Who We Are

Weber Shandwick is more than a leading global PR agency – we’re an engagement agency and we’re working in and around the cutting edge of the new media landscape. We’re storytellers, content creators, and we engage people IN the story. Our success is built on a deep commitment to client service and to our people. We embrace creativity and collaboration, and we engage stakeholders in new and creative ways to build brands and reputations.

Art Director

Weber Shandwick is looking for an Art Director to join our award-winning creative team here in Chicago. Forget what you think you know about PR agencies. We're a crew of writers, designers, and culture-obsessed makers who are the creative engine for some of the world's most iconic brands. If you want to make work that gets talked about, this is the place.

We’re searching for someone who lives and breathes culture and creativity. A thinker and a maker who is fluent in the language of the internet, knows what makes an idea catch fire on social, and has the design chops to bring it all to life. You should be a connoisseur of modern communications with a portfolio that shows you know how to make things people want to share.

Our currency is in ‘earned-first’ creativity. That means we hunt for ideas so good they don’t have to be forced into the world—they travel on their own. You'll be surrounded by some of the brightest minds in the business, tackling fun, provocative challenges for brands that are household names.

WHAT YOU'LL ACTUALLY DO

• Dream up and execute stunning, earned-first concepts that feel native to platforms like TikTok, Instagram, X, and whatever’s next.
• Bring the energy. We want your passion for solving creative puzzles and your can-do spirit from the first brief to the final export.
• Use your artistic skills across a huge range of projects: branding, storyboards, campaign mockups, presentations, and eye-popping social content.
• Jam with a whole crew of smart, collaborative people across different teams.
• Share your work and your thinking with the team. We’re all here to make each other’s ideas better.
• Master the brand guidelines, but know when and how to creatively push the boundaries.
• Let’s be real: you’ll also need to crank out different versions and resizes of campaign assets. It’s part of the game.

THE SKILLS YOU'LL NEED

• A killer portfolio that shows us how you think, not just what you can execute. We want to see your approach to solving problems.
• 2+ years of art direction or design experience. We’re open to talent from any kind of creative shop: ad agencies, digital shops, content studios, you name it.
• You’re a wizard in the Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator) and can build a deck in Keynote or PowerPoint.
• You’re always hungry for what’s new and what’s next in design, tech, and social media.
• Big bonus points for After Effects or other motion graphics skills.

Salary Range: $60,000 USD – $75,000 USD

Where an employee or prospective employee is paid within this range will depend on, among other factors, actual ranges for current/former employees in the subject position; market considerations; budgetary considerations; tenure and standing with the company (applicable to current employees); as well as the employee’s/applicant’s background, pertinent experience, and qualifications.

Weber Shandwick is proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. Weber Shandwick recruits qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, gender, age, ethnic or national origin, protected veteran status, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status or citizenship status.

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Who We Are

Weber Shandwick is more than a leading global PR agency – we’re an engagement agency and we’re working in and around the cutting edge of the new media landscape. We’re storytellers, content creators, and we engage people IN the story. Our success is built on a deep commitment to client service and to our people. We embrace creativity and collaboration, and we engage stakeholders in new and creative ways to build brands and reputations.

CREATIVE DIRECTOR, ART

If you’re reading this, you’re probably scrolling on your phone. Perfect. Let’s talk.

The Weber Shandwick Collective (TWSC) is looking for a Creative Director-ART DIRECTION who lives and breathes the internet. If you have a running theory about the next big TikTok trend, can spot the next biggest creator or meme format before it’s viral, and obsess over how to break through in the new media landscape, you might just have found your calling.

This is a role for someone interested in working on some of the biggest brands in the world and crafting groundbreaking campaigns that spark joy, ignite shares, and earn a permanent spot in people’s lives. We want the kind of ideas that don’t just ride a wave, but that create one.

Let’s be clear: this is not the job where you’re cranking out uninspired visuals and the same old rinse-and-repeat ideas. This is the job, and the agency, where ideas meet cultural currency. Where you’ll create the campaign that everyone shares before lunch. Where ideas become award-winning work that’s discussed around the country.

So, let’s talk specifics.

What You’ll Do

• Create magic: You’ll drive ideation of attention-grabbing ideas. You’ll work alongside various disciplines from strategy to account to media relations and analytics (to name a few) to ensure your ideas feed algorithms and transcend platforms.
• Own the voice, balancing art and strategy: Be a guardian of the visual identity of the brand and for each campaign you work on. Stay playful, but always purposeful. Your visuals and ideas won’t just entertain, they’ll deliver results.
• Be a builder: You’ll mentor and manage folks on our creative team—helping shape our next generation of creative talent imbuing them with a keen eye for storytelling and a focus on craft.
• Be the pulse of culture: Research platforms, subcultures, emerging media, and niche communities to unearth untapped opportunities. You need to know before anyone else what Gens Alpha and Z are doing on social channels, why brands are jumping all over a meme, what conversations are capturing the attention of journalists (and why) and who is poised to become the next big thing in the cultural conversation. These inputs will shape the ideas you develop and bring to teams and clients.

What You’ll Bring

• Obsessive curiosity: About trends, people, platforms, memes, and the mechanics of why certain things just work.
• A social media sixth sense: You know which platforms matter most, what kind of content works where, and how to surprise people in their scroll.
• Pop culture proficiency: From mainstream moments to niche internet corners, you stay plugged into what everyone’s talking about, and what they’re about to.
• Experience: 10 years art direction and/or design experience, especially if you’ve worked on earned campaigns, digital campaigns and social-first campaigns or for culturally relevant brands. You’ll of course need to work quickly and accurately within all aspects of Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator) as well as presentation software (PowerPoint). Bonus points for illustration, After Effects, photography, retouching, filmmaking, videography, editorial, animation, HTML.
• A sense of humor: If you can’t laugh at yourself (or at least at the internet), we’re not the place for you.

Why You’ll Love It Here (Other than the Snacks)

• You’ll work with some of the best creatives in the business, a team fueled by bold ideas, cultural insights, and enough caffeine to power a small city.
• You’ll have the freedom to experiment, fail forward, and redefine what “earned-first creativity” means.
• You’ll create work that matters to brands, to audiences, and to culture at large.

Final Thought (Because We’re Big on Storytelling)

This job isn’t just about understanding what makes good images. It’s about being the creative who reshapes how brands communicate in this endlessly scrolling, algorithm-ruled world. It’s about showing up every day with fresh ideas and a love for the craft. And maybe, just maybe, it’s about finally justifying all the hours you spend on TikTok.

If this sounds like you, let’s create something worth bookmarking.

Send us your portfolio, résumé, and a list of the accounts and trends you’re loving right now. Because if we’re going to shape culture, we want to know you’re already in it.

Cue the end slate. Let’s make some magic.

Salary range:  $143,000 USD - $190,000 USD

Where an employee or prospective employee is paid within this range will depend on, among other factors, actual ranges for current/former employees in the subject position; market considerations; budgetary considerations; tenure and standing with the company (applicable to current employees); as well as the employee’s/applicant’s background, pertinent experience, and qualifications.

Weber Shandwick is proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. Weber Shandwick recruits qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, gender, age, ethnic or national origin, protected veteran status, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status or citizenship status.

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