Art Director

Pencil
South Africa
Remote

Who this role is best for

Aimed at mid-to-senior level advertising professionals who are technically fluent in GenAI tools and can manage creative production across multiple formats.

Best fit for

  • Candidates with hands-on GenAI experience and a background in advertising or digital production
    — “Experience as an Art Director or similar, ideally in advertising or digital production (essential)”
  • Creative professionals who can balance high-volume production with quality control
    — “Juggle volume without dropping quality: manage multiple creative requests simultaneously, maintaining quality and consistency across deliverables.”
  • Individuals who can act as a bridge between creative vision and AI execution
    — “You're not setting creative vision — you're the person in the room who knows how to make the technology deliver on it.”

Things to consider

  • The role demands daily client presentations and high-stakes quality assurance
    — “Present with confidence: present to clients on AI creative workflows.”
  • Candidates must be comfortable operating in a fully remote environment
    — “Fully remote work.”

How to stand out

  • Showcase your ability to translate briefs into high-quality AI-generated creative work
    — “Translate briefs into output: turn briefs into polished creative work that aligns with project objectives and the relevant visual identity.”
  • Highlight your fluency in Adobe Creative Cloud or similar tools
    — “Proficiency in Adobe Creative Cloud or equivalent design tools (essential).”
  • Demonstrate your capacity to provide hands-on guidance and feedback to creative teams
    — “Brief and review daily output from the wider Creative team, providing hands-on guidance rather than formal management.”
  • Emphasize your initiative in improving creative systems and processes
    — “Find better ways of working: identify new techniques and workflows that enhance speed, consistency, or creative quality.”
  • Include examples of how you've shaped AI tools or workflows in past roles
    — “Feed back to Product on tools, workflows and user experience based on hands-on use.”
Pace · Fast PacedCollaboration · HighAutonomy · MediumDecision Impact · Team

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

  • build and operate agentic and nodal creative workflows
  • translate briefs into polished creative work
  • present to clients on AI creative workflows
Typical background
Art Director or similar experience in advertising or digital production

Skills & requirements

Required

AdvertisingGenai ToolsCreative WorkflowsDesignProject Management

Preferred

AI GovernanceEnterprise-grade Governance

Stack & domain

Genai ToolsCreative WorkflowsLeadershipCollaborationCommunicationMarketingAdvertising

About the role

Original posting from Pencil via Ashby

About us

At Pencil, we are building the AI Operating System for marketing — the only enterprise platform that aggregates every leading AI model, enforces enterprise-grade governance, and turns creative production savings into media growth. Our work moves brands like Diageo, L’Oréal and Unilever from creative brief to live, on-brand, performance-tested campaigns in minutes — across every market, channel and language — without sacrificing legal, IT or brand control.

Your mission

Bring the craft of advertising together with the speed of GenAI. You build and operate agentic and nodal creative workflows — connecting insight, concept, copy, imagery and video into scalable systems — so our creative teams and clients can move from idea to finished advertising faster, without losing quality or strategic grounding.

You work day-to-day under the direction of Art Directors and Creative Directors, bringing deep hands-on fluency in GenAI tools and workflows to their briefs. You're not setting creative vision — you're the person in the room who knows how to make the technology deliver on it.

Reporting and partnerships

  • Reports to Juliette Suvitha, Head of AI Creative & Enablement.
  • Briefs and reviews daily output from the wider Creative team, providing hands-on guidance rather than formal management.
  • Works closely with Producers, the Creative Director, and Product teams to keep output strategically aligned and technically feasible.
  • Feeds back to Product on tools, workflows and user experience based on hands-on use.

Key responsibilities

Creative production

  • Design and deliver: creative assets across formats — advertising, digital and print — using GenAI tools.
  • Translate briefs into output: turn briefs into polished creative work that aligns with project objectives and the relevant visual identity.
  • Support flagship projects: contribute to creative production on projects that demonstrate Pencil’s product capabilities.
  • Juggle volume without dropping quality: manage multiple creative requests simultaneously, maintaining quality and consistency across deliverables.

Quality and client-facing work

  • Brief and review: brief the Creative team and review their daily output.
  • Own quality control: provide daily quality checks on client decks and feedback.
  • Present with confidence: present to clients on AI creative workflows.

Collaboration and process

  • Stay aligned: work closely with Producers, the Creative Director, and Product teams to ensure output is strategically aligned and technically feasible.
  • Shape the platform: provide feedback on platform and AI tools, workflows, and user experience to support ongoing product improvement.
  • Contribute ideas: help define how GenAI shapes Pencil’s approach to storytelling and design in internal creative discussions.

Innovation and growth

  • Stay current: keep up with emerging GenAI and design technologies, sharing insights and inspiration with the team.
  • Find better ways of working: identify new techniques and workflows that enhance speed, consistency, or creative quality.
  • Improve what exists: take initiative to improve creative systems, templates, and processes within your projects.
  • Keep growing: seek feedback proactively and apply it to grow both your craft and your creative judgment.

Your background

  • Experience as an Art Director or similar, ideally in advertising or digital production (essential).
  • Hands-on experience with GenAI creative tools across image, video and design generation (essential).
  • Proficiency in Adobe Creative Cloud or equivalent design tools (essential).
  • Comfortable presenting creative work directly to clients (essential).
  • A strong eye for visual identity, brand consistency, and craft (essential).
  • Please be prepared to showcase your portfolio.

You’ll thrive here if you...

  • Detail-oriented: You can run multiple creative requests at once without letting quality slip.
  • A hands-on leader: You brief and review others’ work, but you’re still making things yourself.
  • Calm under pressure: Daily quality checks and client decks don’t rattle you.
  • Curious: You’re always exploring what new GenAI tools and techniques can do.
  • Collaborative: You work well across Producers, the Creative Director, and Product.

Your benefits

  • Opportunity to work at the cutting edge of GenAI.
  • Sponsored professional and personal learning allowance
  • Flexible vacation / time-off policy.
  • Competitive health insurance and welfare cover.
  • Fully remote work.

Source: Pencil careers (Ashby)

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