Creative Manager Jobs in Kent, WA (NOW HIRING)

About the Company

Fanatics Collectibles is a new company operating at the intersection of collectibles, culture, and technology. Backed by world-class investors, operators, and sports & entertainment partners, we are building the global leader in next-generation collectibles. As part of the broader Fanatics ecosystem, we leverage a digital sports platform that spans over 900 sports properties and engages more than 81 million fans. Together, we are reimagining every part of the collectibles experience for fans, partners, and creators.

Reporting directly to the SVP of TCG, the Senior Director, Creative will serve as the executive creative leader responsible for defining, evolving, and protecting the long-term creative vision of Fanatics TCG.

This individual will establish the visual identity, worldbuilding philosophy, and creative standards that define our franchises while building a scalable creative organization capable of supporting multiple products and original IPs over time.

Beyond creative excellence, this leader will partner with executive leadership to develop creative strategy, organizational structure, talent development, and scalable processes that enable the studio to deliver world-class products at the highest level.

This role requires an exceptional creative executive who can balance artistic vision, organizational leadership, business strategy, and franchise development.

Key Responsibilities

Creative Vision & Franchise Leadership

• Own and drive the long-term creative vision across the Fanatics TCG portfolio, ensuring consistency, quality, and differentiation across all products and franchises.
• Define the artistic philosophy, visual identity, worldbuilding principles, and creative standards for original and existing TCG properties.
• Serve as the senior creative authority responsible for maintaining exceptional quality across all visual, narrative, and player-facing creative experiences.
• Establish creative direction that balances player engagement, collectible appeal, business objectives, and long-term franchise growth.

Organizational Leadership

• Build, mentor, and lead a world-class creative organization capable of supporting multiple franchises and product initiatives.
• Lead and develop Creative Managers, Art Directors, Senior Creative staff, external creative partners, and future creative leadership as the studio grows.
• Establish scalable creative review processes, governance, quality standards, and operational best practices across internal and external creative teams.
• Partner with executive leadership on organizational planning, succession planning, hiring strategy, and creative resource allocation.

Executive Partnership

• Partner directly with the SVP of TCG and executive leadership to shape franchise strategy, product direction, and long-term creative investment.
• Collaborate closely with Product, Game Design, Narrative, Brand, Licensing, Production, Marketing, and Commercial leadership to ensure creative decisions support both player experience and business objectives.
• Represent the creative organization with executive stakeholders, licensors, partners, and external studios.

Creative Operations & Production

• Oversee the complete creative pipeline from early concept development through final production-ready assets across physical and digital products.
• Build and manage relationships with global illustration partners, external studios, agencies, and creative vendors.
• Establish scalable creative workflows, production standards, and review processes that enable efficient delivery without compromising quality.
• Influence creative budgets, vendor strategy, resource planning, and investment decisions supporting studio growth.

Industry Leadership

• Help establish Fanatics TCG as a creative leader within the trading card game and collectibles industry.
• Stay at the forefront of emerging trends across gaming, collectibles, entertainment, illustration, visual arts, and consumer products.
• Continuously raise the creative standard across the organization while encouraging innovation and experimentation.

Qualifications & Experience

• 15+ years of progressive creative leadership experience within gaming, entertainment, collectibles, publishing, consumer products, or related industries.
• Demonstrated success building and leading high-performing creative organizations.
• Proven experience developing original IP and shipping large-scale creative products from concept through launch.
• Extensive experience directing multidisciplinary creative teams across illustration, concept art, graphic design, worldbuilding, narrative, and production.
• Experience managing external creative studios, freelance networks, agencies, and global vendor relationships.
• Strong understanding of both physical product development and digital production pipelines.
• Deep passion for trading card games, collectibles, visual storytelling, and franchise development.

Skills & Leadership

• Exceptional artistic vision and creative judgment.
• Executive-level communication and presentation skills with the ability to influence senior leaders and external partners.
• Proven ability to build, mentor, and develop high-performing creative teams.
• Strong organizational leadership with experience scaling creative functions.
• Strategic thinker capable of balancing long-term franchise vision with near-term execution.
• Excellent collaboration skills across Product, Design, Narrative, Marketing, Licensing, and Production.
• Strong business acumen with the ability to align creative investment to organizational priorities.
• Comfortable operating within ambiguity while building scalable creative systems and processes.
• Proficiency with industry-standard creative tools (Adobe Creative Suite, Figma, etc.) and familiarity with modern production workflows.

Why Join Fanatics TCG

This is a unique opportunity to define the creative identity of entirely new trading card game franchises while helping build the creative organization behind them.

As the Senior Director, Creative, you won't simply oversee art-you'll shape the long-term vision, culture, creative philosophy, and organizational foundation of a studio with the ambition to create the next generation of iconic TCG experiences. Your leadership will influence not only the products we build today, but the franchises players and collectors will connect with for decades.

Location

This position is based in Seattle, WA. All Fanatics TCG employees are expected to work onsite five days per week.

Ensure your Fanatics job offer is legitimate and don't fall victim to fraud.  Fanatics never seeks payment from job applicants. Feel free to ask your recruiter for a phone call or other type of communication for interview, and ensure your communication is coming from a Fanatics email address (including @collectfanatics.com).  For added security, where possible, apply through our company website at www.fanaticsinc.com/careers