JDA Worldwide is a full-service marketing and communications firm. For over two decades, we have served national, emerging, and category-leading brands who want to make a positive impact on the world. We are headquartered in Indianapolis and have proudly been named one of the best places to work in Indiana for 5 straight years. Friendly people, fun offices and incredible clients make it enjoyable to come to work at JDA. Our culture fosters growth, and we have top-notch employee perks and benefits. We’ll hope you’ll join us!

Prolific, our parent company, is The Growth Firm.  Prolific holds a collection of companies and capabilities focused on one thing - growth.

Job Summary:

The Associate Creative Director (ACD) is a dynamic agency leader who drives creative vision across multiple teams to deliver award-winning solutions for clients. ACDs lead portfolios of client business, build and guide multidisciplinary teams, and regularly engage with senior clients and key stakeholders.

At JDA, the ACD serves as a hands-on creative leader responsible for elevating the quality and impact of the team’s work. Reporting to the VP of Brand, the ACD helps lead the creative team and collaborates closely with Brand, Account Service, Operations, Digital, Web, and PR. Additionally, the ACD works in partnership with our paid media agency, Conquer.

Job Responsibilities:

• Set and uphold creative standards, ensuring excellence in craft, clarity, and originality and brand alignment
• Own the creative vision and execution across client campaigns, aligning work to client objectives, brand strategy, and agency goals
• Lead, inspire, and mentor a multidisciplinary team of designers and writers through clear direction, hands-on leadership, and example
• Serve as both player and coach—personally contributing to high-impact creative work while elevating team output
• Develop and present concepts, campaigns, and deliverables to existing and prospective clients
• Oversee creative development from concept through execution across digital, print, packaging, experiential, and emerging media
• Establish clear creative frameworks, guardrails, and principles to ensure consistency, scalability, and quality
• Balance creative ambition with budgets, timelines, and available resources
• Collaborate cross-functionally with Digital, Web, Accounts, and Operations to improve creative processes and outcomes
• Review and approve scopes, timelines, feedback, revisions, and final creative across internal, inter-agency, and client-facing teams
• Coach, evaluate, and support creative team members, fostering professional growth, performance, engagement, and strengthen team output
• Stay current on industry trends, tools, and best practices to continuously evolve the agency’s creative approach
• Uphold our core values at JDA – Interpreter of Dreams, Trusted Advisors, Courageously Creative, and Ready to Fight

The responsibilities are many, various, and not limited to those written in this document.

• Team leadership and creative talent development experience
• 6-10 years of experience in the advertising agency, brand, or media world
• Bachelor’s degree in related field: fine art, design, advertising, communication, marketing, etc.
• A diverse portfolio that showcases a refined design eye across a variety of project types and mediums
• Demonstrable high-level skill within the Adobe Suite, Figma, and other common design tools
• Knowledge of UX/UI, interface design, and digital design 

Desired Skills + Attributes:

•  Conceptual Excellence – Exceptional design thinking, visualization, and concept development skills
• Strategic Thinker – Ability to connect big-picture vision with hands-on, strategic problem-solving
• Brand Stewardship – Confident guardian of brand integrity with excellence across all visual and verbal execution and      touchpoints
• Integrated Go-to-Market Thinking – Deep understanding of brand strategy, audience insights, and how creative drives integrated campaigns, launches, channels, and performance
• Strategic Evaluation – Ability to assess creative work against strategy, audience needs, performance goals, and business objectives
• Conceptual Rigor – Actively contributes to the work and models excellence in execution, bringing strong point of view, original thinking, and clarity to concepts and narratives
• Storytelling Craft – Ability to translate strategy and insight into compelling narratives that resonate across audiences and channels
• Campaign Leadership – Owns and leads creative work from concept through launch and iteration, defining scalable campaigns and leading multi-channel execution
• Video Leadership – Experience developing and directing video concepts, photography, scripts, storyboards, and end-to-end production workflows
• Digital Design Leadership – Strong digital-first design expertise and leadership across web, social, paid media and emerging platforms and formats
• People Leadership – Collaborative, motivating leader who builds morale and unifies teams around shared goals
• Operational Focus – Ability to manage multiple campaigns and priorities while maintaining quality, consistency, and timelines
• Clear Communication – Compelling communicator, articulates ideas and direction with confidence across teams, clients, and      stakeholders
• Adaptable Leader – Navigates change, ambiguity, and evolving priorities with composure
• Ownership Mindset – Takes responsibility for outcomes and follows through on commitments 

Benefits:

• Medical, Dental, Vision Insurance
• 401(k) Matching Plan
• Life Insurance (100% Company Paid)
• Short-Term and Long-Term Disability Insurance (100% Company Paid)
• Flexible Paid Time Off 
• 12 Paid Holidays
• Sick Days
• Paid Parental Leave
• On-Site Fitness Center
• Cell Phone Reimbursement
• MacBook Pro Laptop
• Free snacks and drinks in the office