Associate Creative Director, Copy (Remote Canada)

THE ROLE

Directive is a revenue-first marketing consultancy built to serve B2B SaaS enterprise technology industrial and commerce brands. We dont make things look good for its own sake. We build visual systems that hold up under the pressure of performance channels complex professional services positioning and a buying audience that starts with a CMO and ends with a CFO.

We are looking for an Associate Creative Director who will translate Moments that Matter into creative territories messaging hypotheses campaign concepts headlines CTAs and copy direction that designers can execute against. The Associate Creative Director will bring senior-level creative judgment to work that is fast-moving digital-first and tied directly to business outcomes. This person will not simply wait for polished briefs or execute one-off design requests. They will help shape the ask identify stronger creative angles and translate strategic inputs into assets that feel clear compelling and differentiated. They will represent creative in strategic new-business and portfolio-sales opportunities help build speculative and portfolio creative and support Directives move toward campaign-style case studies that can drive account growth and new revenue.

This is an individual contributor role no direct reports but the work will be high-visibility and the standard will be high. The ideal candidate is copywriting-led and campaign-minded. They should have enough executive presence to participate in client and leadership conversations but remain hands-on enough to write copy review briefs develop messaging territories and shape creative direction without needing a fully staffed creative team around them. They should understand performance creative as a system of hypotheses tests learnings and scalable winnersnot just brand execution or asset quality.

Success means helping Directive replace deliverable-based requests with campaign briefs grounded in business objectives buyer insight test variables and success metrics. The ACD should raise the quality of creative thinking before work reaches production improve how Directive communicates to technical and enterprise buyers and create the foundation for a scalable performance creative practice.

WILL OWN

Campaign Strategy

The ACD owns the idea message and creative direction before production begins and helps prove that better campaign thinking can create better performance stronger pitches and more creative revenue.

• Support new-business and portfolio-sales opportunities with speculative creative campaign narratives and stronger creative presence in strategic pitches.

• Create the foundation for Directives strategic creative approach.

• Primary responsibility is creative direction campaign concepting messaging strategy and performance copy direction.

• Turns campaign and creative briefs into territories concepts hooks headlines CTAs landing-page narrative direction and message sequencing.

• Partners with designers by giving them a strong concept and copy direction to execute against.

• Builds the early proof points examples and campaign-style case studies needed to support future creative revenue growth.

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

30-day success signal: Internal teams understand why this role exists what it owns and how creative requests should start shifting from asset asks to campaign briefs.

• Audited current creative requests briefs production workflows pitch materials and performance creative examples.

• Met with Creative Production Paid Media Growth Sales Account leadership and executive stakeholders to understand opportunities.

• Defined what a good campaign brief needs to include before work enters production.

• Created a first draft of the campaign creative brief template tied to Moments that Matter / Stratos.

• Identified 23 priority use cases where the new model can prove value quickly such as strategic account pitches paid social campaigns ABM campaigns or portfolio-sales opportunities.

• Produced at least one example of a stronger campaign territory or messaging direction from an existing work.

90-day success signal: Directive can point to live examples where creative strategy made the work sharper before production began and stakeholders feel the new process is improving clarity quality and pitch readiness.

• Run several real briefs through a campaign-level creative process: insight hypothesis concept copy direction production handoff launch and learning.

• Developed creative territories messaging angles campaign copy and testing recommendations for priority initiatives.

• Supported at least one new-business strategic account or portfolio-sales opportunity with speculative or campaign-style creative.

• Built a working partnership model with production designers so designers are executing against clearer concepts and copy direction.

• Created early examples of campaign-style case studies or internal proof points.

• Established a lightweight creative review rhythm focused on concept quality message clarity testability and business relevance.

• Begun defining the message/proof library and taxonomy needed for learning to compound across campaigns.

• You have an established creative testing rhythm: hypothesis variant data decision repeatable without manual oversight.

QUALIFICATIONS

Experience & Portfolio

Creative Expertise

• 46 years of professional creative experience with a meaningful portion in an agency professional services or B2B marketing environment

• A portfolio that shows range across brand work and performance creative we need to see both a visual system you built and an ad campaign you designed that drove measurable results

• Experience developing campaigns from concept through execution.

• Ability to maintain and evolve brand standards across multiple channels.

Strategic and Business Skills

• Understanding of creative strategy and storytelling.

• Ability to translate ICP positioning personas JTBD insights proof points objections and funnel-stage context into creative hypotheses and campaign concepts.

• Executive presence and confidence presenting creative strategy in new-business portfolio-sales client-facing or leadership settings.

• Strong understanding of performance creative testing methodology message iteration pipeline influence and revenue-oriented creative measurement.

• Ability to partner effectively with production designers paid media strategists Account Directors Growth and Sales without needing to personally execute design production.

• Comfort operating in ambiguity and helping shape the brief when the request is not fully formed.

Technical and Industry Knowledge

• Digital marketing and social media

• UX/UI design

• Video and motion graphics

• Content strategy

• Creative software such as Adobe Creative Cloud

• AI-assisted creative tools and emerging technologies

Tools Required

• Adobe Creative Suite Illustrator Photoshop InDesign (expert level)

• Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro proficient; you can produce and deliver without a separate editor

• Figma design systems component libraries collaborative handoff

• Familiarity with A/B testing and CRO tools Optimizely Unbounce Crazy Egg or equivalent

• Heavy reliance and comfortability with generative AI and a recommended tool-set day 1.

Tools Preferred

• Project management tools Asana or similar; you will work within an existing PM workflow

• Familiarity with a marketing analytics stack GA4 Looker or similar; you can read a dashboard and extract creative implications independently

WHAT WE OFFER

• We have a set living wage at Directive; The annual base salary range for this position based in Canada is $115000-$125000 CAD. This salary range is an estimate and the actual salary may vary based on Directives compensation practices job related skills and depth of experience.

• Medical dental vision plans disability and life insurance coverage for you and your family that fit your lifestyle

  • Including a 100% employer-paid plan for you and a 50% employer contribution for your dependents

• Benefits to Support the Whole Person:

  • Mental - Access to certified therapists through Spring Health membership to Headspace

  • Physical - Physical therapy through Omada fertility support through Carrott thousands of Aaptiv virtual workouts complimentary One Medical membership for primary and virtual care

  • Time Off - Unlimited PTO (2-week minimum) Paid Company Holidays Your Birthday Off End of Year Recharge (Closed December 24 - January 1) Paid Parental Leave

  • Financial - Traditional and Roth 401(k) with a 3% company match

  • Bonus - Annual bonus based on tenure which scales in total amount over time

WORK ENVIRONMENT

Directive is a remote-first company. This role operates 100% virtually from your home office. We collaborate through Zoom and Slack. You will need a reliable setup high-speed internet and a professional working environment capable of running Adobe Creative Suite and video production software without interruption.

We accommodate global candidates in markets where Directive has established business operations including Canada Mexico and the UK. Current permanent work authorization in that country is required. Due to the nature of this role you must be able to remain stationary for extended periods operate design and video software on Mac or PC and observe and interpret written and verbal communication consistently. Reasonable accommodations are available for qualified individuals with disabilities contact

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

At Directive one of our core values is People First. We are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive culture in the digital landscape. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race color religion gender gender identity or expression sexual orientation national origin genetics disability age or veteran status.

If you require reasonable accommodations in completing this application interviewing completing any pre-employment testing or otherwise participating in the employee selection process please direct your inquiries to

Required Experience:

Director