Group Creative Director

Spool is in search of a Group Creative Director. This wearer-of-many-hats will take the charge in expanding Spool’s creative capabilities and ensuring clients have access to breakthrough, impactful creative solutions. The position requires someone with an entrepreneurial mindset who will harness past experiences and reimagine new ways of thinking and building. In addition to creative services for current clients, this role will be instrumental to Spool’s business development efforts and supporting overall agency growth.

Responsibilities:

• Lead creative strategy, planning and execution: Drive the creative process to deliver innovative and effective solutions for clients. Utilize your expertise in earned media, PR, art direction, design, and copywriting to ensure all creative outputs meet the highest standards of excellence.
• An eye for earned: Ensure ideas are established through an ‘earned-first’ approach to generate news and reach target audiences through media engagement.
• Grow the business: Play a key role in Spool’s business development efforts, including owning Spool's social media strategy and content and Spool's Brand ID, and infusing creativity into new opportunities and ensuring we stand out from the competition.
• Develop campaign concepts: Collaborate with internal account teams and clients to dream up creative concepts that align with client goals and are rooted in smart strategies that push their business forward by resonating with target audiences and driving impactful results.
• Execute with excellence: In addition to driving creative concepts and selling in ideas, you’ll collaborate with account leads and integrated teams to ensure programs are implemented flawlessly - on time, within budget, and to the highest standards.
• Culture vulture: You’re obsessed with culture and trends, and have an uncanny ability to spot a moment and turn it into an activation, quickly, across teams and clients.
• Trusted partner: You’ll become a trusted partner to clients and colleagues, understanding their vision and needs, and providing expert guidance and creative solutions to achieve their objectives.
• Positive contributor to Spool’s culture: You’ll help us foster a culture of creativity, camaraderie and accountability, helping bring out the best in our people and our clients.

About You:

• Deep understanding of earned creative and PR: Extensive experience in the PR and earned media space, with a solid understanding of how to create compelling content that generates earned media coverage.
• Design background: You have a strong foundation of traditional creative skill sets, including design and copywriting, and the ability to support and lead creative needs across various projects.
• Business-minded: A deep understanding and appreciation of the business of creative work. You recognize that every creative effort must support our clients' growth and demonstrate a strong understanding of how to achieve this.
• Entrepreneurial mindset: You’re always identifying and creating opportunities, and you persevere through and learn from setbacks. You’re agile, resourceful and innovative and you easily roll with change.
• Creative visionary: You’re wildly imaginative and have a knack for taking smart risks and developing concepts that truly break through, successfully maneuvering great ideas forward to execution.
• Leadership skills: Experience leading and mentoring a team, with an ability to inspire and guide others. You dedicate time and energy to teach, train and foster creativity across teams and colleagues at all levels.
• Strategic and critical thinker: Ability to ask smart questions and translate client objectives into creative strategies that drive results.
• Excellent communication: Strong verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to offer a credible point-of-view and influence those around you.
• Undeniable presence: Charismatic and engaging in presentations, whether you’re pitching an idea to an integrated agency team, a client, a new business prospect, or your own team. You know how to read the room and make adjustments on the fly.
• Industry experience: Proven experience in a similar role within the PR or creative industry, with a solid understanding of current trends and best practices.
• No egos, no thank you: Spool was founded to dethrone the mighty agency ego and work in a way that celebrates the we instead of the me. This is a non-negotiable.

Qualifications:

• 10-15 years of experience in creative roles within the PR and earned media space.
• 3-5 years of experience in a creative leadership position with a focus on PR and the earned creative landscape.
• Robust portfolio showcasing a diverse range of creative work with an emphasis on PR and earned media.
• A deep and proven understanding of what makes for compelling PR and earned media.
• Proven ability to manage the creative development process in a client-services environment.
• Excellent presentation skills and communication abilities, both internal and client-facing.
• Ability to prioritize work and resources based on short and long-term needs.
• Strong ability to provide clear creative direction and provide timely, helpful feedback to improve creative processes and to keep work on budget and on schedule.
• Exceptional mentoring and team-building skills.
• A resilient mindset, a positive attitude and respect for others.
• A willingness to push creative boundaries.
• An obsession to demonstrate success beyond creative and achieve client goals and metrics.
• Chicago-based and available to be in the office two days a week.

Why Spool:

If you’ve always wanted to be part of something special and to harness an entrepreneurial itch and have a real impact on a company and your own future, Spool might be the place for you.

That’s because at Spool, we live our values every single day in everything we do. Our commitment to authenticity, curiosity, agility, impact and accountability creates a dynamic and supportive environment. We harness our curiosity by asking questions of ourselves and others, and we receive questions with openness. We learn and grow from our mistakes, understanding that feedback is shared with positive intent to help us be better. We share ideas and solutions when we see areas for improvement, working without an ego and expecting the same from everyone at Spool.

Everyone at Spool plays an integral role in shaping the agency’s culture and growth, as well as advancing our own careers within it. We support one another, and we live full, meaningful lives outside of work, expecting our teammates to do the same. With flexibility comes accountability, and we’re empowered to balance our personal needs while always delivering excellent work. We foster an inclusive culture where diverse ways of working are supported and everyone can thrive. We acknowledge that hard things are hard and growth comes from discomfort, and we embrace that the only constant is change. At Spool, we strive to be a force for good, defying harmful rhetoric and celebrating our differences.

Great Benefits:

• Competitive compensation which is measured and adjusted against fair market and equivalent roles and employers.
• All employees earn equity points in Spool and its investment arm, Spool Ventures.
• Growth and development opportunities.
• Generous paid time off, including vacation, sick time, company holidays, parental leave (maternity, paternity and adoption).
• A sabbatical program for eligible full-time employees.
• Competitive medical, dental and vision plans.
• 401k with company match.
• Flexible Spending Accounts.
• Onsite fitness center.
• Flexible hybrid approach that allows us to be together in the office to create connection, enable collaboration and build community, with days for working remotely to ensure flexibility and balance that supports our wellbeing.

How to Apply: If you’re ready to bring your creativity and leadership to our team, submit your resume and a cover letter detailing why you’d be a great fit for the role here.

We can’t wait to see how you’ll help shape the future of our creative work!

Thank you for your interest in working at Spool. As you look at open positions, if you see any that you may not meet 100% of the qualifications for but believe you could be successful within, please apply anyway.

Data shows men will apply for jobs when they meet approximately 60% of a position's criteria, yet women and other people systematically marginalized tend to apply only if they meet every requirement. If you believe you can thrive in this role, even if you don't check every box of the position's criteria, please apply. We are committed to considering all candidates including those with diverse employment backgrounds and experiences.

Whether you're new to PR and marketing or returning to the workplace after a gap, or you're ready for the next chapter in your career, we would love to consider you as part of our team at Spool.

Please send us a note to tell us about your passions, your skills, tell us how working at a non-for-profit would fit perfectly in the role we're hiring for- again, we're out-of-the-box thinkers here at Spool and we'd be fools to not consider people who bring out-of-the-box experiences to the agency.