Creative Director

About Northern

Headquartered in London, Ontario, Canada, Northern is an integrated digital solutions agency specializing in helping leading commercial and public service brands navigate digital change. By leveraging our expertise and deep understanding of our clients’ businesses, we collaborate to design, create, and enable tailored digital experiences that drive growth. 

Northern is positioned as a leader in the performance advertising industry as a Meta and Google Premier Partner awarded to only 3% of agency partners in Canada. Our campaigns with leading brands in North America have been recognized as best in class through the Google Premier Partner Awards, Search Engine Land Awards, and the Canadian Search Awards.

Since our founding in 2015, Northern has grown into a team of 200+ digital experts, receiving multiple recognitions in employee engagement from Great Place to Work® Canada, including Best Workplaces™ for Inclusion, Women, Mental Health, Hybrid Work, and more.

The Opportunity - Creative Director

We are looking for a strategic Creative Director to lead Northern's Marketing Design Team and help shape the creative thinking behind the work we deliver for our clients.

What You'll Do

At Northern, the Creative Director sits at the intersection of creative strategy, design, performance marketing and team leadership. This role is responsible for translating client business objectives, audience insights and performance data into compelling creative strategies and ideas that drive measurable results.

The Creative Director leads campaign ideation, facilitates creative discovery and workshops, presents and defends creative recommendations to clients, and partners closely with Paid Media, Strategy, Email, UX, Development and Account teams to ensure creative thinking is integrated throughout the customer journey.

As the leader of the Marketing Design Team, the Creative Director establishes a high creative standard while developing the people, processes and capabilities required to deliver consistently strong work at scale. While primarily a leadership and strategic role, this person is comfortable remaining close to the work and stepping into hands-on creative direction or execution when needed.

**Full-time remote is available nationally. Our Connected Workplace Program gives you the option to choose a remote, hybrid, or in-office workspace! Preference will be given to someone who can easily attend meetings in person as required at our head office in London, ON

Benefits of Becoming a Northerner

In exchange for your talent and expertise, Northern is committed to providing:

 

• Benefits plan, including a Health Spending Account
• Wellness Program & LifeWorks EAP
• Fitness Reimbursement Program
• Vet Care Program
• RRSP Matching
• Profit-Sharing Performance Bonuses
• Endless Professional Growth Opportunities
• Delicious Meals & Company Social Events
• Free Onsite Parking
• Referral Bonus Program
• Flexible work environment - so you can work where & when you work best
• Allowance to help set up home office  

 

Duties & Responsibilities:

 

Creative Strategy & Leadership

• Lead creative strategy & Direction across key client accounts, translating business objectives, audience insights, channel strategy and brand positioning into compelling creative approaches.
• Drive campaign ideation and concept development, establishing clear creative territories and guiding ideas from strategy through execution.
• Lead performance creative strategy in partnership with Paid Media, using campaign performance and testing insights to develop hypotheses and continuously improve the work.
• Facilitate creative discovery sessions, brainstorms and client workshops that turn complex business challenges into actionable creative opportunities.
• Present and defend creative strategies to clients and stakeholders, clearly articulating the thinking behind recommendations.
• Bring strong conceptual and copywriting instincts to shape messaging, campaign platforms and creative narratives.

Client & Cross-Functional Leadership

• Act as a senior creative partner to clients, contributing strategic perspective beyond individual deliverables.
• Collaborate with Strategy, Paid Media, Email, UX, Development, Account and Project Management teams to create connected customer experiences.
• Contribute creative thinking to new business opportunities, pitches and strategic client initiatives.
• Translate performance insights and emerging trends into actionable recommendations.

Team Leadership

• Lead and mentor the Marketing Design Team, fostering strong creative thinking and professional growth.
• Establish a high creative bar with clear, constructive feedback.
• Manage team performance, development and career progression.
• Partner with Project Management on resource planning, capacity and project prioritization.
• Build creative processes that enable high-quality work in a high-volume environment.
• Oversee creative QA to ensure deliverables meet strategic and brand standards.

Innovation & Craft

• Stay current on emerging creative trends across paid social, digital advertising, email, motion, photography, video and web.
• Champion thoughtful AI adoption within the creative process to improve ideation, production and efficiency.
• Evolve creative methodologies, tools and workflows as technology changes.
• Provide creative direction for external production partners and hands-on art direction when needed.

What You'll Bring:

 

• 5+ years’ experience, as a Senior Designer or Art Director/Creative Director ideally in an agency environment
• Experience with managing / leading a design team producing high volume performance creative
• 3+ years’ experience managing a team

• A College diploma, University degree in a related field
• Strong portfolio demonstrating conceptual thinking, creative strategy and high-quality design execution across digital marketing channels.
• Experience developing creative for performance marketing environments, including paid social, digital advertising and iterative creative testing.
• Strong client presentation and communication skills, with experience presenting and defending strategic creative recommendations.
• Experience managing multiple accounts, campaigns and priorities within a fast-paced agency environment.
• Proficiency with Adobe Creative Suite and Figma, with the ability to effectively direct and, when necessary, execute creative work.
• Understanding of motion, video production, photography and web/UX principles.
  

Compensation

This role has a target salary range of $90,000 - $120,000 CAD, with final compensation determined based on a number of factors, including but not limited to relevant skills and experience, depth of role-related expertise, years of directly applicable experience, internal equity, and market alignment for the role. Compensation decisions also consider the scope and complexity of the position and are made in a manner consistent with our pay practices. In addition to base salary, we offer a comprehensive total rewards package, which may include health & dental benefits, RRSP matching, Profit Sharing, and many additional perks. 

Equity and Diversity

Northern welcomes applications from all qualified individuals and is dedicated to fostering a culture of inclusivity, employment equity, and diversity in the workplace. We encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply, including but not limited to members of visible minorities, Indigenous peoples, individuals with diverse abilities, and those of all gender identities and expressions.

We are also committed to ensuring an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. Accommodations are available at every stage of the hiring process. If you require support or adjustments to participate fully, please let us know when you apply, and we will work with you to meet your needs.

AI Use & Interview Transparency

Northern uses AI tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as drafting interview questions and organizing candidate information. We may also record and transcribe interviews to ensure accuracy and consistency in our evaluations. Rest assured, you will be speaking with real live human beings!