Associate Design Director

Summary:

The Assoc Director, Design will work in a supportive leadership position on a variety of projects with a primary focus on the ideation, management and creation of branded materials, digital advertising, banner ads, email campaigns and social media posts in support of building awareness across the brand’s ecosystem and driving leads to grow the business. The main verticals of creative development include Acquisition, Cash-Out and Purchase digital advertising. Creating strategically driven and engaging executions that are both on brand and differentiated from competition will be core to the role. As part of Freedom Mortgage’s In-House Agency, the candidate should have experience in the mortgage industry. Prior agency experience is a plus. The ideal candidate should be a self-starter, capable of concepting and developing fresh ideas, maintain a high level of attention to detail, and be able to work in a fast-paced environment. A strong eye for visual nuance, differentiated brand expressions that will capture attention, and strong layout skills and type sensitivity are a must.

Essential Job Functions may include:

• Acts as a consultative partner on value proposition and strategic definition initiatives.

• Helps support the leadership of initiatives in alignment with brand strategy and solves for client goals and objectives. Inspires the team through individual design work to generate bigger ideas that are thought provoking and brings to life an ownable and differentiated vision.

• Mainly stays immersed in daily work, while supporting the Creative Director, Design and Vice President, Brand & Creative where applicable.

• Must possess leadership qualities to maximize the talents of team members, while balancing the expertise and skill to deliver individual creative concepts.

• Thrives in creating compelling visual expressions, is a champion of the In-House Agency capabilities and supports business build out via creating new relationships to mine for opportunities.

• Innovates on current processes to generate more efficient and impactful ways of working, shares discoveries within the group and organization, and looks for optimal areas to reapply knowledge.

• Serves as a strategic consultant on initiatives and revered by teammates and clients across the organization.

• Deep expertise in brand development, and owns the brand’s look and oversees the execution.

• Manages workload independently, under tight timelines while juggling multiple projects and ensures deliverables are accurate and timely.

• Ensure designs and content reflect consistently the brand image.

• Works with brand team to produce new ideas for branding/marketing touchpoints (print, web, social, campaign, video, events, email marketing, banner ads, direct mail, newsletters, etc.).

• Ability to create and deliver client presentations only where applicable, or when support is needed.

• Idea generation, and campaign development are core to the role.

• Expertise in branding and campaigns, brand strategy fluency is a plus.

• Understands the bigger picture and uses creative thinking to solve difficult challenges.

• Possess the ability to develop concepts in a media-agnostic manner and across a variety of business needs while adhering to brand standards.

• Ability to forge strong, collaborative relationships with design, production, account management and strategy.

• Has a high bar for creative excellence and ability to push new ideas forward.

• Excellent presentation skills.

• Hands-on experience in creative process, graphic design and brand development.

• Must be detailed oriented and possess a keen eye to produce highest quality visual expressions.

• Has a strong work ethic, is reliable and personally accountable.

• Thrives in a team environment.

• Strong time management skills.

• Program knowledge: Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office, Keynote and Ceros.

• Maintain regular and punctual attendance.

Other Related Duties:

Performs other related duties as assigned.

Qualifications:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill and/or ability required.

Education and/or Experience:

• Bachelor’s / 4-year degree in (Graphic Design, Visual Communications, Digital Design).

• Eight (8) + year’s of experience in a creative lead position directing a team of designers for print and digital.

• Hands-on experience with applying design, copy, or design best practices.

• A strong portfolio demonstrating digital creative, brand identity and campaign work.

• Ability to project manage multiple projects across various completion dates.

• Written and verbal skills to effectively communicate with cross-functional teams and vendors.

• Experience in the mortgage industry is preferable.

• Agency experience is a plus (in-house or traditional creative agency).

• Digital acuity is a must with print as a secondary keenness.

• Exudes credibility and presence that enables consultancy.

• Embodies a strong point of view and deep creative ability to deliver breakthrough visual expressions and has a record of consistently delivering influential work.

Skill and or Licensing/Certification/Registration:

This position does not require professional licensing, certification, or registration.

Language Skills:

Ability to read, and interpret documents such as policy and procedure manuals, safety rules, operating and maintenance instructions. Ability to write routine reports and correspondence. Ability to speak effectively before groups of customers or employees of organization.

Mathematical Skills:

Ability to calculate figures and amounts such as discounts, interest, commissions, and percentages.

Reasoning Ability:

Ability to solve practical problems and deal with a variety of concrete variables in situations where only limited standardization exists. Ability to interpret a variety of instructions furnished in written, oral, diagram, or schedule form.

Personal/Organizational Contacts:

Regular and substantial contact with others. Contacts usually involve discussions related to policies and programs. Handles sensitive, complex, and/or confidential information.

Customer Service Relationships:

Requires moderate interpersonal and communication skills to ensure that customer requests or needs are met. Acknowledges and clarifies customer inquiries, requests, or complaints to ensure that needs are identified, documented, and addressed.

Work Complexity:

Tasks are multiple and diverse with some interrelationship across processes. Work requires the direct application of a variety of procedures, policies and/or precedents.

Independent Judgement/Problem Solving:

Performs duties within scope of general Company policies, procedures, and objectives. Analyzes problems and performs needs assessments. Uses judgment in adapting broad guidelines to achieve desired result. Regular exercise of independent judgment within accepted practices. Makes recommendations that affect policies, procedures and practices. Refers exceptions to policy and procedures to the supervisor.

Physical Demands:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to sit and talk or hear. The employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; use hands to finger, handle, or feel; and reach with hands and arms. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds.

Work Environment:

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Work is normally performed in a typical interior office work environment which does not subject the employee to any hazardous or unpleasant elements. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.

Equal Employment Opportunity:

Freedom Mortgage is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to race, ethnicity, color, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, religion, national origin, age (40 and over), disability, military status, genetic information or any other basis protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws.

Americans with Disabilities Act:

Applicants as well as employees who are or become disabled must be able to satisfactorily perform the essential job functions of the position either with or without reasonable accommodation. Applicants as well as employees are encouraged to meet with Human Resources as the organization shall review reasonable accommodations on a case-by-case basis in accordance with applicable law.

Job Responsibilities:

The statements reflect the general duties and responsibilities considered necessary to perform the essential functions of the job and should not be considered as an all-inclusive list of all the work requirements of the position. Freedom Mortgage Corporation may change the specific job duties with or without prior notice based on the needs of the organization.