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Associate Creative Director (ACD), Craft
The Role
We are makers. We create because we are curious, and we believe that the best way to prove an idea works is to make it real.
As Associate Creative Director (ACD), GenAI, you will serve as a creative leader and technical pioneer within the Monks Google Studio, guiding and looking after our growing team of AI artists. Sitting at the intersection of traditional advertising craft and advanced generative AI workflows, you are responsible for leading the execution of exceptional stills, motion, and video content for major brand campaigns.
Reporting directly to the Group Creative Director of Craft & Innovation, you bring a high-craft background in traditional advertising storytelling combined with expertise in building well-defined, multi-model nodal pipelines. You deeply understand the "why" behind every story, ensuring that craft always serves the narrative. You go far beyond basic "prompt and pray" methods, bringing an uncompromising eye for detail to make every visual output beautiful and achieve invisible AI by seamlessly blending traditional craft with generative tools.
You will partner closely with ACDs and CDs across the creative organization during early creative development to help shape concepts that leverage GenAI effectively. As a dedicated teacher and mentor, you will drive knowledge-sharing initiatives across the broader creative team while actively nurturing the growth, skills, and careers of the AI artists in our studio.
Key Responsibilities
Content Studio Leadership & Team Management
- AI Team Leadership & Mentorship: Direct and look after the AI artist team within the Google Monks Studio, fostering a collaborative, high-craft environment and supporting their ongoing creative and technical career growth.
- Creative Concept Partnership: Partner with Associate Creative Directors and Creative Directors during conceptual phases to shape, refine, and ground creative ideas that can be executed flawlessly using AI technologies.
- Studio Knowledge Sharing: Act as a key educator across the creative organization, developing training sessions, documentation, and best practices to upskill non-AI creatives and scale GenAI capabilities.
Craft Meets Compute
- Nodal & Multi-Model Pipeline Architecture: Design and build sophisticated, repeatable AI execution pipelines (combining models in nodal environments) to produce high-end stills, motion graphics, and video content.
- Detail-Driven Craft & Quality Control: Apply rigorous artistic taste and technical oversight to ensure generated imagery and motion maintain pixel-perfect fidelity, moving past basic generation into polished, production-ready assets.
Proactive Prototyping & Client Partnership
- Identify & Prototype: Do not wait for a brief. Proactively identify Google brand and product initiatives where emerging tech and novel production techniques can be leveraged. Act as a rapid-prototyping engine to build proofs-of-concept.
- Confident Presenter & Internal Buy-In: Serve as a frontline strategic partner to Google clients and internal leadership. Confidently present, gain internal buy-in, and demystify complex workflows, translating technical capability into business and brand impact.
Industry Pulse & Organizational Upskilling
- Cultural & Tech Radar: Maintain a relentless pulse on the industry, constantly bringing outside inspiration, emerging tools, and novel methodologies into the agency.
- Teacher of Curiosity: Share new workflows, establish training frameworks for the Studio team, and elevate the collective capabilities of the entire account.
Qualifications
- Portfolio & Campaign Craft: Proven portfolio showing high-craft traditional storytelling for major brand advertising campaigns, alongside strong demonstrations of advanced generative AI workflows across stills and video.
- Advanced GenAI Expertise: Deep technical fluency in standard-setting AI tools and software (e.g., ComfyUI, Runway, Flow, Weave), building nodal pipelines, combining multiple AI models, and implementing structured generation workflows for consistent visual output.
- VFX & Traditional Software Background: Strong background in traditional visual effects and motion tools (e.g., After Effects, Nuke, Fusion, Photoshop, Blender, Cinema4D) is highly desirable.
- Mentorship & Communication: Natural passion for teaching, team development, and presenting complex AI methodologies clearly to creative leadership and cross-functional teams.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
- AI Team Growth & Development: Effective mentorship and skill expansion for AI artists on the team, maintaining high engagement and craft quality.
- Pipeline Reliability & Output Fidelity: Successful deployment of repeatable nodal workflows delivering top-tier stills, motion, and video across client campaigns.
- Cross-Functional Integration: Active collaboration with creative leads to successfully integrate GenAI concepts into approved campaign workstreams.
- Proactive Pilot Adoption: Unlocking new creative briefs and client workstreams through proactive prototypes and proofs-of-concept.
At Monks, we believe in fostering an environment where a diversity of perspectives can thrive. We proactively work to design hiring processes that promote equity and inclusion while mitigating bias. We celebrate diversity and are committed to building a team that reflects the communities we serve. We welcome and encourage qualified applicants, from all backgrounds, who are excited to contribute to our mission.
Monks is committed to ensuring equal access and participation for people with disabilities. We are committed to treating people with disabilities in a way that allows them to maintain their dignity and independence. We believe in integration, and we are committed to meeting the needs of people with disabilities in a timely manner. We will do so by removing and preventing barriers to accessibility and by meeting our accessibility requirements under local accessibility laws.
This role is subject to our Return to Office (RTO) policy. If you reside within a commutable distance of one of our office locations, you will be expected to work from the office a set number of days per week. The specific details, including the number of required office days, will be in accordance with the company’s then-current RTO policy, which is subject to change from time to time.
Monks has provided a compensation range that represents its good faith estimate of what Monks may pay for the position at the time of posting. Monks may ultimately pay more or less than the posted compensation range. The salary offered to the selected candidate will be determined based on job-related factors, but not based on a candidate’s sex or any other protected status.
About Monks
Monks is the global, digital-first, data-driven, unitary operating brand of S4Capital plc, where our culture centers on how we show up for the work and for one another. That begins with the commitment to strive for mastery—taking deep pride in our craft and creating work that sets the bar. In everyday execution, we drive momentum by choosing bold action rather than waiting for certainty. Above all, our teams are stronger together, bringing diverse perspectives into a unified team that communicates with clarity, trust, and mutual respect.
This commitment to craft and innovation translates directly into widespread industry acclaim: Monks was named a Contender in The Forrester Wave™: Global Marketing Services and a leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Global Digital Marketing Agencies. It ranks among Cannes Lions' Top 10 Creative Companies (2022-25) and remains the only partner featured in AdExchanger’s Programmatic Power Players list every year (2020-24). Named Adweek’s first AI Agency of the Year (2023) and The One Show’s inaugural AI Pioneer Organization (2025), Monks was also awarded Business Intelligence Group’s 2026 Excellence in Artificial Intelligence Award in the Human-Machine Interaction Team category. Additionally, Monks.Flow earned AI-based Marketing Solution of the Year at the 2026 AI Breakthrough Awards and a 2026 Global Generative AI Award in the Agentic Marketing Innovation category. Finally, Monks achieved a record-breaking number of FWAs and continues to hold the most of any partner.
We are an equal-opportunity employer committed to building a respectful and empowering work environment for all people to freely express themselves amongst colleagues who embrace diversity in all respects. Including fresh voices and unique points of view in all aspects of our business not only creates an environment where we can all grow and thrive but also increases our potential to produce work that better represents—and resonates with—the world around us.