Associate Creative Director, Experiences

Company Description

Hyperquake is an independent creative strategy, branding, and experience design marketing agency founded in 1986, with locations in Cincinnati, Salt Lake City, and Brooklyn. We specialize in strategic innovation, branded experiences, and scaling organizations for growth, working with companies ranging from small startups to global enterprises. Hyperquake builds ambitious brands and experiences for those eager to activate a vision.

Overview

Hyperquake’s Associate Creative Directors lead and execute great design solutions to support the entire team and Creative Directors. They mentor and guide other designers while also executing work as a trusted leader alongside the entire Hyperquake team. As a creative leader in the work, you will help guide Hyperquake’s output with experience related to many facets of design: graphic, digital/interactive, motion graphics, immersive installations, videos/storytelling, campaigns, and conceptual design thinking – ensuring all creative output meets and/or exceeds both agency and client expectations. As an Associate Creative Director, you are responsible for communicating strategic goals into actionable design solutions in a collaborative environment. ACDs have proven ability to lead clients and other designers, and skill in creating/producing with excellence by standing out from their peers. Focus is placed on establishing the conceptual and stylistic direction for the work, and ensuring that the Creative Directors’ vision is brought forth. It’s also important to foster key relationships and be sought out by clients and partners for your creative guidance and execution in order to maintain and grow their business, while doing the same for ours. 

Responsibilities

• Translate strategic business objectives and client insights into conceptually strong, visually compelling ideas for experiential activations and demos.
• Partner with the Creative Director to shape creative vision and maintain a consistent standard of excellence across all workstreams.
• Lead multi-disciplinary teams—guiding designers, technologists, and strategists through concept development, design execution, and delivery.
• Provide art and design direction: articulate design intent and leadership across experiential touch points, including digital content, environmental graphics, and physical design.
• Oversee and prioritize multiple creative projects, ensuring deadlines are met and the output meets or exceeds quality expectations.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with internal and client teams to build cohesive, insight-driven brand experiences across experiential touch points.
• Present and defend creative work confidently to clients and senior stakeholders, articulating how design decisions ladder up to strategy and measurable outcomes.
• Mentor and develop design talent, providing constructive feedback, fostering curiosity, and nurturing a culture of collaboration and creative growth.
• Stay ahead of emerging design and technology trends, bringing new tools, ideas, and platforms (AI, motion, 3D, interactive) into the creative process.
• Contribute to team culture and leadership, helping define best practices, inspire excellence, and build momentum toward the studio’s shared creative vision.
• Works daily with the Design team and members of the Leadership team (particularly CDs) to ensure all projects meet and/or exceed expectations. 
• As an Associate Creative Director, you will help lead, mentor, and cultivate a creative culture rooted in our core values. These responsibilities include:
• Ensuring design excellence and cohesive vision across design disciplines and touch points.
• Mentoring and advising other Designers and Interns and acting as a sounding board for new hires, needs, and internal processes, etc.
• Potentially help lead a specific part of the business or a specific client to ensure consistency with the brands and businesses we serve.
• Collaborating with (and selection of) strategists, technologists, vendors, partners, freelancers, etc.
• Responsible for helping guide our creative execution to ensure it is in alignment with strategic positioning,
• Thinks and communicates at a high level about a client’s business, strategy and audience needs and behavior.
• Works collaboratively with Creative Directors and team to help formulate and execute ideas.
• Participate in new business efforts in order to attract and retain key clients. 

Experience you will bring

• Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design, Visual Communication, or related field preferred but not required.
• 8–12 years of professional design experience in agency, studio, or in-house environments, including experience leading multi-disciplinary creative teams.
• Portfolio demonstrating strategic creative direction across branding, digital, and integrated brand storytelling.
• Expert-level proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign) with fluency in Figma, Adobe XD, and AI-assisted concepting tools (Midjourney,ChatGPT, etc.) to accelerate ideation and refinement.
• Deep understanding of design systems, UX/UI principles, typography, color, composition, and responsive design as tools for building brand equity and engagement.
• Experience with exhibit and experience design for brands and, ideally, for cultural institutions.
• Working knowledge of motion, video, 3D, and emerging digital design considerations.
• Familiarity with accessibility and universal design considerations.
• Proven success in leading creative teams and collaborating cross-functionally with strategy, marketing, and production to deliver insight-driven design solutions.
• Ability to translate business goals and consumer insights into compelling creative strategy.
• Skilled at managing complex timelines, budgets, and resource planning across multiple projects and partners.
• Strong presenter and storyteller—able to articulate vision, rationale, and value of design to executive stakeholders and clients.
• Experienced in mentoring, developing, and inspiring creative teams, fostering a culture of innovation, craft, and accountability.
• Confident giving and receiving feedback, with a focus on growth, clarity, and collaboration.
• Strategic thinker with creative intuition and business acumen.
• Highly organized, detail-oriented, and proactive in solving problems before they arise.
• Deep curiosity about client industries, audience behaviors, and cultural trends.
• Committed to quality, innovation, and consistency in all aspects of design leadership.
• Comfortable leading teams operating in Eastern time zone hours or distributed environments.