Senior Art Director, Creative Development

About dentsu Merkle, a dentsu company, powers the experience economy. As the only consultancy in the world with a heritage in data science and business performance, Merkle’s 16,000+ designers, strategists, technologists, and data professionals have been recognized for excellence by top analyst firms for digital experience and marketing, commerce, loyalty services and solutions, data management and activation, analytics and data science, engineering and technology integration, and CRM. An award winner in experience innovation, market research, AI strategy consulting, and creative commerce, Merkle is the #1 global Salesforce agency partner, the 2025 Braze global services partner of the year, the #1 global Google Analytics partner, a global platinum Adobe partner, and a founding global Figma service partner. Merkle operates in 30+ countries throughout the Americas, EMEA, and APAC.

dentsu

We power the experience economy.

Customer Relationship Marketing (CRM)Enterprise Technology ServicesAnalyticsData SourcingExperience and PersonalizationPerformance MediaCustomer StrategyCustomer LoyaltyAddressable AdvertisingIdentity Resolution

D

merkle.com

10,001+ employees

Business Consulting and Services

Columbia, MD

1988

Privately Held

232k LinkedIn followers

• We are hiring a New York or Chicago-based Senior Art Director to support shopper marketing, retail marketing, point-of-sale creative, and commerce activations for a leading global beverage alcohol company. This role is designed for a highly conceptual, hands-on creative leader who creates and executes impactful work across retail, shopper, experiential, and omnichannel touchpoints. The Senior Art Director will partner with Creative Directors, Strategy, Account, and Production teams to bring ideas to life while providing day-to-day creative guidance to designers and junior creatives.
• Develop creative concepts for shopper marketing, retail activation, POS, and commerce marketing programs.
• Create compelling visual solutions for in-store campaigns, seasonal promotions, displays, merchandising, and sampling initiatives.
• Translate shopper insights, brand strategies, and retail objectives into engaging creative executions.
• Lead projects from concept through execution while ensuring quality, consistency, and brand alignment.
• Collaborate closely with account, strategy, production, and experiential teams.
• Contribute hands-on design and art direction across physical and digital commerce touchpoints.
• Present creative work internally and to clients with confidence and clarity.
• Mentor junior designers and support a collaborative creative culture.

Required

• 5+ years of experience in advertising, shopper marketing, retail marketing, commerce marketing, or integrated agency environments.
• Strong experience developing and art directing shopper marketing, retail, POS, and activation campaigns.
• Beverage alcohol experience preferred; CPG experience highly relevant.
• Portfolio demonstrating strong conceptual thinking and execution across retail, shopper, experiential, and integrated campaigns.
• Experience creating work for both retail environments and digital commerce channels.
• Excellent visual design, storytelling, presentation, and communication skills.
• Experience mentoring junior creatives or leading projects, without primary responsibility for managing large creative teams.
• Must be located in Chicago (preferred) or New York for weekly onsite collaboration in our Dentsu offices

Preferred

• Retail or shopper marketing agency experience.
• Experience supporting beverage alcohol or consumer packaged goods brands.

• Medical, vision, and dental insurance
• Life insurance
• Short-term and long-term disability insurance
• 401(k)
• Flexible paid time off
• At least 15 paid holidays per year
• Paid sick and safe leave
• Paid parental leave
• Dentsu also complies with applicable state and local laws regarding employee leave benefits, including, but not limited to providing time off pursuant to the Colorado Healthy Families and Workplaces Act, in accordance with its plans and policies. For further details regarding Dentsu benefits, please visit www.dentsubenefitsplus.com.