Creative Art Director, Marketing & Communications

Position Overview:

As we celebrate 30 years of impact KIPP NYC is deepening its investment in storytelling brand strategy and community engagement to strengthen our position as a leading educational organization serving students and families across New York City. The Creative Art Director is a key leader within KIPP NYCs Marketing and Communications team responsible for shaping and elevating the visual identity of the KIPP NYC brand across all channels and audiences.

This role requires a highly creative strategic and systems-oriented leader who can translate bold campaign ideas into compelling high-performing creative assets across digital print social video and experiential platforms. The Creative Art Director will play a critical role in strengthening KIPP NYCs presence in a highly competitive educational landscape through emotionally resonant NYC-centered storytelling that connects authentically with families students staff and community members.

Reporting to the Managing Director of Marketing & Communications this individual will lead the creative execution of regional marketing campaigns oversee external creative and media agency partnerships and ensure all visual storytelling reflects the vibrancy excellence and cultural richness of KIPP NYC schools and communities.

This is a full-time position with a hybrid schedule requiring a minimum of three in-person days per week based out of our KIPP NYC Midtown Manhattan office. The role also includes travel to KIPP NYC campuses across the Bronx Brooklyn and Manhattan. The cadence and frequency of school visits will be determined by your leadership team.

Duties and Responsibilities:

General responsibilities include (but are not limited to):

Brand Leadership & Creative Direction

• Lead the evolution and execution of a unified premium KIPP NYC visual identity across all marketing and communications materials
• Develop and maintain brand guidelines that balance regional consistency with school-level authenticity and flexibility
• Ensure all creative work reflects KIPP NYCs mission values and commitment to educational equity
• Serve as the internal creative lead and primary point of contact for external creative and media agency partners
• Provide strategic creative direction and actionable feedback to ensure agency deliverables align with KIPP NYC brand standards and organizational goals

Campaign Strategy & Execution

• Lead creative development for student recruitment staff recruitment enrollment fundraising and regional awareness campaigns
• Oversee the creation of high-impact multi-channel marketing assets including:
  • Social media campaigns
  • Video storytelling
  • Out-of-home (OOH) advertising
  • Transit campaigns
  • Digital advertising
  • Print collateral
  • Event branding and experiential materials
• Ensure creative assets are optimized for platform performance audience engagement and brand consistency
• Design scalable grassroots templates and tools that support school-based outreach and recruitment efforts

Storytelling & Content Production

• Partner with school communities and regional teams to identify and elevate authentic stories that highlight the excellence joy and diversity of KIPP NYC students families alumni and staff
• Translate organizational priorities and campaign goals into compelling visual narratives and creative concepts
• Oversee photography video and creative production efforts to ensure high-quality execution across campaigns
• Manage and organize the regional creative asset library to maximize accessibility and effective use of brand materials

Community & Cultural Relevance

• Ensure all creative work demonstrates deep cultural responsiveness and reflects the lived experiences of NYC communities
• Collaborate with agency and internal partners to develop Spanish-language and multilingual creative that is culturally nuanced and community-centered
• Bring a strong understanding of NYC neighborhoods culture and audiences to all campaigns and storytelling efforts

Cross-Functional Collaboration & Operations

• Partner closely with Recruitment Talent Development Academics School Leadership and Regional teams to support organizational priorities through creative strategy
• Manage timelines workflows approvals and creative project execution across multiple stakeholders
• Support creative direction and branding for high-profile regional events campaigns and internal communications
• Contribute to the continuous improvement of marketing systems processes and creative operations

Qualifications :

• 57 years of experience in art direction creative leadership or brand design roles
• Experience working within a creative agency mission-driven organization consumer-facing brand or high-growth environment
• Proven experience managing creative campaigns from concept through execution across multiple platforms
• Strong portfolio demonstrating high-quality visual storytelling campaign execution and creative leadership
• Deep understanding of social-first creative digital marketing trends and audience engagement strategies
• Experience developing creative for NYC-based campaigns including hyperlocal and multicultural audiences
• Expertise in Adobe Creative Suite including Photoshop Illustrator and InDesign
• Experience collaborating with photographers videographers editors and production teams
• Strong project management and organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills
• Fluency in Spanish strongly preferred
• Experience creating culturally responsive or multilingual campaigns preferred
• Knowledge of education nonprofit or community-centered organizations is a plus
• Deep commitment to KIPP NYCs mission and belief in educational equity and opportunity
• Passion for celebrating and amplifying the brilliance of students families educators and communities
• Demonstrates KIPP NYCs core values: zest grit hope social intelligence gratitude and a sense of humor
• Thrives in a collaborative feedback-driven and mission-oriented environment

Additional Information :

Compensation and Benefits:

KIPP NYC offers a salary ranging from $105000- $131840. Salary ranges at KIPP NYC are standardized based on role level and role function. Individual salaries are determined through a lens of equity accounting for years of experience relevant to the role and scope of responsibilities and are benchmarked against others within the same salary band.

KIPP NYC offers a generous benefits package including but not limited to the following:

• Robust benefits that include medical dental and vision.
• 403(b) retirement plan with a 50% match after 6 months.
• Generous Time-Off aligned with the school calendar
• Up to 12 weeks of 100% parental leave.
• Bright Horizon Back-up Child and Elder care.
• Employer-paid Life Insurance and Short-term / Long-term disability.
• Employee incentives include an 8-week paid Sabbatical after 10 years annual professional development funds and tuition reimbursement.

This description is intended to describe the type of work being performed by a person assigned to this position. It is not an exhaustive list of all duties and responsibilities required by the employee.

This is a full-time in-person role based in New York City and will require travel to our schools. If you are not in a school-based position the cadence and frequency of travel to schools is determined by your leadership team. If you relocate outside of a commutable distance or out of the state of NY your employment will be subject to review which may include separation from KIPP NYC. It is important that you notify HR if you move or have plans to relocate.

KIPP NYC LLC does not offer visa sponsorship or work authorization. 

KIPP NYC LLC is committed to creating a welcoming environment that includes employees with diverse backgrounds and experiences. We believe that enables us to better meet our mission and values while serving students and families throughout New York City. 

KIPP NYC LLC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. KIPP NYC LLC is committed to the principles of equal employment opportunity for all employees and applicants for employment.

Remote Work :

No

Employment Type :

Full-time