Information about benefits can be found here.
Director, Art Direction West, North America
North America Brand Creative, LAHQ Studio
WHO YOU’LL WORK WITH
You will work and report to the Senior Creative Director of Nike NA Brand creative studio, collaborating daily with your creative teammates from the experience, narrative, and retail teams to answer seasonal briefs from various brand marketing categories, including Lifestyle, Global Football, Basketball, Running, etc.
WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR
The Director, Art Direction for North America Brand Creative leads multidisciplinary teams across multiple projects, partnering with senior leadership, creative directors, experience directors, narrative leads, studio managers, and producers to deliver innovative, well-crafted creative work. You champion design excellence across mediums, ensuring every output reflects Nike’s commitment to performance, product innovation, athlete storytelling, and cultural relevance. You will present to senior leadership with clarity and confidence, while coaching and developing emerging designers. You bring a deep connection to contemporary culture—sport, design, art, fashion, youth culture—and use this awareness to drive breakthrough ideas.
- 10+ years of experience in product, brand, or marketing within a major brand or agency
- Bachelor’s degree in design or related field. Will accept any suitable combination of education and experience, and training.
- Deep passion and knowledge of North American sport, athletes, and the cultural landscape.
- Ability to evolve and elevate North America and LA focused art direction in partnership with the creative team.
- Lead, inspire, and coach young designers, fostering growth and creative excellence.
- Build visual worlds and deliver best-in-class art direction for campaigns rooted in sport, athlete-entertainer storytelling, and product innovation.
- Oversee the planning, execution, and delivery of high-quality creative work from concept through final execution.
- Present creative concepts with strong storytelling, clarity, and stage presence.
- Maintain uncompromising standards of quality, consistency, and innovation.
- Highly proficient in design, typography, image-making, and retouching using Adobe Creative Suite and tools such as Figma. 3D or motion knowledge is a plus.
- Cultivate strong relationships with external creative partners—agencies, photographers, directors, 3D artists, designers, animators, writers, illustrators, and more.
- Stay ahead of trends across sport, fashion, subculture, music, design, retail, film, technology, AI, and social media to ensure creative relevance.
WHAT YOU WILL WORK ON
You will lead art direction for Nike North America, partnering with senior leadership to shape and deliver the region’s visual identity. You’ll guide design teams across mediums—visual systems, campaigns, photography, film, digital, and experiential—ensuring all work reflects Nike’s innovation, diversity, and cultural relevance.
- Develop, refine, and deliver multiple visual directions system for North America and LA in partnership with senior creative leaders.
- Drive NA art direction with design teams through inspiration, execution, mentorship, and clear creative guidance.
- Deliver outstanding concepts, visual centres, project guidelines, photography, film content, digital design, social assets, and consumer experiences.
- Build and maintain relationships with top creative partners: agencies, photographers, filmmakers, illustrators, typographers, designers, 3D artists, writers, and more
- Partner with cross-functional leaders to strategically identify and manage external creative talents.
- Define and elevate art direction for NA video and photography across categories, ensuring work is on-brand, diverse, culturally resonant, and fiscally responsible.
- Foster a culture of creative “firsts” and breakthrough thinking.
- Stay current with trends in sport, fashion, design, art, film, culture, media, and technology.
- Collaborate closely with Brand Voice, Photography, Styling, Marketing, Digital, Retail, Product Design, and Concepts teams throughout the creative process.
- Ensure all projects are well-planned, creatively exceptional, and delivered on time.
- Support talent development through coaching, feedback, and performance management
We offer a number of accommodations to complete our interview process including screen readers, sign language interpreters, accessible and single location for in-person interviews, closed captioning, and other reasonable modifications as needed. If you discover, as you navigate our application process, that you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, please complete the Candidate Accommodation Request Form.
Skills Required
- 10+ years of experience in product, brand, or marketing within a major brand or agency.
- Bachelor's degree in design or related field (or equivalent combination of education and experience).
- Deep knowledge of North American sport, athletes, and the cultural landscape.
- Proven ability to evolve and elevate art direction for North America and LA markets.
- Experience leading, inspiring, and coaching designers; talent development and performance management.
- Experience building visual worlds and delivering campaign-level art direction rooted in sport and product innovation.
- Experience overseeing planning, execution, and delivery from concept through final execution.
- Strong presentation skills with storytelling, clarity, and stage presence for senior leadership.
- Highly proficient in design, typography, image-making, and retouching using Adobe Creative Suite and tools such as Figma.
- Ability to cultivate and manage relationships with external creative partners (agencies, photographers, directors, 3D artists, illustrators, etc.).
- Stay current with trends across sport, fashion, culture, media, technology, and social platforms to ensure creative relevance.
- 3D or motion knowledge.
Nike Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Nike and has not been reviewed or approved by Nike.
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Retirement Support — A 401(k) with a company match is complemented by options such as a Mega Backdoor Roth and deferred compensation for eligible earners. Financial coaching and structured savings programs support long-term financial security.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — An Employee Stock Purchase Plan with a stock discount sits alongside broad-based equity vehicles like RSUs and non-qualified stock options. These avenues expand wealth-building opportunities beyond base pay.
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Parental & Family Support — Paid parental leave includes maternity and paternity time, recently expanded in the U.S. to 16 weeks and extended to part-time retail teammates. Additional supports include childcare assistance at select locations and family-building benefits such as fertility, surrogacy, and adoption.
Nike Insights
What We Do
At NIKE, Inc., we innovate to serve athletes*. Every teammate - from coder to creator - plays a role in making these athletes’ dreams real. Our tech, data, and digital teams push limits every day, building the future of sport and the tools that drive it. Here, curiosity is fuel. Innovation is the game plan. Different perspectives keep us on the offense. You’ll solve challenges worth tackling, grow fast and belong to a team that backs you to do the right thing. Bring your drive. Bring your bold. Let’s move the world, together. Take your first step at nike.com/careers * If you have a body, you’re an athlete.
Why Work With Us
At NIKE, Inc., your dedication fuels the future of sport. There is a sense of pride that comes from representing an iconic brand and shaping its future. Here, we treat every day as a new opportunity to push boundaries, ask tough questions and share whole-hearted convictions. We are a team – united by the belief that anything is possible.
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