Manager Creative Lead

Synopsis

Go beyond borders with Etihad — where your Creativity takes flight on a global scale! The Creative Lead will be responsible for shaping and delivering compelling internal campaigns across the business, overseeing all visual outputs including photography, videography, and design. The ideal candidate will act as both a creative visionary and a traffic manager - ensuring projects are well-executed, on-brand, and delivered on time.

This is a key role that requires strong conceptual thinking, visual storytelling, and team leadership. You’ll collaborate with internal stakeholders to bring campaigns to life - from initial concept to final execution - guiding a small creative team of designer, photographer, videographer, and editor to deliver high-impact content that engages and inspires our people.

Accountabilities

Creative Direction & Campaign Development:

Lead the creative development of internal campaigns and events that align with business objectives and brand guidelines.

Translate campaign goals into compelling creative concepts, ensuring consistency across photography, video, and design. Define the visual identity for campaigns, including mood boards, art direction, and creative briefs for each activation.

Collaborate closely with internal stakeholders to understand campaign objectives and bring them to life visually and experientially.

Team & Project Management:

Oversee a small in-house creative team including graphic designer, photographer, videographer, and editor.

Act as the team’s traffic manager, allocating resources effectively across projects, setting timelines, and managing deadlines.

Review and approve all creative outputs, ensuring high-quality, on-brand delivery.

Champion creative excellence while maintaining an efficient workflow and prioritisation of deliverables.

Production Oversight:

Provide creative direction on photoshoots and video production—from pre-production planning and storyboarding to final editing.

Ensure consistency in tone, visual language, and brand alignment across all multimedia content. Work with vendors, freelancers, or agencies when needed to supplement the in-house team.

Stakeholder Engagement & Strategic Input .Partner with senior internal stakeholders to understand employee engagement goals and translate them into powerful visual communication.

Contribute to strategic campaign planning and provide creative input at the early stages of project discussions.

Present creative ideas with clarity and rationale to both creative and non-creative audiences.

Education & Experience

• Minimum of 5-7 years of experience in art direction and design in creative advertising agencies or similar work in-house.
• A portfolio that demonstrates experience in art direction, print executions, film and activation production.
• Minimum bachelor’s degree
• Experience in aviation is a plus but not a necessity.
  
  

About Etihad Airways

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE, was formed in 2003 and quickly went on to become one of the world’s leading airlines. From its home in Abu Dhabi, Etihad flies to passenger and cargo destinations in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and North America. Together with Etihad’s codeshare partners, Etihad’s network offers access to hundreds of international destinations. In recent years, Etihad has received numerous awards for its superior service and products, cargo offering, loyalty programme and more. All this ties into Etihad’s ambitious Journey 2030 strategy. The airline plans to double its fleet size and triple the number of customers over the next six years as it sets out to be the airline everyone wants to fly!

To learn more, visit etihad.com

Recruitment Fraud Alert

Beware of fraudulent job offers from individuals or organizations claiming to represent the Etihad group. We will never ask for personal information, bank details, or payment during the recruitment process. Interviews are conducted face-to-face or via video/telephone before any formal offer. If you are asked for money, please treat it as fraudulent.

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