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What is an executive creative director and how to become one
An Executive Creative Director directs and oversees creative campaigns and projects. You will be managing the creative team of a company as you set goals, manage schedules, understand the needs of both company and client, and many more.
Since you are working with and in a team, you need to have good leadership skills in order to lead your team to success. Next is creativity. When you face a problem, you need to be able to easily solve the problem in the most efficient way possible. Lastly, excellent communication skills are a must. You need to be able to easily relay your thoughts and opinions to the people you're working with at all times.
You can earn around $169,900 per year as an Executive Creative Director. You can also take on other roles and further your career if you start now. You can be an Executive Director or a Chief Executive Officer after some time. As long as you meet the necessary skills and expertise, you have the chance to land the job.
What general advice would you give to an executive creative director?
Yash Egami
VP, The One Club
While traditional roles like art director or copywriter are on the decline, the good news is that, in an effort to reinvent themselves, agencies are seeking creatives with digital skills like UX design and programming. The rise of in-house creative departments has also meant more opportunities for job seekers within brands rather than agencies. And because of the demand for more diversity from clients and those within advertising, recruiters are making more of an effort to hire multicultural talent.
At The One Club for Creativity, we've been at the forefront of change in the industry through our diversity and inclusion, professional development and gender equality programs. We recently hosted our annual multicultural career fair, "Where Are All the Black People?" that brought together thousands of diverse talent with 40 agencies and companies looking to hire. We launched One School, a free online program for Black creatives who want to get into the industry but don't have a portfolio or the economic means to afford to go to ad school. And we're working on upskilling courses for professionals who want to reinvent themselves or keep up with the changing demands of our industry.
So if you're a recent graduate who specializes in art direction, our advice would be to keep an open mind about what kind of company you want to work for and think about expanding your skillset to include digital skills so that you can future-proof your career. Where you are isn't as important because, since the pandemic, agencies have become more comfortable with working remotely and they are more open to having a workforce not centered on the traditional agency hubs, like New York or Los Angeles.
Avg. Salary $162,850
Avg. Salary $59,228
Growth rate 4%
Growth rate 0.3%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.78%
Asian 7.77%
Black or African American 4.37%
Hispanic or Latino 14.42%
Unknown 5.80%
White 66.86%
Genderfemale 29.44%
male 70.56%
Age - 39American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%
Asian 7.00%
Black or African American 14.00%
Hispanic or Latino 19.00%
White 57.00%
Genderfemale 47.00%
male 53.00%
Age - 39Stress level is high
7.1 - high
Complexity level is advanced
7 - challenging
Work life balance is poor
6.4 - fair
Executive creative director career paths
Key steps to become an executive creative director
Explore executive creative director education requirements
Start to develop specific executive creative director skills
Skills Percentages Sketch 38.98% Graphic Design 4.90% Creative Direction 4.09% Creative Strategy 3.92% Digital Marketing 3.25% Complete relevant executive creative director training and internships
Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New executive creative directors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an executive creative director based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real executive creative director resumes.Research executive creative director duties and responsibilities
- Manage marketing teams of SEO & PPC experts, marketing managers, and sales professionals.
- Gain ranking in Google via SEO efforts, build social media presence, and manage PPC campaigns.
- Lead and supervise creative teams and create award-winning advertising campaigns and programs that target physicians, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals.
- Full campaign management responsibility from conception to completion which includes copywriting, campaign scheduling, sales lead generation and execution.
Get executive creative director experience
Generally, it takes 4-6 years to become an executive creative director. The most common roles before becoming an executive creative director include creative director, art director team lead and associate creative director.Prepare your executive creative director resume
When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your executive creative director resume.
You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an executive creative director resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.
Choose from 10+ customizable executive creative director resume templates
Build a professional executive creative director resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your executive creative director resume.
Apply for executive creative director jobs
Now it's time to start searching for an executive creative director job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:
- Browse job boards for relevant postings
- Consult your professional network
- Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
- Watch out for job scams
How did you land your first executive creative director job
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Average executive creative director salary
The average executive creative director salary in the United States is $162,850 per year or $78 per hour. Executive creative director salaries range between $88,000 and $300,000 per year.
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Updated January 8, 2025
