Art Director, Visual Storytelling

Job Summary As an inspiring, forward-thinking, and highly skilled creative leader, theArt Director, Visual Storytelling has a demonstrated ability to create and present a compelling point of view and also use it to influence, educate, and inform partners. The Art Director serves as UCSF's senior creative lead for visual storytelling and enterprise brand expression. Reporting to the Creative Director, Enterprise Brand, this position translates UCSF's mission, strategic priorities, and brand platform into strong visual narratives that elevate the institution's reputation across research, education, patient care, and public service. Operating as both a strategic individual contributor and people leader, the Art Director develops creative concepts, directs visual content creation, and oversees the production of enterprise photography, video, motion, and multimedia experiences across owned, earned, and social media channels. The position manages a small multidisciplinary team of visual storytellers and external creative partners while establishing standards, processes, and governance that ensure excellence, consistency, accessibility, and scalability across the enterprise. As deputy to the Creative Director, Enterprise Brand, this role influences enterprise-wide communication strategies, articulates visual storytelling to leadership and partners across UCSF and UCSF Health, and serves as a trusted advisor on visual communications, brand stewardship, and creative strategy. The Art Director is a generous and collaborative leader who creates alignment in a decentralized, matrixed environment, and influences outcomes by means of vision, credibility, and domain expertise independent of positional authority. The Art Director must be a person of integrity whose beliefs and actions align with, and advance, UCSF’s mission, PRIDE values, and stated policy goals. Responsibilities Responsibilities include, but are not limited to: Lead the development and execution of enterprise visual storytelling initiatives across photography, video, motion graphics, and multimedia experiences Build and sustain collaborative partnerships across UCSF and UCSF Health, establishing workflows and governance structures that support enterprise-wide creative excellence Appropriately leverage internal and external creative resources to optimize deliverables and maximize fiscal budget Build, manage, and negotiate usage rights for a roster of freelance photographers, videographers, multimedia creatives Manage and promote a searchable digital asset database of UCSF imagery and b-roll for enterprise-wide use Manage photo consenting process for patients in compliance with HIPAA regulations and for non-patients such as staff and students Establish and steward enterprise visual standards and creative best practices to ensure consistency, accessibility, and brand integrity across all UCSF communications Lead, coach, develop, and evaluate a multidisciplinary creative team, fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, innovation, and continuous learning Establish team priorities and manage workloads to ensure successful delivery of enterprise initiatives Build succession and growth opportunities for creative staff through mentoring and professional development The Art Director serves as a strategic advisor and creative leader, influencing policies, practices, and standards at both the departmental and enterprise levels to advance UCSF's mission and brand objectives. This role proactively identifies risks, establishes priorities, optimizes workflows, and develops scalable solutions to complex creative challenges. Drawing on deep subject-matter expertise, the Art Director interprets and applies organizational policies and procedures related to resource management, fiscal stewardship, contracts, and personnel matters, exercising sound judgment and discretion in determining appropriate courses of action. Success in this role requires exceptional judgment, creativity, and strategic thinking, coupled with the ability to deliver high-quality work with accuracy and precision in a dynamic, deadline-driven environment. The Art Director thrives in highly collaborative settings, builds productive relationships across diverse partner groups, and demonstrates outstanding written, verbal, and visual communication skills. A keen attention to detail, refined creative sensibility, and proven ability to translate complex ideas into compelling visual narratives are essential to advancing UCSF's institutional reputation, strategic priorities, and brand impact. Department Summary As UCSF’s enterprise communications team, the Office of Communications provides comprehensive and coordinated leadership in planning, creating, and implementing integrated strategies across all media to foster increased awareness and support of UCSF’s mission, vision, accomplishments, and strategic priorities among its diverse internal and external constituencies. It serves as the official voice of UCSF to regional, state, national, and international news media. UCSF’s Brand Strategy unit defines, drives, and promotes UCSF’s brand platform, brand family, and story to be meaningful, differentiated, and salient. It creates and shapes content to deliver experiences consistent with UCSF’s brand promise. It cultivates new audiences, fostering and deepening engagement to promote preference. It also leads enterprise alignment and orchestration, governance, and best practices at the enterprise brand level. #J-18808-Ljbffr University-of-California---SAN-Francisc