How to hire a senior art director

How to hire a senior art director, step by step

Here's a step-by-step senior art 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 senior art director job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new senior art director
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a senior art director do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the senior art director you need to hire. Certain senior art director roles might require a full-time employee, whereas others can be done by part-time workers or contractors.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

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

   Yes

   No

   A senior art director's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, senior art 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.

   The following list breaks down different types of senior art directors and their corresponding salaries.

   Type of Senior Art Director	Description	Hourly rate
   Senior Art 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.	$30-80
   Creative Services Director	A Creative Services Director is responsible for managing digital content and campaign publications for project management efforts. They oversee the daily account operations and ensure that the processes adhere to high-quality standards and client specifications... Show more	$39-69
   Creative Director	A creative director is a professional who creates and maintains a vision for a company's products and branding through digital, print, and film installations. Creative directors supervise and innovative staff team such as graphic designers and artists to discuss and plan the vision's layout and visuals... Show more	$39-109

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Graphic Design
   • Photography
   • Creative Concepts
   • Sketch
   • Digital Marketing
   • Adobe Creative Suite
   • Healthcare
   • Web Banners
   • Creative Solutions
   • Direct Photo Shoots
   • Creative Direction
   • Project Management
   • Photo Art Direction
   • HTML

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage and direct interaction designers, marketing designers, HTML production and user research teams.
   • Direct and manage all photography including composition, talent acquisition and photo manipulation.
   • Design materials including POS, mailings, brochures, posters, flyers and other collateral materials.
   • Create flyers, show cards, and prepare artwork and media files for exhibitions director.
   • Design wire frames and work on UX design issues and working with development team to ensure integration.
   • Assist in all stages of the marketing and design process, from initial brainstorm meetings to final production.

   More senior art director duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your senior art director job description helps attract top candidates to the position. A senior art 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 senior art director in Kentucky may be lower than in California, and an entry-level senior art director usually earns less than a senior-level senior art director. Additionally, a senior art 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 senior art director salary

   $103,294yearly

   $49.66 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level senior art director salary

   $63,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 17, 2025

   Average senior art director salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$144,593	$70
   2	Oregon	$117,941	$57
   3	New York	$114,101	$55
   4	Kansas	$113,090	$54
   5	Washington	$109,303	$53
   6	Illinois	$103,941	$50
   7	Minnesota	$98,498	$47
   8	Massachusetts	$96,334	$46
   9	Nevada	$96,042	$46
   10	Michigan	$93,728	$45
   11	Connecticut	$90,854	$44
   12	Pennsylvania	$86,573	$42
   13	District of Columbia	$85,406	$41
   14	Ohio	$79,073	$38
   15	Colorado	$77,389	$37
   16	North Carolina	$76,286	$37
   17	Georgia	$74,685	$36
   18	Missouri	$73,434	$35
   19	Virginia	$71,511	$34
   20	Arizona	$67,936	$33

   Average senior art director salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	DoorDash	$177,411	$85.29
   2	PVH	$171,557	$82.48
   3	Credit Karma	$170,637	$82.04
   4	Apple	$167,950	$80.75	6
   5	Wieden+Kennedy	$160,828	$77.32
   6	Microsoft	$159,847	$76.85	5
   7	Amazon	$159,620	$76.74	26
   8	ViacomCBS	$159,308	$76.59
   9	Warby Parker	$155,653	$74.83
   10	Sephora	$154,759	$74.40
   11	Bain & Company	$152,865	$73.49
   12	The New York Times Company	$152,368	$73.25	1
   13	Expedia Group	$150,931	$72.56
   14	Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia	$149,897	$72.07
   15	BLITZ	$148,169	$71.24
   16	Glassdoor	$147,477	$70.90
   17	NBCUniversal	$146,662	$70.51	4
   18	TBWA Worldwide	$145,420	$69.91
   19	Barnes & Noble	$144,614	$69.53
   20	R/GA	$144,164	$69.31

4. Writing a senior art director job description

   A senior art 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. Below, you can find an example of a senior art director job description:

   Senior art director job description example

   NVIDIA has been transforming computer graphics, PC gaming, and accelerated computing for more than 25 years. It's a unique legacy of innovation that's fueled by incredible technology-and amazing people.
   
   Today, we're tapping into the unlimited potential of AI to define the next era of computing. An era in which our GPU acts as the brains of computers, robots, and self-driving cars that can understand the world. Doing what's never been done before takes vision, innovation, and the world's best talent. As an NVIDIAN, you'll be immersed in a diverse, supportive environment where everyone is inspired to do their best work. Come join the team and see how you can make a lasting impact on the world.
   What you'll be doing:
   Collaborate with a team of creative directors, art directors, graphic designers, copywriters, and account managers to lead art direction for campaigns and projects including video, 3D, animation, social media, and illustration. Create with your friends in Marketing, Product, Event, Web, and PR to develop full range of ideas and assets for product launches and events. And make everything real through final production.
   
   What we need to see:
   Awesome samples of how you art direct, design, build, and conceptualize big ideas and forward-thinking creative concepts, especially around abstract and technical subjects.Demonstration of the fundamental principles of art direction and graphic design for brand, layout, typography, video, photography, and especially 3D.A proficiency of the application of brand guidelines to campaigns and events, especially for large companies.Ownership of creative thinking of web, print, social, event, and video projects, and how you work in a non-linear, agile manner.A love for technology; an ability and passion to understand hi-tech products from the inside out.Your passion to take intent and direction from your peers and leaders and apply your art direction skills to build a vision, iterate quickly, revise, and produce outstanding work.Evidence of how you seek out and evangelize the latest creative and design industry trends and technologies, and embrace change.Extensive experience and knowledge of technical and traditional art processes and 3D production pipelines.You live in Adobe Creative Cloud and are familiar with Adobe 3D apps and others like Blender or Maya.Proficiency in Microsoft Office: PowerPoint, Word, Excel, Outlook and tracking your work in job tracking tools such as Workfront.12+ years of proven experience working with established brands, building or extending design systems, and/or campaigns, collaborating with senior executive level leadership teams. Agency experience or in-house at a 3D tool or creation company is a plus!A BFA, BS, or MFA in Graphic Design or equivalent field is required (or equivalent experience).A PDF or online portfolio with 5-10 design samples will be requested during the interview process.
   
   Ways to stand out from the crowd:
   Do you have hands-on skills in illustration, infographics, 3D, motion graphics, video, storyboarding, and in-house experience? Can you shoot beautiful photos and build animatics? Share your creative passions with us!Have you worked with the Developer Community? Show us how you can visualize ideas that communicate sophisticated technical subjects simply.Ever worked in house and had to sell your ideas? Walk us through a project and share your creation process.
   
   NVIDIA is committed to fostering a diverse work environment and proud to be an equal opportunity employer. As we highly value diversity in our current and future employees, we do not discriminate (including in our hiring and promotion practices) on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status or any other characteristic protected by law.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are a few common ways to find senior art directors for your business:

   • Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.

   To find senior art director candidates, you can consider the following options:

   • Post your job opening on Zippia or other job search websites.
   • Use niche websites that focus on engineering and technology jobs, such as dribbble, authentic jobs, working not working, coroflot.
   • Post your job on free job posting websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Your first interview with senior art 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 to see if they match your ideal candidate profile. If you think a candidate is good enough for the next step, you can move on to the technical interview.

   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 senior art director

   Once you've selected the best senior art 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.

   It's also good etiquette to follow up with applicants who don't get the job by sending them an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new senior art director. Human Resources and the hiring manager should complete Employee Action Forms. Human Resources should also ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc., and that new employee files are created.

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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