Creative Director

Graco manufactures and markets premium equipment to move, measure, control, dispense and spray a wide variety of fluid and powder materials. What does that mean? Well, we pump peanut butter into your jar, and the oil in your car. We glue the soles of your shoes, the glass in your windows and the screen on your phone. We spray the finish on your vehicle, coatings on your pills, the paint on your house and texture on your walls. Graco is part of your daily life.
The Creative Director leads Graco's global creative function, driving the development of compelling brand experiences, content, and creative strategies that advance business objectives across a complex global organization. This role serves as both a creative leader and strategic marketing partner, enabling teams to deliver high-impact creative solutions while strengthening brand expression, increasing content scalability, and enhancing the creative experiences that support Graco’s digital channels.
The Creative Director leads a global team of creative professionals and works across business divisions, functions, and regions to ensure creative excellence, brand consistency, operational effectiveness, and measurable business impact. This individual will elevate the role of Creative from a production-focused service organization to a trusted strategic partner that helps drive customer engagement, demand generation, and brand growth.
What You Will Do at Graco
Strategic Partnership & Creative Leadership
Serve as a strategic partner to marketing leaders, helping shape initiatives through customer-centric storytelling, creative problem-solving, and integrated campaign development.
Translate business objectives into creative strategies and concepts that drive awareness, engagement, demand, and customer loyalty.
Lead creative reviews and provide actionable feedback that elevates creative quality and business impact across all marketing channels and mediums.
Influence stakeholders across a highly matrixed organization to align on creative priorities, brand standards, and customer experience objectives.
Build trusted relationships with divisional and regional marketing teams, positioning Creative as a proactive strategic partner rather than a transactional service provider.
Support enterprise and executive-level initiatives through the development and refinement of strategic creative concepts and brand storytelling.
Champion the value of Creative across the organization by elevating strategic thinking, innovation, and customer-centric design
Creative Direction and Design Strategy
Lead the development and execution of creative strategies, concepts, campaigns, and content across digital, print, video, social, web, and multimedia channels.
Oversee the creation and production of visual, written, and interactive content to strengthen the Graco brand and support business objectives.
Partner with , marketing, communications, product, digital and business leaders deliver customer-centric creative solutions.
Inspire teams through a clear creative vision while ensure ideas are grounded in business objectives and customer needs.
Establish creative standards and best practices that elevate quality, consistency, and effectiveness of all deliverables.
Review and guide creative concepts developed by the team, ensuring work meets the highest standards for creativity, usability, and brand alignment.
Brand Partnership & Creative Stewardship
Partner with Brand leaders to translate brand strategy, positioning, and messaging into compelling customer-facing experiences.
Serve as a key contributor to the evolution of Graco's brand identity, ensuring creative execution reflects customer needs, market expectations, and business objectives.
Lead the creative interpretation and execution of the Graco brand across campaigns, content, digital experiences, events, and sales enablement materials.
Ensure creative deliverables consistently reflect established brand standards, messaging frameworks, and visual identity guidelines.
Influence stakeholders across the organization to strengthen brand consistency while meeting business and customer objectives.
Collaborate with regional and divisional marketing teams to adapt creative assets for global markets while preserving brand integrity.
Provide creative leadership for localization, translation, and adaptation efforts across international markets.
Identify opportunities to strengthen brand recognition, consistency, and effectiveness through exceptional creative execution.
Digital Experience & Innovation
Champion modern, digital-first creative approaches across websites, social media, digital campaigns, video, and emerging channels.
Advance Graco's digital design maturity through contemporary creative practices, customer-focused design thinking, and evolving content formats.
Identify opportunities to improve creative effectiveness through technology, automation, and workflow enhancements.
Lead the exploration and responsible adoption of AI-enabled creative tools and processes to improve efficiency, increase content output, and enhance team productivity.
Partner with Digital and Marketing teams to ensure creative solutions support exceptional customer experiences across digital touchpoints.
Monitor creative, branding, digital, and content trends to ensure Graco remains current and competitive.
Project Oversight and Quality Management
Partner with Marketing Operations and cross-functional stakeholders to ensure effective prioritization and execution of creative initiatives.
Oversee multiple projects and campaigns simultaneously while maintaining high quality standards and effective resource utilization.
Ensure creative work delivers against business objectives, customer needs, and brand expectations.
Measure the effectiveness of creative initiatives and continuously improve processes, workflows, and deliverables.
Recommend and leverage internal and external resources to maximize team effectiveness, scalability, and speed to market.
Support the continued evolution of Graco's content production model to meet growing organizational needs efficiently and effectively.
Team Leadership and Financial Management
Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing