Creative Brand Director Jobs in Riverside, CA (NOW HIRING)

Job DescriptionThe Senior Manager, Brand Style Management serves as the strategic creative leader responsible for defining, developing, and directing the visual expression of the Mazda brand across North America. This role champions Mazda's Brand Style Ideal State by translating brand strategy into compelling, customer-centric experiences that foster emotional connection, strengthen brand, and ensure a cohesive, distinctive brand presence across all touchpoints.
The Senior Manager combines visionary creative leadership, art direction, visual identity stewardship, and brand strategy to elevate the Mazda experience. The Senior Manager drives the creative vision for photography, video, digital experiences, environmental design, presentations, and integrated brand communications ensuring exceptional quality, consistency, and innovation across all channels. This role provides leaderships and direction to internal teams, agency partners, and external vendors fostering the development and execution of world-class solutions. This position is accountable for the integrity, quality, and effectiveness of all brand creative output, ensuring alignment with the vision and expectations of the Senior Director of Design as well as Mazda Corporate Design (Japan).

Major Responsibilities

• (50%) Mazda Brand Style Strategy and Creative Vision
  • Partner with the Senior Director to define, evolve, and communicate the North American Brand Style Ideal State.
  • Provide strategic creative leadership across all customer-facing touchpoints, ensuring seamless alignment with Mazda's brand strategy and visual identity and business objectives.
  • Direct the development of compelling visual narratives, distinctive storytelling approaches, innovative creative frameworks that elevate and amplify Mazda's brand DNA.
  • Lead the identification, analysis, and integration of emerging design, cultural, and consumer trends, translating insights into brand expression and future-facing creative strategies.
  • Oversee and provide direction for photography, film, digital, experiential, environmental, and presentation-based projects, ensuring execution from concept through delivery.
  • Collaborate with MC Design Brand Style Management Department and regional stakeholders to ensure cohesive, globally aligned, and local brand experience.
  • Provide leadership throughout the creative development process including review, refinement, and approval of creative work to ensure exceptional design excellence, quality and craftsmanship.

• (20%) Visual Identity Stewardship
  • Develop and advance scalable creative frameworks, visual references, and brand expression tools that translate Mazda's Brand Style Ideal State into clear, actionable guidance for internal teams, agency partners, and vendors.
  • Oversee the development of customer-facing brand assets, presentations, storytelling materials, and visual examples that reinforce and elevate Mazda's visual and experiential standards.
  • Partner closely with the Brand Style Program Manager to identify opportunities for additional guidance, training, and brand resources, to improve consistency, alignment, and brand adoption.
  • Lead the strategy and development of brand education materials, workshops, and creative resources that strengthen understanding of Mazda's design philosophy, visual identity, and Brand Style principles.

• (15%) Brand Expression Development and Brand Education
  • Serve as the leading creative authority for visual identity application across MNAO.
  • Provide strategic direction, review, and final approval of creative work, ensuring alignment with Mazda's design standards, brand objectives, and quality expectations.
  • Cultivate strong partnerships with internal teams, agency partners, and vendors to elevate the quality and effectiveness of brand communications.
  • Partner closely with the Brand Style Program Manager to align creative vision with governance, processes, and organizational execution, ensuring seamless implementation of Brand Style standards.
  • Identify recurring visual identity challenges and drive the development of scalable tools, guidance, and training that strengthen brand adoption and consistency.
  • Lead and execute high-impact projects that shape customer perception of the Mazda brand.
  • Ensure all creative outputs demonstrate exceptional attention to detail, craftsmanship, and fidelity to Mazda's distinctive visual expression and premium brand positioning.

