This is a high-impact leadership opportunity for an experienced Performance Creative leader who excels at developing teams, shaping strategy, and transforming data-driven insights into exceptional creative.
As Director, Performance Creative, you'll lead a team of creative strategists while overseeing a portfolio of key client relationships and helping shape the continued evolution of our Performance Creative practice. You'll partner closely with senior leaders across the agency to elevate creative strategy, drive new business, and build scalable systems that enable better creative, stronger testing, and continuous learning.
This role requires someone equally comfortable coaching leaders, presenting to executive clients, leading RFPs, and rolling up their sleeves to solve complex creative challenges. You'll collaborate closely with Media, Client Services, Strategy, Production, Design, UGC, Influencer, and Operations to deliver best-in-class performance creative across every stage of the customer journey.
This role has an associated annual target bonus component which is paid out based on a number of factors which include Company performance, department performance, and individual performance. Bonuses are not guaranteed and you must be an active employee in good standing and not on a Performance Improvement Plan to be eligible for the annual bonus.
You Will Be
- Serve as a senior strategic partner across a portfolio of key client accounts, ensuring creative strategy drives measurable business results.
- Own the health and success of your team's book of business, balancing creative performance, client satisfaction, and long-term growth.
- Present creative strategy, performance insights, and recommendations to senior client stakeholders with confidence and clarity.
- Step into complex client situations, providing strategic leadership and identifying opportunities to grow existing partnerships.
- Manage a team of approximately 2–5 direct reports, including Associate Directors and Managers.
- Coach leaders to strengthen strategic thinking, creative judgment, client leadership, and performance marketing expertise.
- Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, innovation, and continuous learning while empowering teams to take ownership of their work.
- Guide staffing decisions, team capacity, and resource planning to ensure the right talent is aligned to the right opportunities.
- Lead the Performance Creative workstream for new business opportunities, including RFPs, pitch strategy, presentations, and in-person meetings.
- Partner across Media, Strategy, UGC/INF, Client Services, Design Production, and Operations to develop differentiated creative solutions for new and existing clients.
- Help shape the evolution of the Performance Creative practice by improving processes, testing frameworks, department standards, and ways of working.
- Champion the adoption of AI and emerging technologies to strengthen creative strategy, production workflows, and operational efficiency.
- Contribute to department planning, resource allocation, and operational decisions that support the continued growth of the Performance Creative team.
You Must Have
- 7+ years of experience in an advertising, creative, or digital marketing agency, including 5+ years leading Performance Creative for paid media clients.
- Proven success leading and developing high-performing teams, including coaching senior-level talent.
- Deep expertise in Performance Creative across Meta, TikTok, YouTube, Amazon, Programmatic, Display, and emerging paid media channels.
- A track record of translating performance insights into scalable creative strategies, testing frameworks, and measurable creative learnings.
- Experience leading senior client relationships, facilitating executive presentations, and serving as a trusted strategic advisor.
- Confidence leading new business efforts, including RFP strategy, in-person pitches, and cross-functional proposal development.
- Strong operational and business acumen, with experience contributing to staffing plans, scopes of work, resource planning, and department growth.
- A collaborative leadership style with the ability to influence across disciplines and build strong partnerships with Media, Client Services, Strategy, Production, and Operations.
- Practical experience applying AI and emerging technologies to improve creative strategy, workflows, and team efficiency.
- Exceptional communication, presentation, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to bring clarity to complex challenges.
- A builder's mindset; you enjoy creating better systems, developing people, and continuously evolving how great Performance Creative gets done.
Wpromote Chicago, Illinois, USA Office
Chicago, United States
Similar Jobs
What you need to know about the Chicago Tech Scene
Key Facts About Chicago Tech
- Number of Tech Workers: 245,800; 5.2% of overall workforce (2024 CompTIA survey)
- Major Tech Employers: McDonald’s, John Deere, Boeing, Morningstar
- Key Industries: Artificial intelligence, biotechnology, fintech, software, logistics technology
- Funding Landscape: $2.5 billion in venture capital funding in 2024 (Pitchbook)
- Notable Investors: Pritzker Group Venture Capital, Arch Venture Partners, MATH Venture Partners, Jump Capital, Hyde Park Venture Partners
- Research Centers and Universities: Northwestern University, University of Chicago, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Illinois Institute of Technology, Argonne National Laboratory, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory



