Role
Creative Engineering is the discipline that turns ideas into systems, the connective tissue between concept and code, between craft and scale. As a Creative Engineering Director, you own that discipline across accounts. You set the standards, define the vision for how our design systems are built, and make sure every team under you is pushing the same bar for craft, speed, and innovation.
Internally, you're building the bench. You manage and mentor Creative Engineering Leads, Associate Creative Engineering Directors, and the Engineers coming up behind them, setting the standard for how design systems get built and how AI gets used, not as a novelty, but as a tool that makes the work better and the team faster.
You Will
Ecosystem & Systems Leadership
- Define the vision for complex, scalable design systems that hold up across websites, emails, social, in-platform interfaces, and every format in between
- Set the strategy for how Dynamic Creative Optimization and dynamic content are applied across accounts, guiding teams on when it's the right tool for the job
- Identify ways AI can solve client challenges or improve workflows across the function, and champion the adoption of new tools and platforms
- Champion compliance, accessibility, and security standards across teams and clients
Client & Business Leadership
- Represent Creative Engineering with clients and in new business creating compelling stories that win pitches and organically shape new opportunities within your craft
- Build trusted relationships with clients as the go-to voice on what's technically possible
- Own the narrative in high-stakes presentations, translating complex technical work into a story any audience can follow
Team Leadership & Culture
- Manage and mentor Creative Engineering Leads, Associate Creative Engineering Directors, and engineers across the function, building a leadership pipeline beneath you
- Lead the innovation agenda for the function piloting new tools, formats, and processes before they become standard
- Champion talent development and culture, creating an environment where engineers want to grow and stay
Craft & Quality
- Set and enforce the bar for technical craft across every team you oversee
- Stay close enough to the work to catch what's broken and coach the fix, you lead by example, not just by title
You Have
- 10+ years of experience in creative technology, front-end development, or a related field, with a track record of leading teams and functions
- Proven experience managing and mentoring managers (CE Leads, ACEDs) as well as individual engineers
- Deep expertise in design systems architecture, with experience defining vision and strategy across websites, emails, social, and in-platform formats not just execution
- Experience using AI to solve client challenges and improve workflows, with a point of view on where the function should invest next
- A strong presentation narrative for internal and external audiences you can walk a room of engineers or a room of C-suite clients through the same idea
- Experience representing a function in new business and client relationships
- A track record of building and scaling teams, processes, and standards across accounts
What we offer:
- Maternity and parental leave extra days
- Competitive benefits packages
- Vacation, compassionate leave, sick days, and flex days
- Access to online services for families and new parents
- Diversity and Inclusion Board with 12 affinity groups
- Internal learning and development programs
- Enterprise-wide employee discounts
- And more…
At Critical Mass, we value our employees and offer competitive compensation and benefits packages. If you’re looking for a challenging and rewarding opportunity to make a significant impact on the lives of our employees, we encourage you to apply for this exciting position today!
The Talent Team at Critical Mass is focused on ensuring we provide the best training, onboarding, and employee experience possible! Our new hires & employees are the future of our organization, and we want to set you up for long-term success. In an effort to do so, we expect our team to work from an office a minimum of 3 days a week.
The ask stems from our want to:
- Strengthen opportunity for continuous learning
- Improve collaboration and team relationships.
- Increase employee engagement
This work model balances the need for individual flexibility while maintaining the relentless customer focus we provide at CM. We understand that not everyone may feel comfortable with this expectation, so we ask that you please let us know immediately if there are any concerns so we can help navigate accordingly.
Critical Mass is an equal opportunity employer.
Critical Mass uses artificial intelligence in our recruitment process to enhance job postings, filter keywords during the review of prospective candidates, and, in some cases, transcribe interviews with our recruiters. Human review remains central to the process, and all hiring decisions are ultimately made by our team.
The Critical Mass Talent Acquisition team will only communicate from email addresses that use the URLs criticalmass.com, omc.com and us.greenhouse-mail.io. We will not use apps such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, or Google Hangouts for communicating with you. We will never ask you to send us money, technology, or anything else to work for our company. If you believe you are the victim of a scam, please review your local government consumer protections guidance and reach out to them directly.
If U.S. based: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/job-scams#avoid
If Canada based: https://www.canada.ca/en/services/finance/consumer-affairs.html
If U.K. based: https://www.gov.uk/consumer-protection-rights
If Costa Rica based: https://www.consumo.go.cr/educacion_consumidor/consejos_practicos.aspx
Skills Required
- 10+ years of experience in creative technology, front-end development, or a related field
- Proven experience managing and mentoring managers (Creative Engineering Leads, Associate Creative Engineering Directors) and individual engineers
- Deep expertise in design systems architecture across websites, email, social, and in-platform formats
- Experience using AI to solve client challenges and improve workflows
- Experience defining strategy for Dynamic Creative Optimization and dynamic content
- Ability to represent the function in new business and client relationships and present to technical and C-suite audiences
- Track record of building and scaling teams, processes, and standards across accounts
- Champion compliance, accessibility, and security standards across teams and clients
- Work from an office a minimum of 3 days a week (hybrid attendance requirement)
What We Do
We’re Critical Mass. We are 2,000 inspired humans across 14 offices, setting the right path—not just the next one—for our clients, their customers, and our own colleagues. We work with the best, Apple, Adobe, BMW, Nike, Diageo, Airbnb, BNY and many more, to power connected ecosystems that make brands stand out by driving performance with data, technology, AI, creative and media. We’re a global marketing agency founded in Canada, but digital is our home. If you know us, then you know we’re a special place that attracts big talent and tiny egos. We’re driven, uncompromising and we live our values. We’re Critical Mass, but our friends call us CM. Learn more at criticalmass.com.
