Group Creative Director

About the Company

Marks is a consumer experience agency creating engaging moments across the entire brand spectrum-from brand design and packaging to content and consumer connections. Rooted in a deep understanding of human behavior, we help brands win in an age of constant change.

We are a global, collaborative network of 1,900+ team members across 25+ studios and 20+ countries, partnering with some of the world's most recognized brands to solve complex business challenges through design, strategy, and craft.

About the Role

The Group Creative Director is a senior creative leader responsible for shaping the creative vision and output across a portfolio of clients, brands, and teams. Reporting to the VP, Creative, this role leads multiple Creative Directors and multidisciplinary creative teams to deliver exceptional brand and packaging work at scale.

This role requires someone who can operate at multiple altitudes: setting vision, guiding strategy, and elevating creative standards while ensuring ideas translate into strong, scalable design systems and production-ready solutions.

The ideal candidate is both vision-driven and action-oriented: a leader who inspires teams with big thinking while also ensuring the work moves forward with clarity, craft, and momentum.

You bring deep expertise in CPG and retail environments, including private-label brand ecosystems where design systems must flex across categories, formats, and hundreds of SKUs without losing clarity or brand equity.

As a senior client-facing leader, you will help shape creative direction, guide complex conversations, and partner with clients to unlock meaningful brand growth through design.

This position is hybrid, with 3 days per week in our vibrant Fulton Market studio in Chicago.

Role Expectations
Creative Vision & Portfolio Leadership

• Set and champion the creative vision across multiple client portfolios and categories.
• Guide the development of brand design systems and packaging ecosystems that scale across categories, formats, and retail environments.
• Elevate the creative ambition of the work while ensuring ideas translate into practical, production-ready solutions.
• Ensure work is strategically grounded, creatively distinctive, and executed with exceptional craft.
• Drive creative alignment across teams, ensuring consistency and quality across large bodies of work.

Team Leadership & Development

• Lead, mentor, and develop Creative Directors and senior design talent across multiple teams.
• Create an environment where teams feel empowered to push ideas while maintaining accountability to quality and timelines.
• Provide clear creative direction while allowing teams the autonomy to do their best work.
• Identify and nurture emerging leaders within the organization.
• Partner with creative leadership and operations to build strong, balanced teams across the portfolio.

Client Partnership & Strategic Influence

• Serve as a senior creative advisor to key clients across brand design and packaging engagements.
• Bring clarity and authority to creative conversations-presenting ideas, guiding feedback, and helping clients make confident decisions.
• Translate client business challenges and retail realities into effective design strategies.
• Identify opportunities to expand relationships through proactive creative thinking.
• Support new business opportunities through pitches, proposals, and strategic storytelling.

Systems Thinking & Packaging Expertise

• Ensure packaging design systems translate effectively across new formats, categories, and regulatory requirements.
• Oversee creative integrity from concept through production by balancing ambition with real-world constraints.
• Partner with production experts to guide decisions around print methods, color management, substrates, and technical execution.
• Champion process improvements that increase efficiency, reduce rework, and improve speed to market without sacrificing quality.

The Ideal Person

• Is deeply fluent in packaging design systems, brand architecture, and retail realities.
• Brings a clear creative point of view and the confidence to stand behind it.
• Is an exceptional communicator who can inspire teams and earn trust with clients.
• Understands how private-label brands operate at scale and how design drives value in a retail environment.
• Knows how to lead through complexity, ambiguity, and volume without losing sight of craft.
• Can move seamlessly between big-picture thinking and practical problem-solving.
• Leads with empathy, decisiveness, and a strong sense of ownership.
• Brings energy, curiosity, and a passion for mentoring others.

You Bring

• Degree in Communication, Graphic, or Packaging Design (or related field).
• 12+ years of experience in packaging design, with senior-level leadership experience.
• Proven experience leading large teams and complex, high-volume packaging portfolios.
• A strong portfolio demonstrating brand-led thinking, system design, and packaging excellence.
• Deep knowledge of print production processes, regulatory requirements, and retail constraints.
• Expert proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign), Mac OS, and presentation tools (Keynote, PowerPoint).

About Propelis: Propelis is a portfolio of global marketing services and technology companies with a combined legacy of 150+ years, 2,000+ clients, 9,000 employees, and operations across 30 countries. Propelis provides the scale and support of a global organization while preserving the unique culture and identity of each company in its portfolio. For more information visit: www. MakeMarks.com

Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several U.S. geographic markets, and we pay differently based on those defined markets. The U.S. pay range for this position is $150,000 USD - $160,000 USD annually. Ultimately, in determining pay, we will consider the successful candidate's location, experience, and other job-related factors.

Group benefits currently include a selection of health care plans with prescription drug coverage, dental plan, vision plan, basic and supplemental life insurance, a flexible spending account for medical and dependent care expenses or a health savings account based on plan selection, short/long term disability and 401(k) Savings Plan.

Bachelors (required)

Deep knowledge of print production processes, regulatory requirements, and retail constraints. (required)
A strong portfolio demonstrating brand-led thinking, system design, and packaging excellence (required)
Proven experience leading large teams and complex, high-volume packaging portfolios (required)
12 years: Years of experience in packaging design, with senior-level leadership experience (required)