Senior Art Director

Publicis Groupe · Johannesburg

Company description

Publicis Groupe Africa is a leading marketing, communications, and business transformation network operating across 36 African countries, combining creativity, technology, and local insight to deliver integrated client solutions.

Publicis Groupe Africa is part of Publicis Groupe, the second-largest communications group globally, founded in 1926. The African network operates as a partnership of 44 communications agencies with offices spanning 36 countries, including South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, Morocco, and many others

Its headquarters are in Johannesburg and Cape Town, providing a central hub for continental operations.

Telecommunications is one of the most dynamic categories in the market that sits at the intersection of technology, culture, connectivity, customer experience and everyday life. This role offers the opportunity to work with a leading telecommunications client and help shape the next generation of its agency partnership.

We are building a connected, future-fit model that brings together creativity, intelligence, data, technology, AI and world-class execution around the customer. It is an opportunity for ambitious creative talent to influence the work, the ways of working and the capabilities we build — creating a partnership designed not only for today's challenges, but for what comes next.

Overview

The Senior Art Director is a senior hands-on creative responsible for developing distinctive, effective and beautifully crafted ideas across the client business.

The role translates strategy and creative direction into strong concepts, visual systems and executions that work across channels, platforms and experiences.

Working as part of an integrated creative team, the Senior Art Director combines high standards of art direction and design craft with digital-first thinking, culture, technology and emerging AI-enabled creative methods.

The role is accountable for conceptual quality, visual craft, proactive contribution, reliable delivery and strong collaboration.

Responsibilities

CREATIVE THINKING & ART DIRECTION

Develop strong, platform-neutral creative concepts in response to briefs and strategic direction.

Define or apply the visual language, aesthetic and art direction of campaigns and content.

Lead the craft and design of ideas from early concept through execution.

Create convincing mock-ups, references and presentation material that bring ideas to life.

Stay current with South African culture, design, social platforms, media behaviour and visual trends.

CLIENT & BUSINESS UNDERSTANDING

Interrogate briefs and understand the client's business requirements, brand priorities and customer context.

Provide clear rationale for creative choices and be prepared to present work to clients.

Develop ideas that solve the business problem rather than simply answering the deliverables list.

INTEGRATED CREATIVE PRODUCT

Design across multiple channels including brand, retail, digital, social, content, out-of-home and emerging formats.

Work closely with Copywriters to ensure the idea and execution operate as one.

Consistently produce creative elements against agreed deliverables and deadlines.

Participate actively in brainstorms, conceptualisation and campaign development.

Contribute to pitches and proactive creative opportunities.

INTEGRATION & COLLABORATION

Work with Strategy, Media, Accounts, Developers, Production and other disciplines to ensure integrated and coherent solutions.

Collaborate early rather than handing work between disciplines sequentially.

Be a team player who can also work independently and take ownership of assigned projects.

AI, TECHNOLOGY & FUTURE-FIT CREATIVITY

Use relevant AI and emerging creative tools to expand visual exploration, prototyping and production efficiency.

Maintain working knowledge of major social and digital platforms and how creative needs to behave within them.

Apply appropriate human judgement, brand safety and craft standards to AI-assisted work.

Stay curious about emerging design, production and experience technologies.

PRODUCTION & EXECUTIONAL EXCELLENCE

Attend shoots, recordings and production sessions where required and protect the visual idea through execution.

Partner with Production to ensure work is delivered to the required quality, timing and specification.

Maintain high attention to detail across final artwork, adaptations and rollout.

PERSONAL LEADERSHIP & DEVELOPMENT

Manage your own creative process and deadlines without needing to be chased.

Be proactive, accountable, solution-driven and willing to go the extra mile.

Share references, inspiration and new approaches that raise the standard of the wider creative team.

Support and guide more junior creatives where appropriate.

Qualifications

Tertiary qualification in Art Direction / Graphic Design

Must have a minimum of 5-6 years’ experience

Conceptual and design skills

Proficient in MS Office (i.e. Word / PowerPoint etc.)

Knowledge of and experience in Adobe Creative Suite applications

Good communication & presentation skills

Good multi-tasking skills (ability to work on more than one brief at any given time)

Great time management

Ability to work under pressure & meet tight deadlines

Adept problem-solving skills

Strong communication skills with ability to provide rationales for creative choices made

Working knowledge of existing and emerging technologies & platforms

A strong understanding of best practice interaction and visual design principles

Able to work with team members

Be comfortable with AI being a part of the everyday activities of the role.

BUSINESS KPI’S

Demonstrate innovative ideas to the team to improve how we communicate our proposition

Must be able to work on one sizable and two small size projects at any one time with oversight

Have the ability to attend every review on a project with 3 new ideas

THE PERSON

Team player with the ability to work independently

Ability to work well in a highly pressurised, fast-paced environment

Curious, imaginative creative mind with a passion for advertising and modern brand experiences

Meticulous with attention to detail

Proactive — a can-do attitude and willing to go the extra mile

Accountable

Solution and deadline driven

Flexible to work beyond normal office hours if and when required

WORKING KNOWLEDGE OF THESE TOOLS

Illustrator

Photoshop

InDesign

After Effects

Keynote / PowerPoint

Figma

ChatGPT, Claude AI, Midjourney and similar generative AI tools

Google Web Designer & DV360 (Advantageous)
Facebook Creative Hub

Additional information

Publicis Groupe Africa is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits any forms of Discrimination or Harassment. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all our employees in line with our Employment Equity Plan.

All appointments will be based on qualifications, experience and best fit but preference will be given to candidates from designated groups. Interested candidates must please submit a concise CV including a link to your portfolio if necessary. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Should you not hear from us within 2 weeks after submitting your application, please consider your application as unsuccessful.