Senior Art Director at Publicis Groupe

Overview

• The Senior Art Director is a senior hands-on creative responsible for developing distinctive, effective and beautifully crafted ideas across the client business. 
• The role translates strategy and creative direction into strong concepts, visual systems and executions that work across channels, platforms and experiences. 
• Working as part of an integrated creative team, the Senior Art Director combines high standards of art direction and design craft with digital-first thinking, culture, technology and emerging AI-enabled creative methods. 
• The role is accountable for conceptual quality, visual craft, proactive contribution, reliable delivery and strong collaboration. 

Responsibilities

CREATIVE THINKING & ART DIRECTION 

• Develop strong, platform-neutral creative concepts in response to briefs and strategic direction. 
• Define or apply the visual language, aesthetic and art direction of campaigns and content. 
• Lead the craft and design of ideas from early concept through execution. 
• Create convincing mock-ups, references and presentation material that bring ideas to life. 
• Stay current with South African culture, design, social platforms, media behaviour and visual trends. 

CLIENT & BUSINESS UNDERSTANDING 

• Interrogate briefs and understand the client's business requirements, brand priorities and customer context. 
• Provide clear rationale for creative choices and be prepared to present work to clients. 
• Develop ideas that solve the business problem rather than simply answering the deliverables list. 

INTEGRATED CREATIVE PRODUCT 

• Design across multiple channels including brand, retail, digital, social, content, out-of-home and emerging formats. 
• Work closely with Copywriters to ensure the idea and execution operate as one. 
• Consistently produce creative elements against agreed deliverables and deadlines. 
• Participate actively in brainstorms, conceptualisation and campaign development. 
• Contribute to pitches and proactive creative opportunities. 

INTEGRATION & COLLABORATION 

• Work with Strategy, Media, Accounts, Developers, Production and other disciplines to ensure integrated and coherent solutions. 
• Collaborate early rather than handing work between disciplines sequentially. 
• Be a team player who can also work independently and take ownership of assigned projects. 

AI, TECHNOLOGY & FUTURE-FIT CREATIVITY 

• Use relevant AI and emerging creative tools to expand visual exploration, prototyping and production efficiency. 
• Maintain working knowledge of major social and digital platforms and how creative needs to behave within them. 
• Apply appropriate human judgement, brand safety and craft standards to AI-assisted work. 
• Stay curious about emerging design, production and experience technologies. 

PRODUCTION & EXECUTIONAL EXCELLENCE 

• Attend shoots, recordings and production sessions where required and protect the visual idea through execution. 
• Partner with Production to ensure work is delivered to the required quality, timing and specification. 
• Maintain high attention to detail across final artwork, adaptations and rollout. 

PERSONAL LEADERSHIP & DEVELOPMENT 

• Manage your own creative process and deadlines without needing to be chased. 
• Be proactive, accountable, solution-driven and willing to go the extra mile. 
• Share references, inspiration and new approaches that raise the standard of the wider creative team. 
• Support and guide more junior creatives where appropriate. 

Qualifications

• Tertiary qualification in Art Direction / Graphic Design 
• Must have a minimum of 5-6 years’ experience 
• Conceptual and design skills 
• Proficient in MS Office (i.e. Word / PowerPoint etc.) 
• Knowledge of and experience in Adobe Creative Suite applications 
• Good communication & presentation skills 
• Good multi-tasking skills (ability to work on more than one brief at any given time) 
• Great time management 
• Ability to work under pressure & meet tight deadlines 
• Adept problem-solving skills 
• Strong communication skills with ability to provide rationales for creative choices made 
• Working knowledge of existing and emerging technologies & platforms 
• A strong understanding of best practice interaction and visual design principles 
• Able to work with team members 
• Be comfortable with AI being a part of the everyday activities of the role. 

BUSINESS KPI’S 

• Demonstrate innovative ideas to the team to improve how we communicate our proposition 
• Must be able to work on one sizable and two small size projects at any one time with oversight 
• Have the ability to attend every review on a project with 3 new ideas 

THE PERSON 

• Team player with the ability to work independently 
• Ability to work well in a highly pressurised, fast-paced environment 
• Curious, imaginative creative mind with a passion for advertising and modern brand experiences 
• Meticulous with attention to detail 
• Proactive — a can-do attitude and willing to go the extra mile 
• Accountable 
• Solution and deadline driven 
• Flexible to work beyond normal office hours if and when required 

WORKING KNOWLEDGE OF THESE TOOLS 

• Illustrator 
• Photoshop 
• InDesign 
• After Effects 
• Keynote / PowerPoint 
• Figma 
• ChatGPT, Claude AI, Midjourney and similar generative AI tools 
• Google Web Designer & DV360 (Advantageous) 
• Facebook Creative Hub