Vice President, Creative

Reporting Structure: President & Creative Director Classification: Full-Time, Exempt (Leadership Team) Direct Reports: The Creative Department — growing to 12 by 2028 Cross-Functional: Production, Account Services & Operations — LA, New York, London Company Overview Unboxed Group is a global experiential creative agency that designs and produces high-impact brand experiences for the world’s most ambitious brands. Headquartered in Los Angeles with teams in New York and London, we build premieres, activations, hospitality environments and cultural moments for entertainment, luxury, fashion and technology clients. The work is design-led and execution-obsessed. Creative is the largest and fastest-growing department in the agency, and it is the reason this role exists. Position Overview The person who owns the creative team, how it runs, and the standard of what it makes. This is a leadership role first and a creative role second, and we mean that in that order. Creative has grown faster than the structure around it. Today there is no single person who knows who is on what job, who has capacity next week, who is developing and who is stuck, or what the department needs to hire next. That is the job. You will run the creative team day to day: their workflows, their schedules, their assignments, their capacity, their growth and their hiring. You will also carry real creative weight, directing work, raising the bar, and leading design in front of clients. We are not looking for a pure operator, and we are not looking for a creative who tolerates managing. We are looking for someone who is genuinely good at both and who people want to work for. There is no Creative Operations layer at Unboxed today and there will not be one in the near term. This role holds it. Job Responsibilities Leading the Creative Team Lead, direct and develop every member of the creative team. This is a people-leading role before it is anything else. Know where each designer is: what they are good at, what they are working on, what they want next, and what is getting in their way. Set clear expectations and priorities for each person on each project, so nobody is guessing. Own performance directly, with HR support. Address issues early and in person rather than letting them accumulate. Protect the team from thrash, unclear briefs and last-minute churn, and push back internally when the ask is unreasonable. Be someone people want to bring problems to. Warmth and high standards are not in conflict here. Run a weekly creative stand-up and a weekly resourcing review that the whole department trusts. Hold regular one-to-ones with every direct report and keep them, including in busy weeks. Run structured design reviews with documented feedback, so critique is a rhythm rather than an event. Represent Creative in leadership discussions, and bring the department’s needs forward before they become problems. Workflow, Capacity & Scheduling Own creative resourcing end to end: who is assigned to which project, at what level of effort, for how long. Maintain a single live view of team capacity in Airtable that Production, Account Services and leadership can rely on. Forecast creative capacity against the pipeline, so we know months out where we are short and where we are exposed. Decide when to bring on freelance support, who to bring on, and when to hold the work in-house. Track utilization honestly, and flag both overload and underload rather than only the former. Balance assignments so development happens on purpose, not only wherever the pressure is highest. Own the creative schedule on every project: design milestones, review dates, internal gates and client deliverable dates. Build the creative calendar against production and installation schedules so design is never the reason a build slips. Sequence concurrent projects so the team is not asked to peak on four jobs in the same week. Define how work moves through the studio, from brief to concept to development to handover, and hold the team to it. Keep the President and the leadership team informed on creative load, risk and slippage, early and without being asked. Hiring & Growing the Department Own the creative hiring plan: what roles we need, at what level, in what order, and by when. Tie every hire to pipeline and capacity, and be able to defend the case commercially as well as creatively. Write and maintain the job descriptions, levelling and career ladder for the creative department, with HR. Run creative hiring end to end with HR: sourcing, portfolio review, interviews, exercises and the final call. Build and maintain the freelance bench so we are not sourcing under pressure. Raise the bar with every addition, and be willing to hold a seat open rather than fill it badly. Develop designers deliberately through mentorship, stretch work and honest feedback. Onboard new designers and freelancers properly, so they are useful in week one and confident in month one. Grow the next layer of creative leadership so the department does not depend on any single person. Keep our best people. Retention is a measure of this role. Creative Leadership & the Standard Drive creative direction across assigned engagements, from approved concept through final execution. Author original design direction yourself where the work calls for it, not only through others. Set direction across environmental design, spatial storytelling, guest journey, graphics and materiality. Bring references forward across architecture, hospitality, fashion, entertainment and immersive technology. Translate the agency’s positioning into work that is unmistakably Unboxed. Hold the standard on everything that leaves the studio, before it reaches the President or a client. Give clear, direct critique that raises the work and the person, rather than only correcting the file. Own visual and narrative consistency across concurrent projects. Ensure every deliverable meets the agency’s standard for craft, presentation and detail. Project, Client & Production Partnership Act as creative lead across multiple concurrent projects, from kickoff through installation. Lead project-level client presentations, design reviews and creative workshops. Guide clients through creative decisions while protecting the integrity of the idea and the momentum of the project. Resolve creative challenges independently, escalating only genuinely strategic decisions. Support the President in pitches, and lead creative on pitches where appropriate. Attend site visits, fabrication reviews, mock-ups, installations and event days. Partner closely with the Directors of Production in Los Angeles and New York on every project. Keep concepts executable against budget, schedule, venue and fabrication reality. Review shop drawings, material samples, finish palettes and scenic treatments against approved creative. Lead value engineering by finding alternatives that protect both the experience and the margin. Work with Finance on the cost implications of design decisions at the point they are made. Build the creative processes, presentation standards and templates the studio runs on. Own the creative side of our Airtable systems, and work with Operations to keep them accurate and used. Raise the quality and consistency of decks, renderings and visualization across the team. Document creative methodology so it outlives any single project or person. Champion AI and emerging tools that accelerate ideation, visualization and concept development without lowering craft. Keep the studio’s rendering and visualization capability genuinely current. Explore new materials, fabrication techniques and technologies that expand what the agency can offer. Bring innovation to leadership proactively rather than waiting to be asked. Qualifications Experience: 12+ years in experiential design, creative direction or art direction, including senior creative leadership. People Leadership: Has genuinely run a creative team, not just led projects. Non-negotiable. Resourcing & Planning: Has owned staffing, capacity and scheduling for a studio or department, and can prove it. Time Management: Exceptionally organized across concurrent projects. Holds their own calendar and the team’s without dropping either. Temperament: Warm, direct and unflappable. High standard, generous with the team, and someone people want to work for. Presence: Holds a room with senior clients and presents creative rationale with conviction. Still Making: Currently hands-on. We are not looking for someone who has stopped designing. Portfolio: A strong body of premium experiential work: environments, activations, premieres, hospitality or installations. Craft: Real fluency in spatial and environmental design, materiality, lighting and guest journey. Production: Has taken work through fabrication and live execution, and understands what a build can and cannot do. Sector: Entertainment, luxury, fashion or technology clients strongly preferred. Tools & AI: Adobe Creative Suite, rendering and visualization, expert-level deck development, and a considered use of generative tools. Additional Requirements Up to 25% domestic travel expected. Flexibility to work non-traditional hours based on event schedules. Physical requirements include sitting for extended periods, standing/walking for onsite work, lifting/moving of up to 25 pounds and occasionally heavier items. While working onsite, must be able to work outdoors in various weather conditions as needed. Must have a personal vehicle for occasional local travel — mileage compensation provided. A valid driver's license. Pay: $175,000 – $195,000 per year Time Off: Unlimited PTO to ensure you stay refreshed and inspired. Benefits: Health Insurance & 401k enrollment options. Unboxed Group, LLC is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. #J-18808-Ljbffr Unboxed Group