Creative Director (Full-time w benefits)
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Job Location:
San Francisco, CA - USA
Monthly Salary:
Not Disclosed
Posted on:
10-11-2025
Vacancies:
1 Vacancy
Job Summary
Creative Director
Organization Description:
Since 1981 the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy (Parks Conservancy) has served as the nonprofit partner of the National Park Service collaborating with the Presidio Trust partners donors and the community to support the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA). The GGNRA stretches across three Bay Area counties north and south of the Golden Gate Bridge and includes iconic places such as Muir Woods National Monument Fort Point National Historic Site Alcatraz Island Crissy Field Mori Point Lands End and the Presidio of San Francisco.
The Parks Conservancy engages at the intersection of national park sites local communities social justice and climate resilience. Collaborating with partners our staff are dedicated to enhancing public awareness and providing volunteer and educational opportunities in the parks. We are park builders caretakers ambassadors and educators all working to connect people to parks in support of our vision Parks for All Forever. Join us.
Position Overview:
The Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy seeks a Creative Director to lead the organizations design direction during an exciting period of transformation. This individual will serve as both a strategic design leader and a hands-on creative director shaping the Conservancys overall look and feel and elevating the artistic expression of our work across all channelsincluding digital print marketing environmental and experiential platforms.
The Creative Director will bring expertise in guiding the brand journey through designensuring that every visual and creative expression is cohesive impactful and reflective of the Conservancys mission. This position reports to the Chief Communications Officer. As the Creative Director this person will be responsible for managing two staff designers and a pool of freelance designers overseeing a high volume of design projects and directing workflow across branches. This is a dynamic player-coach role: balancing vision-setting mentorship and creative leadership with hands-on design and execution. The Creative Director is expected to demonstrate proven leadership experiencementoring creative staff guiding cross-functional collaboration and growing design capacitywhile inspiring excellence across the organization. Working closely with all Parks Conservancy branches and specifically the Communications and Marketing team the Creative Director ensures that every creative touchpoint strengthens the Conservancys identity and deepens engagement with diverse audiences.
This full-time position is based in the Parks Conservancys headquarters at Fort Mason in San Francisco. Work is performed primarily in an office setting including a mix of telework and onsite. The Conservancy currently requires a minimum of four full days per month onsite; however in many instances it would require more onsite days either in the office or visiting park sites in order to meet the essential requirements of the position. This role is expected to work onsite at Fort Mason at least two days per week. Work may include weekends and evenings and may take place in locations other than Fort Mason.
Key Responsibilities and Duties:
Strategic and Creative Leadership
- Serve as the visual identity leader and chief steward of the Conservancys brand expression shaping the overall look and feel ensuring cohesion scalable and adaptable across all channels and leading the implementation of a refreshed design system across digital print and in-park experiences.
- Shape and evolve the Conservancys creative work to deliver compelling artistic expression that inspires and engages diverse audiences.
- Translate organizational goals into creative concepts and leading them through to full production design deliverables that the brand journey to life for diverse audiences.
- Maintain and refine brand guidelines that uphold design quality clarity and consistency across all materials and channels.
- Stay ahead of cultural design and technology trends including AI-assisted creative tools and apply them strategically to enhance visual impact.
Project Management & Workflow
- Direct the full lifecycle of creative projects from concept to delivery ensuring projects are on-time on-budget and high quality.
- Oversee and prioritize incoming design requests across branches aligning resources with organizational priorities.
- Manage freelance designers and agency partners setting clear expectations deliverables and deadlines.
- Establish and refine workflow systems and project management processes (e.g. Asana Trello etc) to streamline efficiency and transparency.
Marketing & Campaign Development
- Partner with Communications and Marketing Development Retail and Project teams to conceptualize and execute integrated campaigns across web email social media print video and environmental design.
- Lead the production of key institutional projects including the Annual Report (digital and print) Gateways magazine campaign toolkits donor collateral and membership materials.
- Build branded templates and frameworks for web email and social campaigns to enable scalable high-quality content creation.
- Collaborate with the Retail team on concepts for Interpretive Retail Centers that reflect the Conservancys visual identity.
- Design and produce core visitor-facing materials such as trail maps brochures signage and other print/digital collateral that support projects and enhance the park experience.
Collaboration & Mentorship
- Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams to align design expression with organizational goals and audience needs.
- Mentor guide and inspire designers writers and creative stafffostering a culture of collaboration inclusion and innovation.
- Act as a thought partner to senior leadership advising on design strategy to strengthen storytelling audience engagement and brand cohesion.
- Host regular cross-departmental design meetings to scope out and plan for projects ensuring alignment across branches.
Knowledge Skills and Abilities:
- Design Expertise: Mastery of design principles branding and visual storytelling across digital print and environmental applications.
- Artistic Vision: Ability to shape a distinctive look and feel for a brand blending creativity craft and strategy.
- Technical Proficiency: Expertise in Adobe Creative Cloud (Photoshop Illustrator Indesign) Proficiency in AfterEffects Figma preferred. Knowledge of UX/UI web WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) best practice.
- Project Management: Proven ability to manage multiple complex projects with competing priorities using tools such as Asana or Trello.
- Creative Strategy: Strength in guiding the brand journey through design ensuring cohesive and impactful artistic expression.
- Leadership & Collaboration: Skilled at inspiring mentoring and directing creative teams and partners in a fast-paced iterative environment.
- Communication: Excellent written verbal and visual communication skills with ability to present creative concepts to senior leadership and stakeholders.
- Innovation: Awareness of emerging design cultural and digital trends; ability to integrate new approaches including AI tools into workflows.
Education and Experience:
- Bachelors degree in graphic design or design Certification preferred.
- 57 years of progressively responsible experience in creative design branding and marketing with at least 2 years of demonstrated leadership responsibilities.
- Demonstrated success in leading large-scale design initiatives with an emphasis on artistic direction and visual identity.
- Experience working in nonprofit mission-driven or cultural organizations is highly desirable.
Health and Safety:
It is the goal of the Parks Conservancy to create and maintain a safe and healthy workplace. We work to mitigate hazards and risks that may cause harm to employees consistent with state and federal laws. Employees play an active role in creating a safe and healthy workplace and are expected to comply with all applicable health and safety rules.
Physical Requirements and Work Environments: Work is performed in an office setting at a computer or design equipment 6 to 8 hours per day.
Compensation:
The annual salary for this position is $117500 (Pay Grade 25). As part of our equitable hiring practices the Parks Conservancy will hire at the salary posted for the position and will not make an offer above this level. Benefits include a competitive suite of medical dental and vision plans up to 3 weeks of paid vacation; holidays personal and sick days; a 403(b) retirement plan Employee Assistance Program employee discounts and more.
To Apply: As part of the application please submit a resume and thoughtful cover letter. The deadline date to submit applications is Friday November 14 2025.
The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this classification. They are not to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities duties and skills required of personnel so classified. All employees may be required to perform duties outside of their normal responsibilities from time to time as needed.
The Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Recruitment placement and promotions are conducted without regard to an individuals race color religion sex national origin age physical handicap veteran status or sexual orientation or any other classification protected by Federal State and local laws & ordinances. We will consider qualified candidates with criminal history in a manner consistent with the requirements of the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance. All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply.
Required Experience:
Director
Key Skills
- Abinitio
- Administration And Accounting
- Android
- Bid Management
- Inventory Management
- Embedded C
