Creative Lead

Creative Lead

Antares is seeking a Creative Lead as its first in-house creative hire. You will own the company's visual identity and produce its creative output — photography, video, and design — while directing external agencies and production partners on larger-scale projects. The ideal candidate is both a skilled individual content creator and a capable creative director, comfortable working in secure industrial environments and building processes from scratch. The candidate will report to the Communications Manager of Antares.

Responsibilities:

• Owning and evolving the Antares visual identity, serving as the internal authority on brand standards, creative guidelines, and design systems
• Shooting, editing, and designing content across social, web, press, events, and executive communications
• Briefing, directing, and managing creative agencies and production vendors on larger-scale projects — brand campaigns, website development, video series — tracking priorities, setting deadlines, and holding partners to a high standard from scoping through delivery
• Driving and executing the creative vision for campaigns, announcements, and key brand moments in partnership with Communications
• Championing a culture of craft, speed, and continuous improvement within the creative function

Basic Qualifications:

• Minimum 4 years of professional experience in visual content creation, multimedia production, or equivalent
• A portfolio demonstrating both self-produced work (photography, video, design) and work directed through agencies or production teams
• Expert in industry-standard software, including Adobe Creative Suite and Figma; professional video editing proficiency (Premiere or equivalent)
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to collaborate cross-functionally with communications, engineering, and leadership
• A reliable self-starter, organized, with strong attention to detail
• Sound judgment regarding what can and cannot be captured or published in a regulated, security-conscious industry
• Ability to travel approximately 25% (Idaho Falls, ID; Aiken, SC; Washington, DC; San Antonio, TX; other sites possible)
• Must be a U.S. citizen due to required access to national laboratory and government facilities

Preferred Skills & Experience:

• Experience shooting in industrial, technical, or field environments (energy, aerospace, defense, or manufacturing).
• Venture-backed startup experience.
• Experience with digital asset management systems and content calendars.
• Familiarity with energy, nuclear, defense, or deep-tech audiences.
• Excellent communication and organizational skills with strong attention to detail.
• Proven ability to manage multiple projects, improve processes, and thrive in a fast-paced, ambiguous environment.
• Demonstrated ability to present creative concepts clearly to executives and cross-functional stakeholders.

Location:

• We are located in Torrance, CA in a 322,000 square foot, brand new facility featuring large open spaces for team collaboration, R&D, and production, as well as easy access to the 405, 105, and 110 freeways. Our facility is in the heart of Los Angeles' vibrant emerging tech ecosystem alongside many other high growth startups and enterprises.

Culture:

• Think in Systems - Energy and Defense are complex ecosystems with numerous stakeholders with competing priorities, conflicting policies, perverse incentives, and emergent and path-dependent properties. First principles thinking alone is insufficient. Think probabilistically and then take action. "If you want to be certain, then you are apt to be obsolete." Over-optimizing the components often degrades the system
• Obsess over the End User - The customer and end user are often not the same. We will never build globally competitive commercial products if we lose sight of our end users and their entire interaction with the product life cycle
• Be Unconstrained by Convention - Our only limits are the laws of physics. Many, even experts, will say what we are working on is impossible. They said the same about SpaceX reusing rockets. Generationally impactful companies, by definition, must accomplish the seemingly impossible. If it were easy, it would have already been done. Never shy away from a solution because it has never been tried before, and never choose to do something because that's "how it's always been done"
• Go Where the Work Is - Never miss a chance to meet a customer, user, or stakeholder face to face, even if that means hopping on a plane. If you can't make it, find a teammate who can channel your intentions and go in your place. Deep work can be done from anywhere, but we believe teams are built in person, and aim to maximize our time together
• Operate in the Grey - Embrace nuance in pursuit of truth. Question every fundamental assumption

ITAR Requirements

To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.