Associate Creative Director at JDA Worldwide – Indianapolis, Indiana

JDA Worldwide is a full-service marketing and communications firm. For over two decades, we have served national, emerging, and category-leading brands who want to make a positive impact on the world. We are headquartered in Indianapolis and have proudly been named one of the best places to work in Indiana for 5 straight years. Friendly people, fun offices and incredible clients make it enjoyable to come to work at JDA. Our culture fosters growth, and we have top-notch employee perks and benefits. We’ll hope you’ll join us!

Prolific, our parent company, is The Growth Firm. Prolific holds a collection of companies and capabilities focused on one thing - growth.

Job Summary:

The Associate Creative Director (ACD) is a dynamic agency leader who drives a creative vision across multiple teams to create and produce award-winning solutions for clients. ACDs lead portfolios of client business, build and lead multidisciplinary teams, and routinely interact with key senior clients and stakeholders. The ACD will be a creative leader at JDA, responsible for elevating the work developed by the team. The ACD will work collaboratively with the VP of Brand to lead the creative team together, and work closely with Account Service, Operations, Digital, Web, reporting directly to the VP of Brand, while also collaborating with our paid media agency, Conquer.

Job Responsibilities:

• Set and uphold creative standards, ensuring excellence in craft, clarity, and originality
• Lead and inspire a multidisciplinary team of designers and writers, providing high-level concept direction and hands-on creative leadership
• Own the creative vision and execution for client campaigns, ensuring alignment with client objectives, brand strategy, and agency goals
• Serve as both player and coach—personally contributing to high-impact creative work while elevating team output
• Develop and present concepts, campaigns, and deliverables to existing and prospective clients
• Oversee creative development from concept through execution across digital, print, packaging, experiential, and emerging media
• Establish clear creative frameworks, guardrails, and principles to guide teams
• Collaborate cross-functionally with Digital, Web, Accounts, and Operations to improve creative processes and outcomes
• Balance creative ambition with budgets, timelines, and available resources
• Review and approve timelines, feedback, revisions, and final creative across internal, inter-agency, and client-facing teams
• Mentor, coach, and evaluate creative team members, fostering growth, performance, and engagement
• Stay current on industry trends, tools, and best practices to continually evolve the agency’s creative approach

The responsibilities are many, various, and not limited to those written in this document.

Desired Skills + Attributes:

• Exceptional design thinking, visualization, and concept development skills
• Strong balance of big-picture vision and hands-on, strategic problem-solving
• Confident brand steward with strong visual and verbal execution
• Deep understanding of brand systems, audience insights, and campaign systems
• Ability to evaluate creative against strategy, audience needs, and business goals
• Experience directing video, photography, scripts, storyboards, and full production workflows
• Proven ability to define scalable campaign platforms and lead multi-channel execution
• Strong digital design expertise
• Collaborative leader who builds morale and unifies teams around shared goals
• Clear, compelling communicator and presenter
• Proactive problem solver with a strong work ethic

Requirements:

• Team leadership and creative talent development experience
• 6-10 years of experience in the advertising agency, brand, or media world
• Bachelor’s degree in related field: fine art, design, advertising, communication, marketing, etc.
• A diverse portfolio that showcases a refined design eye across a variety of project types and mediums
• Demonstrable high-level skill within the Adobe Suite, Figma, and other common design tools
• Knowledge of UX/UI, interface design, and digital design

Benefits:

• Medical, Dental, Vision Insurance
• 401(k) Matching Plan
• Life Insurance (100% Company Paid)
• Short-Term and Long-Term Disability Insurance (100% Company Paid)
• Flexible Paid Time Off
• 12 Paid Holidays
• Sick Days
• Paid Parental Leave
• On-Site Fitness Center
• Cell Phone Reimbursement
• MacBook Pro Laptop
• Free snacks and drinks in the office