Creative Director

Bakery is an independent creative agency built to make people obsessed with great products. We work with ambitious brands to give them cultural value and help them make things people want. We've made work for Nike, Pepsi, Dairy Queen, Shiner, and Buchanan's, among others. We've been named an AdAge Small Agency of the Year three times. We're hiring a Creative Director to join us in Austin. The job You own the creative, from the first idea in the room to the last frame that ships. You'll lead a multidisciplinary team on global campaigns for famous brands and cult brands, set the bar for the work, and hold it when a client or a deadline pushes back. We need creative leaders who stay close to the craft. This isn't a role where you delegate everything and show up to approve it. The best directors here still write the line and art-direct the frame when needed and when it matters most. You'll also help win business, win awards, and win talent. At a small independent like us, those aren't separate departments. We'll need you to help us win across the board. Here's what you'll own: Every piece of creative on your team from concept to delivery. Idea, writing, design, film, online, experience. A point of view strong enough to bring clarity to a messy brief. A team of staff and freelance creatives. You'll hire them, direct them, and defend the good work when it's under threat. The room. You'll present to clients, take the feedback that's real, and win the trust to make the work you believe in. Bakery's brand out in the world. Press, stages, juries, awards. You've spent at least a decade in agencies making work we've seen. We'll be direct about this part: we're hiring from the agency world, not from brand side and not from another industry. Agency creative direction is a specific muscle which you'll need to operate here at a high level. Multiple clients at once, a pitch cadence that doesn't stop, work made at a pace and breadth other industries rarely touch. We need someone who understands the world we're in. Beyond that: A portfolio of work that ran and is great. Awards are important to us as well, but work we wish we'd made is even more important. Real cultural fluency. Someone who can tell us what's about to happen outside our bubble, and why most of what everyone's copying right now is already over. That instinct shows up in the work and we feed it here. Range across film, social, digital, and experiential. You don't have to be equally expert in all of it, but you can't be a specialist convincing us you're a generalist. An ability to win the room. Presenting is half the job, so, expect us to hold that skill in high regard. Absolute craft obsession. You need to be into this. You know what makes the best directors and makers unique, and know how to work with them. You push for an insane attention to detail. You make work that pisses some people off. Competitive insurance coverage, inclusive of medical, dental, and vision 401k Retirement with 3% employer matching Open PTO Policy 2 weeks Work From Anywhere (WFA) 13 weeks paid Maternity and Paternity leave Pet-Friendly Office Yearly Creative Stipend Snacks, Meals and Drinks No Time Tracking!