Art Director - Beauty

About the Role

We're looking for a talented, hands-on Art Director to join a growing in-house creative team supporting two distinct beauty brands.

This is an exciting opportunity for a creative thinker with a strong visual point of view, a passion for beauty, and experience working with emerging, independent, or disruptive brands.

The ideal candidate can move comfortably between developing big-picture creative concepts and executing the finer details. You'll help shape the visual identity and creative output of both brands across campaigns, social media, digital, product photography, and content production.

We're particularly interested in someone who brings a fresh, culturally relevant perspective and understands how to create compelling work within a fast-moving beauty environment.

Requirements

Key Responsibilities

• Lead creative concept development and art direction across two beauty brands, maintaining their distinct visual identities.
• Conceptualize and execute creative campaigns, product launches, social content, and digital assets.
• Plan and art-direct in-house photo and video shoots, from initial concept and mood boards through production and final delivery.
• Collaborate with external creative agencies and production partners, providing art direction and ensuring creative consistency.
• Work closely with photographers, videographers, designers, and content creators to bring ideas to life.
• Provide hands-on design support when needed, including layouts, presentations, campaign assets, and visual storytelling.
• Help establish efficient creative processes that allow the team to produce high-quality work quickly and effectively.
• Stay ahead of beauty, fashion, social media, and cultural trends, bringing fresh ideas and creative approaches to both brands.
• Oversee creative quality, ensuring all deliverables meet brand standards while continuing to evolve the visual direction.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of experience in art direction, preferably within beauty, skincare, cosmetics, fashion, or lifestyle.
• Experience working with independent, emerging, or digitally native brands is highly desirable.
• A strong portfolio demonstrating original creative concepts, campaign development, product photography, and digital content.
• Proven experience art-directing photo and video shoots, both in-house and with external agencies.
• Excellent understanding of lighting, composition, typography, color, and visual storytelling.
• Strong proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite, particularly Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign.
• Knowledge of social-first creative, including content for Instagram, TikTok, and other digital platforms.
• Comfortable working across multiple projects and brands in a collaborative, fast-paced environment.
• A proactive, resourceful approach with the ability to work independently and take ownership of projects.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and collaboration skills.

What We're Looking For

• Someone who is equally comfortable developing an ambitious campaign concept and rolling up their sleeves to make it happen.
• You don't need to come from a traditional large beauty company. In fact, we're particularly interested in creatives who have helped smaller, independent brands develop a distinctive visual identity and know how to deliver exceptional work with lean teams and agile production processes.
• Work Arrangement: This is a hybrid position based in New York City, requiring three days per week in the office.