VP Creative Director

Noodle is higher education's leading strategy, services, and technology partner. We develop infrastructure, provide life-changing learning experiences, and grow the awareness of and the enrollment in some of the best academic institutions in the world. Our vision is "to empower universities to change the world." We achieve this vision by offering our university partners various products and services that help them be more resilient, responsive, efficient, and interconnected. About the Role We are seeking a VP-level Creative Director to lead all creative functions in service to our higher education clients. This role will define and elevate creative vision while building a modern, high-performing creative function that delivers both compelling brand storytelling and scalable, high-impact performance marketing creative. This is a uniquely hybrid role that sits at the intersection of brand storytelling and performance marketing. It combines the strengths of a traditional Creative Director-defining vision, crafting compelling ideas, and elevating creative-with the rigor of a performance-oriented creative leader focused on speed, iteration, and measurable outcomes. In practice, this means you will be expected to both sell bold, differentiated creative concepts to university partners and ensure that creative output is optimized for performance, produced at scale, and continuously improving based on data. You will oversee all creative disciplines-including design, art direction, video, creative strategy, and content production-and establish the systems, standards, and workflows that enable both exceptional brand work and efficient, high-throughput execution across channels. Our work spans the full marketing ecosystem, from research, brand strategy, and institutional positioning to integrated campaign development and execution across digital and traditional channels, including advertising, websites, email, social, video, TV/CTV, audio, print, out-of-home, and more. What You'll Do Creative Leadership & Vision • Define and lead the creative vision across all client engagements, spanning brand campaigns and performance marketing initiatives • Develop new, or translate existing, institutional and program-level positioning into compelling, differentiated creative concepts that resonate with prospective students • Ensure all creative work-visual and written-balances clarity, effectiveness, and craft across channels Client-Facing Leadership & Pitching • Serve as the senior creative lead in high-stakes moments, including new business pitches and strategic client presentations • Articulate and sell visionary, insight-driven creative concepts to university partners • Partner with sales and account teams to expand relationships through new creative opportunities and directions Performance Creative & Optimization • Build and lead a creative function that delivers high-volume, high-quality performance marketing assets across digital channels • Manage systems for rapid iteration and continuous improvement based on performance insights • Partner closely with performance marketing and analytics teams, ensuring creative is responsive to data and campaign needs • Ensure performance creative is brand-informed but not constrained by perfectionism, prioritizing effectiveness and speed Omni-Channel Content & Production • Own the development of content across the funnel, helping to shape and enhance brand positioning while ensuring alignment with performance goals • Oversee production of content across formats, including web copy, email campaigns, long-form articles, landing pages, and ad copy • Lead and oversee all location-based photo and video productions, ensuring the capture of high-quality, brand-aligned content while managing logistical coordination, securing necessary location permits, and obtaining all required releases • Ensure messaging is clear, differentiated, and tailored to both audience and channel • Integrate content and design into cohesive, high-performing creative systems Systems, Speed & Modern Production • Design and implement workflows that enable speed, scalability, and consistency across creative output • Drive adoption and thoughtful use of modern creative tools, including AI, to improve throughput and quality • Continuously evaluate and evolve production models to eliminate bottlenecks and increase efficiency Team Leadership & Development • Lead, mentor, and grow a multidisciplinary team across design, art direction, video, content strategy, editorial, and freelance talent • Create a culture that values both creative excellence and operational discipline • Provide clear direction, feedback, and coaching to elevate team performance and output • Assess and evolve team structure to support current needs and future growth Operational Excellence • Partner with project management and marketing teams to ensure work is delivered on time, on brief/strategy, and ...