Creative Associate Jobs in Vienna, VA (NOW HIRING)

Interested in joining Blue State's Media Team? Submit your application here to ensure you're first in line for future opportunities. Please note: this is an "evergreen" job post (i.e. not an active job post), but your expression of interest matters to us. While interviews aren't ongoing, we're excited to connect with talented individuals who share our commitment to Blue State's mission.

If you came across this job via LinkedIn, please note that it is an evergreen role; Linked In does not differentiate, but we prefer to.

The Associate Director of Media Creative sits at the intersection of the paid media, accounts, and creative teams to ensure cross-team alignment. The person in this role will serve as a liaison between teams, developing best practices to ensure that our paid media campaigns are fully integrated across paid media strategy, creative development, and client relationship management. The person in the role will span client engagements, including the agency as well as our growing political practice at Blue State.The person in this role should have an expert understanding of paid media and creative development. The person in this role will help shape how Blue State client teams can deliver and execute thoughtful paid media campaigns to deliver results for clients.
The person in this role should be able to oversee a paid media program throughout its lifespan—from developing initial budgets and timelines in the proposal process, to aligning strategy & creative production and reporting to clients on optimizations & performance.

This role is client-facing, requiring a diplomatic and solution-oriented demeanor. The Associate Director, Media Creative keeps a pulse on the needs and bandwidth of all teammates and balances those needs with client demands. They have a significant track record coordinating paid media campaigns and creative production processes of various sizes and budgets

Blue State is a purpose-driven agency. We partner with leading causes, brands, and campaigns and create real change. From AARP and Doctors Without Borders to Amnesty International and Oxfam, we transform how brands and causes raise money, influence policy, build platforms, and grow communities of supporters. Led by the most creative and analytical minds from the political, nonprofit, and brand worlds, Blue State is an independent agency in the US and London.

As part of the Paid Media team, you'll work closely with a cross-disciplinary group of Blue State employees who are passionate, geeky, and care about their clients and causes. Blue State fosters an environment where everyone has an opportunity to shape new approaches, grow and learn from their colleagues, and take advantage of a personal development fund to stretch their skills even further. You'll have the opportunity to work with some of the most inspiring charities, ambitious brands, and passionate advocacy and social change campaigns.

• Drive cross-team alignment by interfacing with Blue State accounts, creative, and media teams to develop and refine creative strategy in lockstep with paid media plans and goals, facilitating creative production, delivery, and project management across teams.
• Serve as a liaison to internal discipline teams to develop, document, and refine a high-functioning cross-team paid media practice at Blue State.
• Lead client relationships in service of creative collaboration and development—ensuring alignment of goals, creative execution, and timelines, and escalating issues to senior team members as needed.
• Communicate clearly and consistently across internal process documentation and dissemination, and bring strong presentation skills to share learnings across the agency.
• Train and equip teammates by facilitating onboarding and ongoing training for accounts and creative leads on best practices and processes for managing paid media accounts.
• Manage projects with rigor by creating clear project plans that integrate creative and paid media goals, working closely with creative leads to manage scope and client objectives, facilitating internal and client meetings (and follow-ups), and overseeing final approval of deliverables before they reach clients.
• Translate creative briefs into actionable steps, plans, budgets, and timelines across channels and teams.
• Estimate work accurately for the paid media team and other creative processes—projecting hours and a clear sense of lift from other disciplines.
• Support team and business growth by contributing to team development, business development efforts, and case studies.
• Balance priorities across multiple projects, managing your own time and others' with exemplary attention to detail and organization.

We approach in-office working with a hybrid model. On-site presence is welcome for US staff who are within commuting distance of the NY or DC office. Managers retain discretion to require in-person attendance for folks on their discipline or client teams as necessary, including for those whose roles require them to be in person.

The salary range for this position is $65-$85 per hour; compensation will be commensurate with experience.

• 8+ years of experience leading paid media campaigns and creative production processes of varying sizes and budgets, ideally including political or advocacy work.
• You have an expert understanding of paid media strategy, planning, and execution, paired with strong fluency in creative development and production workflows.
• You can oversee a paid media program throughout its lifespan—from developing initial budgets and timelines in the proposal process, to aligning strategy and creative production, to reporting back to clients on optimizations and performance.
• You have excellent project management chops: you create clear project plans that integrate creative and paid media goals, manage scope alongside creative leads, and facilitate internal and client meetings (and follow-ups) without dropping a thread.
• You've mastered client relationship building and management in service of creative collaboration—diplomatic, solution-oriented, and able to escalate appropriately.
• You communicate clearly and consistently, both in internal process documentation and in presenting learnings across an agency.
• You have a track record of training and leveling up colleagues on paid media best practices and processes.
• You can quickly and accurately estimate projects, hours, and lift required from other disciplines.
• You have exemplary attention to detail and organization, balancing multiple priorities and managing your own time and others' well.
• You're a thoughtful, organized teammate who isn't afraid to adapt to new situations, solve problems on the fly, and communicate proactively with those around you.

At Blue State, diversity is a necessity, not a nice-to-have. We encourage those from underrepresented communities — women, people of color, LGBTQIA+, immigrants, those with disabilities and people at all the intersections in between — to apply. Even if you don't think your current skill set checks every box, but this role seems to align with your strengths, we want to hear from you.

Blue State is committed to creating an inclusive and accessible application and interview process. If you would like to request a reasonable accommodation for a disability, including the use of AI tools throughout the hiring process, please contact us at recruiting@bluestate.co with the subject line: Accommodation Request to get started