Executive Creative Director

80Twenty is a boutique creative recruitment agency that connects high-growth companies with exceptional candidates

Our client, an independent B2B marketing and advertising agency, is looking for an experienced Executive Creative Director to lead the agency’s creative vision and output.

This is a senior creative leadership role with responsibility across the full lifecycle of the work—from developing ideas for new business and strategic initiatives through to ensuring the quality of final client deliverables. The ECD will work closely with strategy, account leadership, and clients to develop creative that is both highly compelling and grounded in business objectives.

The ideal candidate is an experienced agency creative leader who can operate comfortably at both the strategic and executional levels: setting a strong creative vision, presenting to senior clients, and remaining close enough to the work to meaningfully shape it.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the creative vision and quality of work across the agency’s client portfolio
• Develop creative platforms and ideas that translate complex B2B subject matter into clear, compelling communications
• Provide creative direction across a broad range of disciplines, including brand identity, integrated campaigns, content, digital experiences, and video
• Partner closely with strategy and other agency disciplines from the outset of an engagement to ensure creative thinking is informed by meaningful business and audience insights
• Review, develop, and elevate creative work throughout the process, providing clear and actionable direction to the team
• Build strong relationships with senior client stakeholders and confidently present, explain, and defend creative recommendations
• Lead the creative function on new business opportunities, including contributing to agency positioning, pitches, presentations, and creative concepts
• Develop and mentor creative talent, helping establish a high-performing team and strong creative culture
• Collaborate with agency leadership to evolve creative capabilities, processes, and team structure in line with client and business needs
• Determine when freelance talent, production partners, or other external resources are appropriate to support project requirements
• Balance creative ambition with practical considerations including budgets, timelines, resources, and client expectations
• Remain actively involved in the work and contribute directly when the project or opportunity calls for senior creative involvement

Qualifications

• 20+ years of professional experience in advertising, marketing, branding, or a related creative discipline, including significant time in a senior creative leadership position (e.g., Executive Creative Director, Group Creative Director, Creative Director, or equivalent)
• A substantial agency background; experience should primarily come from working with external clients rather than exclusively within an in-house creative organization
• Demonstrated experience developing creative for B2B audiences, particularly within technically complex or specialized industries
• A strong design-oriented background with the ability to lead and evaluate conceptual work across both visual and verbal disciplines
• Proven experience building, managing, and developing creative teams
• Strong conceptual and strategic thinking, with the ability to connect creative ideas to business objectives
• Demonstrated ability to present creative work and build credibility with senior client and executive stakeholders
• Experience contributing to and leading new business efforts
• Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively across strategy, account management, and other agency disciplines
• A hands-on approach and willingness to remain closely connected to the creative work
• A collaborative, thoughtful approach to creative leadership and a genuine interest in producing high-quality work for sophisticated B2B audiences