The posting
Code and Theory is hiring a Senior Director to own the operating model for how creative work gets conceived, produced, governed, and measured inside large enterprise organizations. The stakeholder map runs from CMO to in-house studio lead to MarTech lead — and the transformation question spans all three: how does this organization need to be structured and tooled to produce content at modern scale with AI in the workflow.
Seniority in this role does not mean distance from the work. The proof of a creative transformation is a working pipeline running inside the client's actual stack — not a future-state slide. The right person has shipped one before and will ship another here.
Depending on the client engagement, this role operates in a forward-deployed capacity — embedded inside a client team, working alongside their creative directors, producers, MarTech leads, and engineers to redesign and ship workflows in real time. That is not a separate track or program. It is a mode this work requires, and the expectation is that you are ready for it when the account calls for it.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
- Map the full creative lifecycle end-to-end: brief, concepting, production, review, localization, activation, measurement — and the organizational model underneath it
- Diagnose where the current model breaks: handoff failures, approval bottlenecks, tooling mismatches, governance gaps, capacity constraints
- Design the target-state operating model spanning the CMO's strategic agenda, the studio's production reality, and the MarTech team's tooling decisions
- Define the governance layer: brand safety, rights management, model selection, approval routing, audit trail — the conditions under which legal and brand can say yes at speed
- Retro-engineer existing creative workflows into AI-powered pipelines: agents, prompts, models, human review steps — designed, not assembled from defaults
- Configure and integrate creative AI platforms against real brand and channel requirements: Adobe Firefly Services, GenStudio, ComfyUI, Figma plugins, Pencil, Typeface, Weavy
- Wire new pipelines into the existing stack — DAM, CMS, Workfront, MarTech — so they run inside the team's day, not alongside it
- Design human-in-the-loop patterns where creative judgment, brand compliance, and legal review stay in the workflow at the right points
- Own VP-to-C-suite relationships across CMO, CCO, studio lead, and MarTech lead — and the cross-functional teams (creative, marketing, technology, legal, procurement) that intersect to ship the work
- Translate between the CMO's brand and campaign agenda, the studio's production constraints, and the MarTech team's platform capabilities — without losing fidelity to any of them
- Shape commercial strategy: structure programs around proof points, define value-realization metrics that survive a CFO review, grow accounts through proof-driven expansion
- Train the creative team and measure the gains: throughput, cycle time, cost-per-asset, quality consistency
- Transfer capability so the new model continues to run after the engagement ends, with results measured and owned by client teams
- Design the enablement and change management that makes new tooling stick across creative directors, producers, and brand operations teams
- Convert proven engagements into reusable accelerators, methods, and offerings that compound the practice
- Develop thought leadership and case studies that earn the next engagement
- Shape partnerships with platform and ecosystem players (Adobe, Google, OpenAI, Anthropic) and contribute to joint go-to-market plays
- Set the bar for what full-stack, AI-fluent, embedded delivery looks like in the content and creative domain
WHAT YOU'LL NEED
- 12-15 years across creative technology, content operations, consulting, or transformation delivery — with meaningful time spent both advising and building
- Deep fluency in modern creative production: how briefs become assets, where handoffs break, what brand and legal need to approve before something ships
- Track record of shipping in enterprise environments: real workflows in production, measured outcomes, capability transferred to client teams
- History of building — pipelines, methods, or capabilities you stood up that outlived the engagement that created them
- Commercial instinct: you have shaped scopes, structured pricing tied to outcomes, defended margin, and grown accounts through proof-driven expansion
- Background that bridges agency or studio environments and consulting or transformation work is a strong differentiator
- Hands-on experience configuring and integrating creative AI platforms against real brand and production requirements: Adobe Firefly Services, GenStudio, ComfyUI, Figma plugins, Pencil, Typeface, Weavy
- Working knowledge of the surrounding stack: DAM, CMS, Workfront, CDP, content APIs, and modern orchestration platforms
- Fluency with LLMs, prompt design, orchestration, and automation tooling applied to creative and content workflows
- Credible with CMOs on brand strategy, campaign performance, and creative operating model
- Credible with studio leads and creative directors on production model, capacity, and creative operations
- Credible with MarTech leads on stack architecture, tooling decisions, and platform integration
- Able to hold all three conversations in the same week without losing fluency in any of them
- Bias toward shipping: the working pipeline is the unit of progress, not the roadmap
- Systems thinker: able to decompose a creative workflow into agents, models, data, quality gates, and human-in-the-loop steps that hold up at scale
- Accountable to outcomes: a transformation that does not change how the creative team operates is a failure
- Comfortable in ambiguity — the resume that fits this role perfectly does not exist
- Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree or specialized technical credential a plus
- Willingness to travel within the US (20-30%)
ABOUT US
Born in 2001, Code and Theory is a digital-first creative agency that sits at the center of creativity and technology. We pride ourselves on not only solving consumer and business problems, but also helping to establish new capabilities for our clients. With a global client roster of Fortune 100s and start-ups alike, we crave the hardest problems to solve. We have teams distributed across North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. The Code and Theory global network of agencies is growing and includes Kettle, Instrument, Left Field Labs, Create Group, Current, and TrueLogic.
Striving never to be pigeonholed, we work across every major category: from tech to CPG, financial services to travel & hospitality, government and education to media and publishing. We value the collaboration with our client partners, including but not limited to Adidas, Amazon, Con Edison, Diageo, EY, J.P. Morgan Chase, Lenovo, Marriott, Mars, Microsoft, Thomson Reuters, and TikTok.
The Code and Theory network is comprised of nearly 2,000 people with 50% engineers and 50% creative talent. We’re always on the lookout for smart, driven, and forward-thinking people to join our team.
The compensation range for this role is $160,000 – $250,000 and spans multiple levels. We're open to hiring at the level that best matches the right candidate's experience. Actual compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, budget, and location.
