Creative Director

About Gusto Gusto is a modern, online people platform that helps small businesses take care of their teams. On top of full-service payroll, Gusto offers health insurance, 401(k)s, expert HR, and team management tools. Today, Gusto offices in Denver, San Francisco, and New York serve more than 400,000 businesses nationwide. Our mission is to create a world where work empowers a better life, and it starts right here at Gusto. We’re committed to building a collaborative and inclusive workplace, both physically and virtually. Learn more about our Total Rewards philosophy.

Do you have the right skills and experience for this role Read on to find out, and make your application.

Role Overview We’re looking for an exceptional, hands-on Creative Director to bring our brand to life through high-quality, visually compelling creative work. As part of our in-house Brand Studio, you will be responsible for translating brand vision into powerful, consistent, and beautifully crafted visuals across all mediums, including advertising, digital, print, events, and product marketing.

This role is an Individual Contributor, meaning you'll be driving creative strategy and executing on the work, but will not be directly managing team members. We're looking for someone who can lead by example and mentor others, but whose focus is on the work itself.

As a mature, late-stage startup, we’re looking for a creative director who can lead by doing—someone with exceptional taste, a sharp eye for detail, and the ability to guide designers in executing best-in-class creative work. If you’re passionate about composition, typography, imagery, and visual storytelling, and love crafting brand-defining creative work, we’d love to meet you.

Responsibilities

Define the Visual Identity : Ensure a strong, cohesive, and recognizable brand presence across all creative outputs.

Craft Beautiful Brand Moments : Design websites, landing pages and interactive digital assets for campaigns that showcase the best of our brand.

Provide Creative Direction and Hands-On Design Leadership : Offer feedback to designers to ensure high-quality work and pixel-perfect execution.

Champion Craft & Execution : Push the team to think beyond the obvious and execute at a world-class level, refining work through iteration and critique.

Maintain Brand Consistency : Develop and enforce brand guidelines that align with our evolving brand strategy.

Evolve Visual Language : Refine and expand our visual system to keep the brand fresh and impactful.

Collaborate Cross-Functionally : Partner with producers, web designers, event teams, and marketing to align aesthetics across platforms.

Stay Ahead of Trends : Keep up with design, photography, illustration, and motion trends to inspire ideas and push boundaries.

Experience Required

8+ years of experience in visual design, brand design, or art direction, preferably in in-house teams, agencies, or high-growth startups.

Expert-level craft in composition, typography, color, and layout with an eye for exceptional design.

Strong portfolio showcasing world-class brand design, advertising, and visual storytelling across multiple platforms.

Experience creating and evolving visual identity systems with consistency across touchpoints.

Ability to provide clear, actionable feedback and guide designers toward better execution.

Highly collaborative—comfortable working with designers, marketers, producers, writers, and cross-functional teams.

Hands-on approach—eager to dive into projects and refine execution with the team.

Adaptability and resilience in a fast-paced startup environment while delivering exceptional creative work.

Nice-to-Haves

Experience with photo direction, illustration, or motion graphics.

Background in advertising or editorial design.

Knowledge of web design principles and UI / UX best practices.

Experience with AI-driven design tools or emerging technologies.

Gusto is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, disability, veteran status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or other legally protected characteristics. We also provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application procedures.

Note : The San Francisco office expectations encompass both the San Francisco and San Jose metro areas. When approved to work from a location other than a Gusto office, a secure internet connection is required. Our privacy and security notices apply to applicants.

At Gusto, we strive to provide rewards that empower employees to achieve their financial and personal goals. We offer compensation packages with equity-based compensation. For more, view our Total Rewards Approach page.

Gusto is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate in hiring or any employment decision based on race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), marital status, ancestry, disability, veteran status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or other legally protected characteristic. We also provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application procedures. If you require a medical or religious accommodation at any time throughout your candidate journey, please fill out this form and a member of our team will get in touch with you.

Gusto takes security and protection of your personal information very seriously. Please review our Fraudulent Activity Disclaimer. Personal information collected and processed as part of your Gusto application will be subject to Gusto's Applicant Privacy Notice.

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