Creative Strategist - Senior

Established in 2021, Independence Pet Holdings is a corporate holding company that manages a diverse and broad portfolio of modern pet health brands and services, including insurance, pet education, lost recovery services, and more throughout North America.

We believe pet insurance is more than a financial product and build solutions to simplify the pet parenting journey and help improve the well-being of pets. As a leading authority in the pet category, we operate with a full stack of resources, capital, and services to support pet parents. Our multi-brand and omni-channel approach include our own insurance carrier, insurance brands and partner brands. 

Position: Creative Director, PetPlace

Department: Brand Marketing

Reports To: Deidre Grieves, Director of Brand Marketing, PetPlace

Overview

We are seeking an experienced and insightful Creative Director to lead the creative strategy, brand expression, and creative execution for the PetPlace and 24Pet brands.

This role is responsible for ensuring a cohesive, compelling, and emotionally resonant brand experience across all touchpoints — digital, product, marketing, and lifecycle communications.

The Creative Director will translate brand strategy into powerful creative that builds trust, drives engagement, and strengthens connection with pet parents, partners, and the animal welfare community. This role blends big-picture brand leadership with hands-on creative direction and execution, collaborating closely with Brand Marketing, Product, Digital Experience, Content, and external partners.

Key Responsibilities

Creative Strategy & Brand Stewardship

• Own and evolve the creative vision for PetPlace, 24Pet, and 24Petwatch, ensuring each brand is distinct yet unified within the broader ecosystem.

• Facilitate and oversee all visual elements of the PetPlace brand relaunch in 2026, coordinating with our agency partner and internal team to bring the vision to life.

• Translate brand positioning, audience insights, and business objectives into clear creative strategies and platforms.

• Serve as the guardian of brand identity, visual systems, and asset organization across all brands and channels.

• Develop and maintain brand guidelines, ensuring consistency and excellence in execution.

Creative Direction & Execution

• Lead concept development and creative direction for integrated campaigns, including digital, social, email, content, product marketing, and partner communications.

• Oversee design, photography, and visual identity across web experiences, marketing assets, event activations, and lifecycle communications.

• Provide hands-on creative direction and feedback to internal & external designers, copywriters, and agency partners.

• Ensure creative solutions are both emotionally compelling and performance-driven.

Digital & Product Collaboration

• Partner closely with Product, UX, and Digital teams to shape user-centered experiences across PetPlace.com and related platforms.

• Ensure creative and brand thinking is embedded early in product and feature development.

• Collaborate on UX/UI direction to balance usability, accessibility, and brand expression.

Team & Partner Leadership

• Lead, mentor, and inspire creative talent, fostering a culture of collaboration, curiosity, and high creative standards.

• Manage relationships with external agencies, freelancers, and production partners.

• Clearly articulate creative vision and rationale to cross-functional stakeholders and leadership.

Performance & Optimization

• Partner with Marketing and Analytics teams to understand performance insights and continuously refine creative approaches.

• Balance brand-building and conversion-driven creative, adapting execution based on audience behavior and outcomes.

• Stay current with creative, digital, and design trends, bringing fresh ideas and innovation to the brands.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in creative leadership roles, with experience overseeing brand and digital creative across multiple channels.

• Strong portfolio demonstrating strategic thinking, storytelling, and high-quality execution across digital-first brands.

• Proven experience leading and directing multidisciplinary creative teams.

• Deep understanding of brand building, visual identity systems, photography & video strategy.

• Experience collaborating closely with Product, UX, and Marketing teams.

• Ability to balance big-picture brand vision with hands-on creative problem-solving.

• Exceptional communication and presentation skills, with the ability to influence and align stakeholders.

• Passion for pets, purpose-driven brands, or consumer trust-based platforms is a strong plus.

Nice-to-Have

• Experience working with marketplace, subscription, or platform-based digital products.

• Familiarity with CRO, SEO, and performance marketing principles.

• Experience in regulated or trust-sensitive categories (e.g., healthcare, insurance, animal welfare).

• Background working with both in-house teams and external agencies.

All of our jobs come with great benefits including healthcare, parental leave and opportunities for career advancements. Some offerings are dependent upon the location of where you work and can include the following:

• Comprehensive full medical, dental and vision Insurance
• Basic Life Insurance at no cost to the employee
• Company paid short-term and long-term disability
• 12 weeks of 100% paid Parental Leave
• Health Savings Account (HSA)
• Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
• Retirement savings plan
• Personal Paid Time Off
• Paid holidays and company-wide Wellness Day off
• Paid time off to volunteer at nonprofit organizations
• Pet friendly office environment
• Commuter Benefits
• Group Pet Insurance
• On the job training and skills development
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)