• (15%) Leadership and Team Development
  • Provide leadership and mentorship to Brand Style design team members and creative contributors.
  • Guide concept development, creative reviews, and design critiques that strengthen overall creative output and professional growth.
  • Foster collaboration across multidisciplinary teams and external partners.
  • Foster a culture of innovation and creative excellence while upholding Mazda's brand strategy and quality standards, mentoring and developing creative talent to strengthen organizational capabilities.
  • Coach and manage performance and promote a culture of collaboration, continuous improvement, quality, and accountability.
  • Responsible for employment decision, salary and promotional recommendations, training and appraising performance, promptly and appropriately addressing deficient performance and/or inappropriate behaviors by working with upper management and Human Resources.

• Perform other duties as assigned

• Comply with all policies and standards

• The preceding functions have been provided as examples of the types of work performed by employees assigned to this job classification. Management reserves the right to add, modify, change or rescind the work assignments of different positions and to make reasonable accommodations so that qualified employees can perform the essential functions of the job

Work Experience

• 10+ years experience of progressively responsible creative, design, or art direction experience. required
• 10+ years experience collaborating with agencies, photographers, filmmakers, writers, and production partners. required
• 10+ years strong portfolio demonstrating excellence in visual design, brand development, storytelling, and creative leadership. required
• 5+ years experience leading multidisciplinary creative projects from concept through execution. required
• 5+ years experience mentoring designers and creative professionals. required
• 5+ years experience art directing photography, video, digital, environmental, and experiential projects. preferred
• 5+ years automotive, luxury, premium, or lifestyle brand experience preferred

Education

• Bachelor of Arts (BA) Graphic Design Preferred
• Bachelor of Arts (BA) Digital Communications and Media/Multimedia Preferred
• An equivalent mix of education, training, and/or work experience may be considered in place of a degree Required

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities

• Knowledge and skills of a sound technical understanding to ensure the smooth progress of a variety of projects from concept to delivery - Including but not limited to: typography, print, packaging, digital, web, video/film, photography, environment required (Advanced-Authority)
• Ability to lead and work on multiple projects while providing timely status reports on self/team performance, quality assurance of all creative deliverables, and cost effective and on schedule work required (Advanced-Authority)
• Strong knowledge of and proven experience in the creative development process around brand image creation required (Advanced-Authority)
• Expert ability to develop well-conceived innovative creative work that implements a brand image/strategy required (Advanced-Authority)
• Excellent conceptual and problem-solving skills required (Intermediate-Advanced)
• Excellent design skills accompanied by the ability to guide and evaluate, and if necessary, redirect creative development required (Advanced-Authority)
• Highly knowledgeable about emerging design, branding, social and technology trend required (Advanced-Authority)
• Expert with Adobe Creative Suite software such as Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign required (Advanced-Authority)
• Expert with video/photography hardware, Adobe AfterEffects & video editing preferred (Intermediate-Advanced)
• Advanced skills of Microsoft Office required (Intermediate-Advanced)
• Knowledge of HTML, CSS and social media development software preferred (Developing-Intermediate)
• Ability to coach and train employees to be successful professionals as well as to contribute to the business success required (Intermediate-Advanced)
• Excellent communication, planning, time-management and follow-through skills required (Intermediate-Advanced)
• Excellent interpersonal skills to communicate effectively with creative and project management staff, engendering leadership, trust and respect required (Intermediate-Advanced)
• Ability to lead and manage diversified employees with multicultural backgrounds required (Intermediate-Advanced)
• A can-do mindset where the solution to any problem lies in combination of creative thinking, collaboration and hard work required (Advanced-Authority)

Physical Demands

• Stationary Position/Seated: Frequently
• Feeling: Frequently
• Communicate/Talking: Constantly
• Communicate/Hearing: Constantly
• Repetitive Motions: Constantly
• Seeing/Observing: Constantly

Working Environment

• Noise: Frequently

Travel Requirements

• 30% Flying International: Essential

Pay Range$141,600.00 - $215,925.00

Salary to be determined by education, experience, knowledge, skills and abilities of the applicant, internal equity, and alignment with market data.

Learn more about MNAO's comprehensive benefits packagehere