Creative Director Jobs in Santa Rosa, CA (NOW HIRING)

Proposed Duration: Long-term temporary assignment; ASAP through December 2026

Schedule: Full time: 37.5 hours per week

Pay Rate: $50-55/hour depending on experience

Benefits: Temporary employees are eligible to participate in the HR Options 401(k) plan following their first pay date, may participate in the Bay Area pre-tax commuter benefit after 30 days of employment, and accrue paid sick leave beginning on their hire date (available for use after 90 days).

Overview:

Come join a talented creative team of designers, writers, videographers, and social specialists who love seeing progressive higher education thrive in the modern world.

The University of San Francisco’s Office of Marketing Communications (OMC) provides centralized marketing and communications services to the USF community and in support of the university overall. OMC provides in-house full-service marketing capabilities ranging from creative services to multimedia-integrated relationships, with a seven-figure annual advertising spend. In partnership with the president’s and provost’s offices, departments, divisions, and the schools and college (OMC’s ‘partners’), this work communicates with varied audiences, including prospective students, alumni, and the business community via the university’s website (usfca.edu), social media channels, alumni magazine, and other outlets and platforms.

University of San Francisco’s mission statement animates all aspects of university life and work. USF celebrates diversity in all its forms - through inclusive dialogues, interpersonal experiences, and intercultural appreciation - in support of a thriving campus climate and inclusive excellence.

Position Summary:

Reporting to the Creative Director, the Senior Visual Designer is tasked with creating top-tier designs for both print and digital projects that support the University’s student recruitment, fundraising, alumni relations efforts, and other communication efforts. The Senior Visual Designer acts in a supporting role to the Creative Director in leading the USF visual design team (although the position does not have direct staff reports).

Responsibilities:

The Senior Visual Designer works under the supervision of the Creative Director. The position requires those in the role to have a strong sense of design, an attention to detail, be able to provide clear and well-informed design rationale, present creative concepts effectively to partners, and be able to develop concepts that appeal to a broad range of constituent groups, from 16- year-old prospective students to 80-year-old alumni. The Senior Visual Designer demonstrates outstanding interpersonal skills, is a team player, and possesses the ability to handle many projects simultaneously under tight deadline pressure.

The Senior Visual Designer helps to carry out the goals for the unit as well as emulating/upholding the culture as defined by the Creative Director.

• Support OMC marketing strategists and campus partners with creative conceptualization and, as needed, creative presentations to university partners
• Create concepts and designs for print and digital projects, and other special projects, producing them to be print- or publish-ready, as coordinated by Production Manager and aligned to media specifications
• Provide layouts and printed comps to marketing strategists and partners for approval with clear and well-informed design rationale
• Part of a team that advocates and upholds the USF brand identity, manages the logo assets library, and educates the campus community about the brand messaging, guidelines, and appropriate logo usage.
• Provide detailed printing and production specs to Production Manager to secure price estimates from vendors
• 3Other duties as assigned

Minimum Qualifications:

• At least five years of prior relevant visual design experience
• Expertise in Adobe Creative Cloud software (InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, etc.) to create concepts and designs for a variety of print and digital projects as assigned
• Must have a strong design acumen and creative concepting
• Ability to handle multiple projects simultaneously while meeting timelines and prioritizing time well
• Keen time management and communications skills
• Robust willingness to collaborate and strong interpersonal skills
• Ability to develop and effectively pitch creative concepts that appeal to a broad range of constituent groups from 16-year-old prospective students to 80-year-old alumni
• Web development skills, including HTML, CSS, and a familiarity with Drupal CMS or similar platform are preferred
• Additional creative skills expertise a plus (video, animation, photography, illustration etc.)
• An understanding of usability and user-centric online design a plus
• Illustration, animation, and photography skills a plus

Required Documents

Cover letter, printed samples, and an electronic portfolio