Creative Director

About Us:
Since 1935, we’ve been on a mission to bring a little extra happiness to everyday life and inspire connections over food. We select the finest ingredients the world has to offer, craft premium products made with love, and never settle for shortcuts. We believe that when we share our food, we share a part of ourselves — and that’s the only way we’d put our name on it. 

Today, our small family company has grown into a national leader in specialty olives, peppers, and sauces under the leadership of CEO Jeff Mezzetta, and our commitment to quality has never wavered. With an 80-year legacy behind us and a bright future ahead, we’re seeking passionate, driven candidates to help us bring our cherished family traditions to a new generation.

The ideal candidate will have an immediate connection to our Core Ingredients:  

• Crunchy Crunchy: We are hungry for excellence.
• Own It: We think and act as an owner – with appetite, initiative, and responsibility.
• Connection: We build authentic relationships that foster trust and open communications.
• Vibrance: We come to work eager and passionate about fulfilling our vision. When we share our work, we share a part of who we are.

We are looking for a passionate Creative Director to lead the overall creative direction of the Mezzetta brand. You will produce and oversee all creative and establish consistent and compelling content and design on all consumer-facing platforms. If you have a creative and artistic mind and spirit that can lift and level up the persona of the Mezzetta brands to effectively express our unique identity and positioning, we are excited to meet you!

You will lead all:

• Creative and conceptual thinking.
• Big-picture vision for aligning creative projects with company and brand identity and positioning.
• Inspires, directs, and elevates the creative process across our world-class portfolio of brands, ensuring consistent, and impactful storytelling.
• The ideal candidate will bring strong art direction, graphic design and project management experience to bring our stories and concepts to life. Additionally, you will be a strategic and entrepreneurial leader with a proven track record of building and leading internal and external agency teams. You must be able to articulate and understand business problems, build strong partnerships with cross-functional teams, and create an efficient operation and a culture that mixes innovation and creativity across all Mezzetta channels.

Responsibilities

• Establish and champion the creative vision that elevates Mezzetta’s storytelling and drives consistency across all consumer touchpoints.
• Define and evolve a distinctive visual identity that captures the spirit of Mezzetta and its portfolio of brands.
• Lead the creative process from concept through execution, ensuring all assets, i.e., digital, social, retail, and packaging, meet the highest standards of craft and strategic intent.
• Manage, inspire, and align internal talent and external partners to deliver creative strategy, execution, and production that reflect the brand’s ambition and business goals.
• Own and continuously refine the brand book and visual system in close partnership with the Brand team, ensuring it inspires creativity while maintaining brand integrity.
• Translate strategic briefs into compelling creative platforms, storyboards, and designs that connect emotionally and drive results across channels.
• Build and execute a creative roadmap that balances near-term priorities with long-term brand-building initiatives, aligned with business growth goals.
• Inspire, mentor, and elevate a high-performing creative environment, fostering a culture of curiosity, accountability, and creative excellence.
• Cultivate an environment where creativity thrives, a place where people feel empowered, valued, and proud to produce work that moves both hearts and business metrics.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of progressive creative leadership experience, ideally within a consumer-facing CPG or lifestyle brand environment where design drives business impact.
• Bachelor’s degree in graphic design, Fine Arts, Marketing, or related field.
• A portfolio that demonstrates brand-building work, showcasing both conceptual thinking and executional excellence across multiple channels.
• Track record of leading complex creative initiatives from concept through production.
• Ability to translate brand and business goals into distinctive creative expressions.
• Experience across multiple touchpoints including digital, retail, packaging, advertising, experiential, and social media.
• Proven mastery of Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign) with an exceptional eye for design, typography, and visual storytelling.
• Proven ability to collaborate across functions, partnering effectively with Marketing, Innovation, Sales, and Supply Chain to bring ideas to life.
• Deep understanding of culture and consumer behavior, with a demonstrated ability to lead teams in creating work that connects emotionally and authentically.
• Fluency in design systems and visual frameworks, with experience evolving or building brand style guides that drive consistency and creativity.
• Exceptional communication and presentation skills, with the confidence to inspire teams and influence senior leadership.

Our Commitment to an Inclusive Workplace:
At Mezzetta, we embrace diversity and strive to create an inclusive environment where you know you belong. Part of that commitment includes a zero-tolerance policy and being an Equal Opportunity Employer that prohibits discrimination and harassment of any kind. All employment decisions at Mezzetta are solely based on merit, qualifications, abilities and business needs, without regard to race, color, religion or belief, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, age, marital status, national origin, disability, military or veteran status, family or parental status, pregnancy, or any other status protected by law. All of us share in the responsibility of fulfilling this commitment and creating a culture where our team can thrive.