Marketing Creative Director

DEPARTMENT:  Marketing, Communications, and Ticketing

REPORTS TO:  Director of Marketing & Audience Strategy

PAY: $75,000 - $80,000; Full-time; Annual; Exempt

BENEFITS INCLUDE:  Medical, vision, and dental insurance; paid time off (PTO), sick leave, and holiday time; flexible spending and health savings accounts; employer-sponsored life, long-term, and short-term disability insurance; a 403(b) retirement plan with employer contribution and match, access to free parking, and various other perks.

LOCATION & SCHEDULE: This is a hybrid position reporting to our administrative offices located at 91 University Place in Princeton, NJ. Regular business hours are Monday through Friday, 9am – 5pm, with three days a week or more in person preferred. Some evening and/or weekend hours may be required.

START DATE: This position is preferred to start by mid-December.

POSITION AND RESPONSIBILITIES

McCarter Theatre Center seeks a visionary Marketing Creative Director ready to lead our creative brand direction with fresh ideas and dynamic energy. In this role, you will be more than a designer and video editor—you’ll be our brand’s champion, bringing innovative, on-point visual storytelling to life. As the heart of our creative engine, you’ll manage a talented in-house team and coordinate an extensive roster of freelancers across photography, video, graphic design, and external agencies. We’re looking for a collaborative, fast-paced problem-solver who can take projects from concept to unforgettable implementation. If you’re ready to make an impact across print, digital, and video media, join us to shape McCarter's creative journey with an inspired, dedicated team!

Essential Functions & Duties:

• Lead the creative vision for all marketing campaigns, from conceptualization through execution, ensuring consistency and alignment with the organization’s brand identity and mission. 

• Work with the marketing team to develop creative strategies that drive ticket sales, engagement, and brand awareness for performances, events, and special initiatives. 

• Oversee the development of high-quality visual content, including posters, brochures, digital ads, social media assets, videos, and email marketing templates. Lead photo and video shoots, collaborating with photographers, videographers, and designers to bring creative concepts to life. 

• Lead, mentor, and inspire a creative team of in-house and freelance designers and content creators. Provide feedback, guidance, and professional development to help team members grow in their craft. 

• Maintain an organized calendar of deadlines across multiple projects, balancing marketing/sales initiatives with support for Development and Education. 

• Oversee the management of our photo database, ensuring accessibility and organization for all marketing and institutional needs. 

• Supervise/complete the installation of customer-facing materials, ensuring seamless alignment with brand standards in both internal and external spaces. 

• Stay on top of industry trends and best practices, identifying new technologies and creative approaches to enhance the organization's marketing impact. 

• Prioritize safe working practices while embodying McCarter's safety and code of conduct policies to maintain a secure environment for all staff and guest artists. 

• Participate in the work to make McCarter an anti-racist theater. Actively seek ways to improve our work practices to make the Marketing department more equitable and inclusive, while upholding and exhibiting our stated values of “justice and joy, beauty and belonging.” 

Qualifications:

• 5+ years of experience in an agency or inhouse creative environment with special focus on design and production of both print and digital media

• Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.

• Highly proficient with the Adobe Creative Suite including InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop as well as video editing software

• Ability to prioritize and manage multiple projects with a keen eye for detail and deadlines.

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, fostering positive working relationships with colleagues, vendors, and artists, across various departments.

• Proven ability to set priorities, work collaboratively, and take initiative.

• A collaborative mindset, with the ability to work harmoniously with individuals from diverse backgrounds, personalities, and work styles, always approaching challenges with optimism, civility, and a solutions-oriented approach.

• Exhibit a critical consciousness and genuine interest in promoting equitable, diverse, inclusive, and accessible workplace values and practices while working with individuals of diverse needs, personalities, and work styles, and employing an optimistic and solution-oriented mindset towards fostering inclusivity and support within the team environment.

Preferred Qualifications:

• The ideal candidate will embody an enthusiasm for theatre and live performing arts, with particular interest in supporting and elevating the work of global artists across many disciplines

• Experience with the administration and management of performing arts institutions and theatre

Work Environment:

• Led by our core values, McCarter fosters and expects a culture of care and respect for the wellbeing of our staff.

• Work will primarily be completed in a shared office space, subject to HVAC cooling and heating.

• This position entails extended periods of sitting, manual dexterity for operating office equipment, and the ability to read and interpret documents, while occasionally requiring lifting and carrying objects up to 15 pounds (e.g., boxes of printed materials), engaging in repetitive tasks, standing, walking, bending, and reaching within the office environment (e.g., assisting in setting up brand assets in lobby spaces)

• Employees may be asked to use a personal cell phone in order to access authenticator apps and related software necessary for work credentials/multi-factor authentication (MFA). Applicants should be comfortable using their personal devices for these purposes as part of their job responsibilities, as workarounds cannot be guaranteed in order to access certain platforms.

This job description may not be inclusive of all assigned duties, responsibilities, or aspects of the job described, and may be amended at any time at the sole discretion of McCarter.

ORGANIZATION OVERVIEW

McCarter is one of the country's flagship theatres, a vibrant center for community and for the performing arts, and a key cultural anchor for Central New Jersey. Located on the campus of Princeton University and incorporated as an independent, charitable nonprofit, the company is a nationally renowned, multi-disciplinary creative hub of arts and ideas, offering theatre, music, dance, spoken word, and educational programs for all ages. 

A two-time Tony Award winner, McCarter’s legacy of artistic excellence traces back to the theatre’s first performances in 1930. A home for new play development and world premieres, the company has launched numerous works that have gone on to tens of thousands of performances reaching millions of audience members around the world. 

Among the 100,000 community members who directly participate in the company’s work every year, more than 7,500 are students taking part in McCarter’s robust arts-in-education offerings. The company offers more than 20 annual in-school residencies in classrooms in Princeton and Trenton, hosts schools from throughout the region for student matinee performances, and offers need-based scholarships to every one of its dozens of educational after-school and summer programs each year. Co-led by Artistic Director Sarah Rasmussen and Executive Director Martin Miller, McCarter leads with values of “justice and joy, and beauty in belonging,” creating stories and experiences that enliven minds, expand imaginations, and engage communities

The work of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance is made possible through the generous support of committed individuals and institutions.