Contract Creative Director
New York
Brand
$170-180k
Freelance / Contract
This is a six-month contract for a senior creative partner to work across a four-brand beauty portfolio - hair, colour cosmetics, skincare and baby care - inside a company formed in 2024 and still actively acquiring, having added its most recent brand as recently as this July: this is a portfolio being built in real time.
The Role
You'll lead creative direction across all four brands at once - brand identity, digital, social, e-commerce, packaging, retail and campaigns - owning both strategy and execution. That breadth is the point: rather than one brand or a seat in a large department, you'd shape all of it.
You'll direct product launches and major brand moments from concept through delivery, managing day-to-day creative priorities, workflow and timelines across a lean team of around 30 people, mentoring two direct reports managing external creative partners, and working closely with brand, marketing, product, e-commerce and leadership.
The reporting relationship matters here. You wouldn't be replacing the existing creative leader; you'd work alongside them as their strategic co-lead. A peer-level partnership, not a hierarchy. You'd bring structure and forward planning to a function that needs both, while staying close to the work yourself.
The Package
$170,000 - $180,000 contract rate
Fully remote, US-based working
Initial six-month contract, with potential for longer-term engagement
The Person
You're a Creative Director currently in-house at a beauty or personal care business, or leading a beauty-focused agency and ready to move client-side. You've run creative across brand, digital, social, e-commerce, packaging and retail, and you've directed photo and video shoots.
Crucially, you understand how creative works in a retail-driven consumer business, with hands-on experience across both prestige and mass retail accounts. You've managed small teams and freelancers, and you're comfortable operating autonomously with shifting priorities. This is a heavy mandate for a lean team, so it will suit someone who wants that scope, not someone looking for cover.