Creative Director
San Francisco, CA - USA
Job Summary
At Navan our mission is to power the in-person connections that move people ideas and businesses forward. We help our travelers focus on being there not getting there.
Navans Marketing team is looking for a Creative Director to lead a talented high-output creative studio that balances the prestige of a world-class brand with the relentless speed of a social-first newsroom. You wont inherit a playbook or manage the lookyou will have greenfield creative authority to shape the brand and business impact of every creative asset.
This role requires someone comfortable operating in a dual-audience world possessing a consumer-grade storytelling sensibility. You understand that enterprise creative doesnt have to be boring and you know how to switch registers to make both corporate buyers (CFOs procurement) and end-users feel seen across their emotional and rational journeys.
What Youll Do
- Own the Creative Vision: Drive the global creative strategy and brand consistency across all marketing assets platforms and physical experiencesfrom TV OOH Digital and Social to flagships like our Navigate conference.
- Lead a High-Output Engine: Oversee and scale our in-house design copy video and animation team.
- Integrate Creative into the Business: Help writers and designers deeply understand Navans business model sales cycles and customer pain points. You are fluent in the metrics of conversion and business impact not just aesthetics.
- Pioneer AI-Driven Efficiency: Act as a champion for generative innovation. You will operationalize AI tools to automate ideation rapid prototyping mood boarding and asset generationenabling your team to move 10x faster and stay focused on big-rock ideas.
- Cross-Functional Partnership: Act as a strategic peer to Demand Generation Sales and regional teams to translate complex functionality into powerful persona-centric campaigns.
What Were Looking For
- Seniority & Growth Experience: 10 years of creative leadership with a proven track record of building and mentoring high-performing design/creative teams. You have scaled creative operations through significant growth inflections (e.g. Series C rapid headcount expansions or post-IPO environments).
- The Scrappy-Scale Paradox: Big-brand pedigree leading multi-channel integrated campaigns for global brands paired with an infrastructure-agnostic mindset. You dont need a massive agency bench to scale; your formative years were spent in fast-paced environments like newsrooms agencies or social-first shops.
- Transparent Culture: You thrive in an environment of candor and assertive leadership. You provide direct objective feedback and expect the same from your peers and team.
- Conviction Flexibility: You hold a strong opinion loosely held. You will fiercely defend the best creative concept but you possess the humility and speed to pivot instantly when stakeholder needs or business data dictate a new direction.
- Target Industry Background: Ideally you have run creative inside design-forward travel/hospitality brands (e.g. Airbnb Away Expedia) category-norm-breaking B2B SaaS spaces (e.g. Stripe Figma Brex) or consumer lifestyle brands with a distinct B2B reach (e.g. Squarespace Notion).
What Will Excite You About Navan
- A post-IPO company with real momentum and an internal culture that always asks Can we go bigger rather than one that hedges.
- Travel as a creative canvas: rich emotional visual territory that most B2B corporate creative functions never get access to.
- An execution-strong capable team that is hungry to be pushed elevated and expanded.
Required Experience:
Director
About Company
Streamline your corporate travel management and expense processes in one app. Save time, gain efficiency, and reduce costs with this powerful, all-in-one solution.