in creative production to advance unit and enterprise priorities.
PRINCIPLE DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:
- As a member of the marketing leadership team, collaborate with the Senior Vice President of Marketing to develop annual marketing and communications plans, establish creative priorities, and identify creative strategies.
- Lead multidisciplinary creative, including print graphic design, motion graphics, photography, videography, and environmental installations.
Brand Management & Creative Direction
- Establish creative vision and visual identity across marketing campaigns, integrated communications, and owned digital platforms.
- Serve as lead brand manager, ensuring logos, marks, typography, color, photography style, and messaging are applied consistently and with the highest level of design integrity.
- Develop, maintain, evolve, and enforce brand and style guide; create templates, toolkits, and reference materials that enable consistent brand use by internal and external partners.
- Review and approve branded merchandise, promotional items, signage, and environmental graphics to ensure compliance with brand standards and visual identity guidelines.
- Provide creative and brand counsel to the Senior Vice President of Marketing, University leadership, and institutional partners; present and articulate creative concepts, recommendations, and brand rationale.
Creative Production
- Lead the creative development process from creative briefing and conceptualization through production, review, approval, finishing, and completion.
- Direct all aspects of creative on major campaigns and high-visibility projects, ensuring creative assets support established marketing strategies, audiences, and objectives.
- Direct the design of publications, advertising collateral, printed assets, branded video/photography, and website/digital media in collaboration with unit leaders and internal stakeholders.
- Ensure creative assets are compelling, audience-focused, brand-aligned, accessible, and appropriate for print, digital, video, advertising, and emerging channels, for both English- and Spanish-speaking audiences.
- Partner with Marketing to review creative performance and optimize campaign creative based on audience response and results.
Creative Operations & Management
- Direct creative workflow processes, including project intake, prioritization, scheduling, contracting, proofing for accuracy across formats, and records and archives consistent with department protocols.
- Establish effective creative briefs, review processes, production standards, and project management practices that support efficient and collaborative workflows.
- Identify visual needs, and curate and manage photo and video asset libraries and archives.
- Forecast and manage the creative services budget, including contracts and expenditures, and identify opportunities to maximize resources.
- Serve as the primary point of contact for printers, merchandise vendors, freelancers, photographers, videographers, and production partners, managing specifications, estimates, contracts, production schedules, proofs, and quality control.
- Evaluate emerging creative technologies, tools, platforms, and production methods, including generative AI, digital asset management, and creative project management systems, that can improve quality, efficiency, and effectiveness.
Team Leadership & Collaboration
- Lead, supervise, mentor, and develop professional creative staff and student interns; manage performance in accordance with policies and applicable laws.
- Foster a collaborative, innovative, accountable, and high-performing environment that encourages creative exploration while maintaining high standards for quality, consistency, and service.
- Build effective partnerships with academic and administrative units at PHSU, and with marketing and communication leaders across Tiber Health units.
- Perform other duties as assigned.
- SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITES:
- This position has supervisory responsibilities.
QUALIFICATIONS: To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. Listed below are the knowledge, skills, and/or abilities required for this position, as well as the Physical Demands and Work Environment. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
EDUCATION:
- Bachelor’s degree in graphic design, fine arts, visual communications, marketing, advertising, communications, digital media, or a closely related field required; master’s degree preferred.
Certificates, Licenses, Registrations: None.
EXPERIENCE:
- 8+ years of progressive experience in creative direction, graphic design, brand management, multimedia production, or marketing communications within an in-house marketing office, agency, higher education institution, health care organization, or similarly complex organization.
- 3+ years supervising creative professionals.
- Advanced proficiency with Adobe Creative Cloud (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and Premiere Pro or comparable); experience with project management software (e.g., Monday.com, Asana, Trello), digital asset management systems, and CMS and CRM platforms (e.g. WordPress, Salesforce, Slate).
- Bilingual proficiency in English and Spanish preferred.
COMPETENCIES: To perform this job successfully, an individual must have creative vision and direction, with the ability to translate organizational and marketing strategies into compelling visual concepts and integrated campaigns; strategic thinking to align creative initiatives with institutional goals and audience needs; brand strategy and management expertise to develop, maintain, and govern consistent visual identities and brand standards across complex organizations; a leadership mindset demonstrated through the ability to lead creative teams, influence stakeholders, provide constructive feedback, build consensus, and foster collaborative relationships; and innovative and creative problem-solving skills to address complex challenges, manage competing priorities, and deliver high-quality, accessible, and culturally relevant creative solutions that engage diverse audiences while achieving organizational objectives.
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:
- Demonstrated experience establishing creative direction and translating organizational or marketing strategy into compelling visual concepts for large-scale institutional, recruitment, reputation, or integrated campaigns; higher education or health care preferred.
- Significant experience developing, maintaining, and governing visual brand identities and brand standards, preferably within a multi-brand or multi-entity organization.
- Demonstrated experience directing integrated creative work across graphic design, photography, videography, digital content and websites.
- Strong understanding of print and digital production processes, accessibility standards, and mailing requirements.
- Demonstrated ability to manage multiple high-profile projects, priorities, budgets, deadlines, and stakeholders simultaneously with close attention to detail.
- Strong leadership, creative problem-solving, presentation, communication, and collaboration skills, with the ability to build consensus across stakeholder groups.
- Demonstrated ability to provide creative direction, constructive feedback, and quality control while maintaining productive relationships with internal clients and creative professionals.
- Demonstrated ability to create culturally relevant work for diverse audiences and to foster an inclusive team environment.
- Availability to work on a non-standard schedule to support signature events, commencement, and campaign productions.
-
WORK ENVIRONMENT: This job operates primarily in an academic and office environment and routinely involves individual consultations, small-group sessions, and collaboration with faculty and staff. The role regularly uses computers, videoconferencing tools, phones, photocopiers, and other standard office equipment. The environment generally has a moderate noise level.
PHYSICAL DEMANDS: The physical demands described here are representative of those required to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.
The employee is regularly required to sit, stand, walk, speak, hear, use a computer, and handle various office materials. The role may require moving between offices, conference rooms, and campus public spaces, as well as occasional setup of materials. Specific vision abilities include close vision and the ability to adjust focus. Occasionally, product weighing up to 30 lbs may need to be moved or relocated using physical strength or a dolly/cart.
POSITION TYPE/EXPECTED HOURS OF WORK: This is a full-time, exempt position. Days and hours of work are generally Monday through Friday. Availability to work occasional nonstandard hours or weekends may be required to support organizational needs.
TRAVEL: Ability to perform non-local travel up to 30% of the time.
NOTE: This job description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed the employee will be required to follow any other instructions and to perform any other duties requested by his or her supervisor. An employee is expected to assist and provide coverage for coworkers during peak periods, vacation days or sick days.
Ponce Health Sciences University (PHSU), as an educational institution and as an employer, values equality of opportunity, human dignity, and racial/ethnic and cultural diversity. Accordingly, the University prohibits and will not engage in discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, age, marital status, familial status, sexual orientation, political affiliation, disability, or veteran status.