Senior Art Director

Senior Art Director - Children's Publishing We are seeking an accomplished and imaginative Senior Art Director with over 15 years of experience in children’s publishing and educational content. This is a pivotal leadership role for a visionary design expert who can inspire, mentor, and lead a creative team while driving the development of engaging, age-appropriate, and highly marketable products. You will work across a wide array of formats—sound books, art kits, educational workbooks, novelty products, and activity formats—collaborating closely with the Senior Art Director and Managing Director to shape high-quality product lines that span age groups, subjects, and sales channels. We value quality over quantity, long-term thinking, and a calm, collaborative creative environment where curiosity, clarity, and innovation are foundational to success. Key Responsibilities Lead the visual strategy, layout, and design across product lines including children’s books, educational kits, and novelty formats. Provide vision, inspiration, clarity, and mentorship to junior designers, illustrators, and freelance contributors. Establish and uphold high design standards while fostering a calm, goal-oriented, and collaborative work culture. Develop innovative, scalable product series and formats in collaboration with the senior leadership, requiring only final review and editing. Design with a strong grasp of core visual principles including continuity, contrast, clarity, negative space, spacing, color spectrum, and Pantone application. Build an art library of reusable, adaptable styles that scale across sales channels and co-edition requirements. Branding & Art Development Create compelling visual branding and consistent series design for age-specific product lines. Collaborate with Senior Art Director to find, recruit, and cultivate new artists and illustrators capable of producing art that is beautiful, flexible across formats, and commercially viable. Cross-Functional Collaboration Collaborate with editorial, product development, marketing, and sales teams to ensure cohesive and educationally sound content. Provide templates, specifications, and production-ready design direction for novel product types including sound books, silicone/touch-and-feel, flaps, pop-ups, and books with finishes such as spot UV, glitter, foil, embossing, and lenticular. High-Impact Retail Partnerships Lead creative development for exclusive product lines distributed through Costco, Walmart, Target, and Amazon Design scalable series reaching millions of customers across North America Collaborate directly with retail buyers and category managers Develop format innovations specific to mass retail requirements Working with different price points and value propositions Format innovations for mass market appeal Global market adaptation experience Qualifications Minimum 15 years of experience in creative direction or senior graphic design, preferably in children’s publishing, educational media, or related fields. Deep understanding of the full range of publishing sales channels: value, mass, club, specialty, e-commerce. Passion for understanding early childhood learning needs and staying current with educational and entertainment market trends. Expertise in Adobe Creative Suite (InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator); knowledge of Figma or similar tools is a plus. Proven experience developing and launching branded series and novelty formats across multiple sales channels into international markets. Strong familiarity with international print workflows, component design, and global production partners. Preferred Attributes Experience with co-edition publishing, multilingual product adaptation, and international printing standards. Passion for inclusive, accessible design and representing diverse customer base: children, parents, teachers, care givers. Ability to balance creative excellence with commercial viability and production constraints. Demonstrated ability to manage creative personalities and workflows across time zones and cultures. Why Join Us? Play a leadership role in shaping beautiful, meaningful, and high-quality entertainment and educational content for children. Be a trusted creative partner to the company’s executive leadership with broad influence and ownership over visual direction. Work with a passionate, mission-driven team that values creativity, quality, and continuous growth. Enjoy a supportive, thoughtful work culture built on collaboration, innovation, and long-term impact. #J-18808-Ljbffr