How to hire a group creative director

How to hire a group creative director, step by step

Here's a step-by-step group creative director hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a group creative director job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new group creative director
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a group creative director do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   The group creative director hiring process starts by determining what type of worker you actually need. Certain roles might require a full-time employee, whereas part-time workers or contractors can do others.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   A group creative director's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, group creative directors from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   This list shows salaries for various types of group creative directors.

   Type of Group Creative Director	Description	Hourly rate
   Group Creative Director	Art directors are responsible for the visual style and images in magazines, newspapers, product packaging, and movie and television productions. They create the overall design of a project and direct others who develop artwork and layouts.	$62-208
   Designer/Art Director	An art director collaborates with the design and art staff for books, public relations firms, advertising agencies, or newspaper publishers. Art directors create designs and layouts that embody the organization and send the message they want the audience to get... Show more	$28-75
   Freelance Art Director	As a freelance art director, you will work hand-in-hand with the production designer to procure works of art for your organization. Note that your duties will depend on your particular industry... Show more	$24-68

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Client Relationships
   • Creative Direction
   • Business Development
   • Digital Marketing
   • Graphic Design
   • Creative Solutions
   • Creative Directors
   • Creative Vision
   • Creative Development
   • Integrated Marketing
   • Creative Professionals
   • Copywriting
   • Art Direction
   • Direct Reports

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Direct and manage talent including, directors, directors of photography, editors, graphic artists, and composers.
   • Lead and supervise creative teams and create award-winning advertising campaigns and programs that target physicians, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals.
   • Develop the GUI / UX for presenting and categorizing the video content.
   • Recruit and retain a high-performance team of strategists, designers, UX architects, and account managers.
   • Slash company-wide expenses and improve production by bringing photography and pre-press design services in-house.
   • Collaborate on the strategic development, design, copywriting and production of marketing communications programs for multiple clients.

   More group creative director duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your group creative director job description helps attract top candidates to the position. A group creative director salary can be affected by several factors, such as geography, experience, seniority, certifications, and the prestige of the hiring company.

   For example, the average salary for a group creative director in Colorado may be lower than in Illinois, and an entry-level group creative director usually earns less than a senior-level group creative director. Additionally, a group creative director with certifications may command a higher salary, and working for a well-known company or start-up may also impact an employee's pay.

   Average group creative director salary

   $237,604yearly

   $114.23 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level group creative director salary

   $130,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 22, 2026

   Average group creative director salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	Illinois	$349,367	$168
   2	California	$256,208	$123
   3	New York	$249,590	$120
   4	Georgia	$235,710	$113
   5	Arkansas	$196,970	$95

   Average group creative director salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Golin	$322,278	$154.94
   2	Huge	$292,030	$140.40
   3	Pandora	$290,410	$139.62
   4	Organic	$286,483	$137.73
   5	Razorfish	$286,134	$137.56
   6	TLP	$283,428	$136.26
   7	Gotham	$281,379	$135.28
   8	AKQA	$274,963	$132.19
   9	Translation	$272,556	$131.04
   10	Gainor Staffing	$269,700	$129.66
   11	Droga5	$266,753	$128.25
   12	Apple	$261,778	$125.85	12
   13	R/GA	$261,745	$125.84
   14	mcgarrybowen	$259,704	$124.86
   15	Advantage Solutions	$258,269	$124.17
   16	MullenLowe U.S.	$257,535	$123.81
   17	*n/a*	$256,000	$123.08
   18	Lands' End	$255,119	$122.65
   19	Paramount	$253,803	$122.02	6
   20	DDB	$250,391	$120.38	1

4. Writing a group creative director job description

   A group creative director job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. To help get you started, here's an example of a group creative director job description:

   Group creative director job description example

   As an Experience Industry Lead for Health, you'll own the overall delivery and commercial value of our industry accounts and oversee the Experience teams across one of the nine industry verticals. Your role will be focused on supporting the development of the Capability Groups within the vertical as well as overseeing client work and business development. You'll be a subject-matter expert in the industry and have the ability to drive continuous long-term growth by improving the quality delivery of work-demonstrating what makes PS a differentiator in how we deliver digital solutions to our clients.
   Note: Can be located anywhere in US in EST or CST timezones.
   
   We are looking for a Lead that demonstrates a knack for multiplatform design and interactivity through UI and system design. This person demonstrates a high amount of creative agency/consultancy over their work and will guide business strategy for our clients. They possess a proactive, vibrant spirit that's eager to add value and curious to flex their skills into new expertise. They will collaborate with our teams to cultivate strategy, high-fidelity execution, presentation storytelling, and code-based prototypes.
   
   Your Impact:
   
   Owning overall experience, delivery and commercial value within the Health industry portfolio. Shaping scoping and estimating work to drive profitable growth. Inspiring clients and teams while delivering quality results.
   
   Driving business development strategies around diverse work ranging from digital business transformation, to customer and employee experience, to product and design, that moves our business forward-demonstrating Experience as a differentiator
   
   Overseeing Experience teams across the Health industry portfolio, guiding team casting and serving as the main point of Experience escalation
   
   Understanding client needs and matching their needs to our integrated offerings. Proactively driving teams to innovate how our thought leadership and accelerators create long-term, industry-specific value
   
   Partnering with Industry Business, Design Operations, Capacity and Craft Leads to anticipate future needs of the business and ensure quality deliverables
   
   Supporting Experience teams through coaching and mentoring on deliverables to ensure sustainable workload, effective mobility, learning and further career development
   
   Driving our “PS How” methodology and ways of working by driving our teams to focus on valuable outcomes-not just outputs-and continuous delivery with speed and quality

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find the right group creative director for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important sources of talent for any company is its existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and current employees and ask if they know or have worked with group creative directors they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit group creative directors who meet your education requirements.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter now have more than 3.5 billion users, and you can use social media to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your group creative director job on Zippia to find and recruit group creative director candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites such as dribbble, authentic jobs, working not working, coroflot.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Your first interview with group creative director candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents. You can move on to the technical interview if a candidate is good enough for the next step.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new group creative director

   Once you've selected the best group creative director candidate for the job, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, this letter should include details about the benefits and perks you offer the candidate. Ensuring that your offer is competitive is essential, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and you should be open to discussion. After you reach an agreement, the final step is formalizing the agreement with a contract.

   You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

   To prepare for the new group creative director first day, you should share an onboarding schedule with them that covers their first period on the job. You should also quickly complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Finally, Human Resources must ensure a new employee file is created for internal record keeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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How much does it cost to hire a group creative director?