Creative Event Director Jobs in Chicago, IL (NOW HIRING)

Creative Director | Bring the Next Chapter of B&D's Brand to Life
This is a unique opportunity to help introduce the next chapter of B&D's brand. We're looking for a hands-on creative leader who will personally produce exceptional design while establishing the creative vision, standards, and systems needed to bring our evolving identity to life and strengthen the quality and consistency of creative work throughout the organization.
Open to candidates based in Washington, DC or Chicago, IL, with the ability to work on a hybrid basis.
About B&D
Brailsford & Dunlavey (B&D) is a national planning, development, and program management advisory firm dedicated to bringing community to life through the places where people live, learn, work, and play. B&D partners with institutions, municipalities, and organizations to shape and deliver complex real estate and capital projects, providing strategic insight and end-to-end advisory services across the full project lifecycle.
For more than 30 years, B&D has helped clients translate bold visions into actionable plans and successful outcomes, with particular depth in higher education, K�12, public sector, and sports and entertainment environments. B&D recently joined forces with Project Management Advisors (PMA), bringing together two nationally recognized leaders in program management and real estate advisory services and expanding the capabilities we offer our clients.
The Opportunity
This Creative Director will own the visual expression of our brand and help define creative excellence across the firm. As B&D enters its next chapter following a significant merger, this role will help translate our refreshed brand vision into a compelling, cohesive reality, and then take it further by building the systems, standards, tools, and creative practices that enable the brand to take hold across the organization and evolve over time.
This is a highly visible role with influence across external brand building, employer brand, internal communications, industry and practice group marketing, and business development enablement. The Creative Director will help transform complex ideas, research, and business insights into clear, compelling visual communications that differentiate B&D and support the firm's continued growth
The role begins as a one-person creative function with no direct reports, making it ideal for someone who is equally energized by setting direction and by doing the work. Over time, this person will help define how the creative function should scale with the business.
What You'll Do
Brand Creative Leadership

• Own and advance the visual expression of the B&D brand across external and internal channels, ensuring a distinctive and cohesive brand experience.
• Partner with the marketing team to bring the new brand identity to life across the organization.
• Set creative direction for major brand, marketing, communications, and business development initiatives, connecting design decisions to firm strategy, audience needs, and business objectives.
• Serve as a trusted creative advisor who can articulate the rationale behind design recommendations, build alignment among stakeholders, and elevate expectations for creative quality.

Hands-On Design & Creative Execution

• Personally concept, design, and produce high-priority work across digital, print, presentation, proposal, publication, event, social media, recruiting, and internal communications channels.
• Develop sophisticated, engaging presentations in Microsoft PowerPoint, using advanced features, multimedia, and other capabilities to strengthen storytelling and audience engagement.
• Elevate proposals, qualifications, interview presentations, and other business development materials to communicate complex ideas clearly and help B&D compete more effectively.
• Transform complex ideas, research, data, and business information into clear, accurate, and compelling visual communications.
• Develop, produce, and edit multimedia and video content, while directing external specialists when additional expertise is needed.
• Strategically incorporate AI and emerging creative technologies into concept development, design, and production workflows where they can improve quality or efficiency.
• Manage projects from concept through delivery, balancing creative ambition with deadlines, budgets, production requirements, and stakeholder needs.

Brand Systems & Creative Operations

• Establish and maintain brand standards, creative guidelines, templates, and scalable design systems that enable consistent execution across a national firm.
• Create practical tools, processes, and training that make it easier for employees to apply the brand correctly while protecting its integrity.
• Develop and manage a flexible ecosystem of brand assets, including typography, imagery, iconography, data visualization, presentation, document, multimedia, and digital standards.
• Build a responsive creative operating model, including approaches for intake, prioritization, resourcing, review, production, and quality control.
• Balance competing priorities and determine where bespoke creative investment will have the greatest impact versus where repeatable systems, templates, or automation are the better solution.
• Help establish practical guidelines for responsible use of AI-assisted creative tools.

Collaboration & Partnership

• Partner across Brand & Communications, Industry & Practice Group Marketing, and Business Development Enablement to create a consistent visual experience while meeting different audience and channel needs.
• Work closely with subject-matter experts and marketing colleagues to understand complex concepts, ask thoughtful questions, clarify the intended message, and determine the most effective way to communicate it visually.
• Select, brief, and direct freelance designers, photographers, videographers, animators, and other specialists as needed.
• Contribute to future acquisition integration by evaluating existing brand assets and supporting thoughtful migration into the B&D brand system.
• Help evolve the creative function as B&D grows, including identifying opportunities to improve processes, capabilities, and ways of working.

What We're Looking For

• Bachelor's degree in graphic design, visual communication, or a related field.
• 10+ years of experience in brand design, graphic design, or creative direction, including significant hands-on design responsibility.
• Exceptional command of design fundamentals, including typography, composition, hierarchy, color, imagery, and information design.
• Strong experience translating complex ideas, data, and information into compelling visual communications.
• Experience managing creative work from concept through production and directing external creative partners.
• Experience translating a new or refreshed brand identity into scalable systems, tools, and applications across an organization is preferred.
• Experience in professional services, architecture, engineering, construction, real estate, consulting, or another complex B2B environment is preferred.
• Advanced proficiency with Adobe Creative Cloud and Microsoft PowerPoint.
• Strong technical curiosity and willingness to explore AI, automation, multimedia, and emerging creative technologies.
• Portfolio demonstrating exceptional design judgment, sophisticated brand thinking, strong concept development, and high-quality execution across a range of channels and formats.
• Experience with information design or data visualization that makes complex material clear and compelling is preferred.

W hat Sets You Apart
What makes the ideal candidate?

• Exceptional creative judgment. You can set a creative vision and personally execute at a very high level.
• Thinks beyond the design brief. You are intellectually curious, ask thoughtful questions, and develop creative solutions that support broader organizational goals.
• Makes the complex compelling. You know how to translate unfamiliar or complicated ideas into visual stories that people can understand and remember.
• Builds for scale. You can take a creative vision and turn it into practical templates, standards, and tools that make it easier for people across the firm to consistently produce high-quality work.
• Communicates and collaborates effectively. You can articulate a clear point of view, explain the rationale behind creative decisions, thoughtfully consider feedback, and navigate differing perspectives.
• Adaptable and forward-thinking. You stay curious about emerging tools and technologies and know when to experiment, when to learn, and when to bring in specialized expertise.

Why People Choose B&D
Impactful Mission
Be part of meaningful work that helps shape the places where people live, learn, work, and play.
Learning & Growth
We invest in mentorship, leadership development, and continuous learning at every stage of your career.
Strong Culture
Entrepreneurial thinking, collaboration, intellectual curiosity, integrity, and excellence drive how we work.
Robust Benefits
Comprehensive benefits include medical, dental, and vision coverage, retirement benefits, professional development support, paid time off, and more.
Apply Today
A portfolio is required for consideration. Please include a link to your online portfolio with your application so we can see your creative work.
Our application process also requests a resume and an optional (highly recommended) cover letter. We look forward to getting to know you!
This role's target base annual salary range is currently $140,000-170,000. Pay scales are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data. Individual pay is determined through interviews and an assessment of several factors unique to each candidate, including, but not limited to, job-related skills, relevant education, experience, certifications, candidate abilities, and pay relative to other team members.
The company benefits listed above are a summary of the benefits. Specific details, availability, and eligibility requirements apply in accordance with company policies.
Brailsford & Dunlavey, Inc. is committed to providing a diverse and inclusive work environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status.
Brailsford & Dunlavey, Inc. participates in E-Verify.