Creative Services Manager

Our Story:

Story Cannabis was built by misfits on a mission — people bold enough to shift the cannabis narrative and create something better. Founded in 2021 by industry veterans, Story is a vertically integrated company headquartered in Phoenix, operating across Arizona, Maryland, Ohio, and Louisiana, and we’re just getting started.

Our vision is to bring hope, happiness, and healing to the world through cannabis, and we’re doing it one state, one store, and one customer at a time.

Leadership defines how we show up. Data drives how we grow. Gratitude keeps us grounded. Unity fuels our momentum. And growth, in every sense, inspires everything we do.

If you’re ready to challenge what’s expected and shape the future of cannabis, your next chapter starts with Story.

Overview:

We are looking for a Creative Services Manager to lead the development and execution of creative across Story Cannabis and our portfolio of brands.

This is a highly hands-on creative leadership role for someone who can translate marketing strategy into compelling creative while personally executing high-priority design and production work. The Creative Services Director will be responsible for maintaining brand standards, developing campaign creative, supporting retail and wholesale marketing initiatives, and ensuring creative work is delivered consistently, efficiently, and at a high level of quality across channels and markets.

The ideal candidate is both a creative leader and a maker — equally comfortable developing a campaign concept, designing an asset, preparing production-ready files, directing internal and external partners, and managing multiple creative projects across multiple markets in a fast-paced environment.

Responsibilities:

• Lead the development and execution of creative across Story Cannabis and its portfolio of brands, including digital, print, retail, eCommerce, CRM, social, packaging, presentations, events, and sales materials.
• Serve as a hands-on senior creative resource, personally designing and producing high-priority assets as a core responsibility of the role.
• Translate marketing strategies, campaign briefs, product launches, promotions, and business objectives into compelling creative concepts and executions.
• Define, maintain, and protect visual brand standards across Story Cannabis and its portfolio of brands (FADE CO., Just Flower, Holy Grail, etc.), ensuring consistency across typography, imagery, layout, identity, and overall creative quality.
• Develop scalable campaign creative and visual systems that can be adapted across brands, markets, products, retail locations, and marketing channels.
• Lead creative development for retail marketing initiatives, including store openings, promotions, merchandising, signage, window graphics, point-of-sale materials, in-store experiences, and customer communications.
• Support wholesale marketing and sales initiatives through the development of sell sheets, retailer-facing materials, product launch tools, presentations, displays, trade marketing assets, and budtender education materials.
• Support packaging development, packaging refreshes, line extensions, and new product launches while ensuring creative meets brand and state-specific compliance requirements.
• Manage creative production from concept through final execution, including design development, revisions, resizing, versioning, file preparation, prepress, production specifications, and vendor handoff.
• Manage creative versioning across multiple brands, markets, products, promotional offers, formats, and regulatory requirements.
• Provide creative direction and actionable feedback to agencies, freelancers, photographers, illustrators, printers, production vendors, and other external creative partners.
• Partner closely with Brand Marketing, Retail Marketing, CRM, eCommerce, Wholesale, Sales, Operations, Product, and other cross-functional stakeholders to support business priorities.
• Manage the day-to-day creative workflow, including project intake, prioritization, timelines, stakeholder feedback, approvals, and delivery.
• Establish templates, processes, and repeatable creative systems that improve speed, consistency, scalability, and overall creative efficiency.
• Maintain organized creative files, brand assets, photography, templates, logos, packaging files, and other creative resources.
• Support photography and content production, including creative direction, shot lists, asset selection, and post-production oversight.
• Present creative concepts and recommendations to Marketing leadership and other internal stakeholders.
• Mentor and provide creative guidance to designers and other creative resources as the organization grows.
• Stay current on design, retail, consumer, digital, cultural, and cannabis trends and identify opportunities to translate relevant trends into brand-appropriate creative.
• Balance creative quality with speed to market, scalability, business objectives, and the operational realities of a multi-state organization.

Qualifications & Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design, Visual Communications, Marketing, or a related field preferred.
• 7+ years of progressive experience in graphic design, creative services, art direction, brand design, or a related creative discipline, including senior-level creative leadership while remaining highly hands-on in design and production.
• Strong portfolio demonstrating sophisticated design thinking and execution across digital, print, retail, packaging, brand, and integrated marketing channels.
• Advanced proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite, including Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign, with a strong command of typography, layout, visual hierarchy, brand systems, and digital and print production.
• Experience developing integrated campaigns and creating production-ready artwork, including file preparation, resizing, versioning, prepress, and vendor production requirements.
• Experience directing and managing agencies, freelancers, photographers, printers, production vendors, and other external creative partners.
• Experience supporting consumer-facing brands—preferably in cannabis, CPG, retail, lifestyle, food and beverage, or hospitality—with multi-brand, packaging, merchandising, or multi-location retail experience strongly preferred.
• Strong organizational, project management, communication, and presentation skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and stakeholders in a fast-paced environment and travel within Story Cannabis markets as business needs require.

Physical Requirements:

• This role requires prolonged periods sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
• Occasional lifting, carrying, or transporting of marketing materials, signage, creative samples, or event supplies up to 25 pounds may be required.
• Occasional travel to retail locations, photo shoots, events, production vendors, or other Story Cannabis markets may be required.

Our Benefits:

• Paid time off (PTO) including 8 paid holidays per year*
• Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance*
• 401k retirement savings plan*
• Company paid Short-Term & Long-Term disability*
• Company paid Life Insurance*
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Employee referral program
• Commuter benefits*
• Product discounts
• Additional compensation incentives (tips, bonuses, etc.)

*For full-time positions only

We want our story to be one that fosters an inclusive culture and provides an enriching employee experience. As an equal-opportunity employer, we embrace individuals from all backgrounds, experiences, abilities, and perspectives. We believe in providing equal opportunities to all individuals, including those who may have encountered legal issues related to previous marijuana laws. We understand that these laws have disproportionately impacted certain communities and individuals. We are committed to considering all candidates based on their qualifications, skills, and potential to contribute to our team, rather than focusing solely on past legal encounters. We encourage individuals from diverse backgrounds, including those with past involvement with the legal system, to apply for positions within our organization.