Creative Director

Summary

Join Gusto as a Creative Director and bring our brand to life through visually compelling work. As part of the in-house Brand Studio, you will translate brand vision into powerful visuals across various mediums. This individual contributor role requires a hands-on approach, leading by doing and collaborating with designers, producers, and other teams. You will define the visual identity, craft brand moments, provide creative direction, champion execution, maintain brand consistency, evolve visual language, and collaborate cross-functionally. The ideal candidate possesses exceptional taste, a sharp eye for detail, and a passion for composition, typography, and visual storytelling. Gusto offers competitive compensation and benefits.

Requirements

• 8+ years of experience in visual design, brand design, or art direction, preferably in in-house creative teams, agencies, or high-growth startups
• Expert-level craft in composition, typography, color, and layout—you have an eye for what makes design truly exceptional
• Strong portfolio showcasing world-class brand design, advertising, and visual storytelling across multiple platforms
• Experience creating and evolving visual identity systems, ensuring consistency and quality across a brand’s touchpoints
• Ability to provide clear, actionable feedback and guide designers toward better execution
• Highly collaborative mindset—comfortable working with designers, marketers, producers, writers, and cross-functional teams
• Hands-on approach—excited to dive into projects and refine execution alongside the team
• Adaptability and resilience—able to work in a fast-paced, ever-changing startup environment while delivering exceptional creative work

Responsibilities

• Define the Visual Identity: Ensure a strong, cohesive, and recognizable brand presence across all creative outputs
• Craft Beautiful Brand Moments: Design beautiful and purposeful websites, landing pages and interactive digital assets for campaigns that showcase the best of our brand
• Provide Creative Direction and Hands-On Design Leadership: Offer insightful, constructive feedback to designers to ensure every piece of creative work meets the highest standards of quality and to elevate elements like composition, typography and imagery to ensure pixel-perfect execution
• Champion Craft & Execution: Push the team to think beyond the obvious and execute at a world-class level, refining work through iteration and thoughtful critique
• Maintain Brand Consistency: Develop and enforce brand guidelines that align with our evolving brand strategy
• Evolve Visual Language: Identify opportunities to refine and expand our visual system, ensuring the brand remains fresh, modern, and impactful
• Collaborate Cross-Functionally: Partner with producers, web designers, event teams, and marketing to align aesthetics across all platforms and campaigns
• Stay Ahead of Trends: Keep up with design, photography, illustration, and motion trends to inspire fresh ideas and push creative boundaries

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with photo direction, illustration, or motion graphics
• Background in advertising or editorial design
• Knowledge of web design principles and UI/UX best practices
• Experience with AI-driven design tools or emerging creative technologies

Benefits

• Health insurance
• 401(k)s
• Competitive compensation packages with a strong emphasis on equity based compensation (ownership in Gusto)
• Our cash compensation range for this role is $172,000/yr to $215,000/yr in Denver & most remote locations, and $202,000/yr to $253,000/yr in San Francisco, Seattle & New York