Leveling a creative role is not
the same as leveling other departments.

Job leveling, also known as job classification or job grading, is a human resources system used to: Define a job's duties and responsibilities. Establish career pathways for specific roles. Create clear hierarchical levels within the organization and standardize an internal compensation structure. These should align positions from a payscale that not only fits the companies needs, but also is specific to the market of the job. How does one determine pay levels for creatives? What do creative titles mean?

A secret to properly paying in-house creative's:
Don't undervalue the creative talent and never overpay the sales team.

What are the levels of creative roles and what are standard agency and in-house staff compensation salaries for each level? Below is a breakdown for each. Keep in-mind many of these roles requires a compensation package which on-top-of salary would include a 10 - 25% annual bonus and equity. A creative or designers portfolio is a key component to evaluating and setting their salary and compensation package, not just their past roles or seniority. Digital agencies tend to pay less than traditional agencies and branding studios can fall in-between the two. Where a company is situated in the U.S.A. by region also influences compensation.

Keep in-mind, there is no such thing as a creative generalist. They don't exist. You cannot hire a single creative and expect them to do a half a dozen or more different skill based role. Copy writers are art directors and art director are video editors. Thinking otherwise is unrealistic and in the long run will hurt your brand.

A hierarchy* of creative titles:

Chief Creative Officer (CCO)
The chief creative officer is the agency leader and is directly involved with the clients and new business. This role may oversee the entire client list of agency work on a day-to-day basis or sit at the executive leadership table instead. 15 - 30 years experience. The median annual pay in the U.S. is $250,000 - $850,000

Executive Creative Director (ECD)
The most important role of the Executive Creative Director is as a translator to the wider organization. They translate business vision and product truth into brand stories and high-order decisions that inspire and drive the entire organization forward. They then translate that high-level brand strategy into the creative that delivers brand continuity, awareness and loyalty. Conceptual integrated campaigns vs a tactical only content is what leads to sales, brand recognition and retains talent. The ECD is a subject matter expert in their field or fields and represent agencies and companies at the executive leadership level. 15 - 25 years experience. The median annual pay in the U.S. is $250,000 - $450,000

Group Creative Director (GCD)
A group creative director indicates a very senior creative director overseeing one large account that may have several arms to it, or overseeing several smaller accounts. “Group” is indicative of the scale of the work, and often the number of people working across that portfolio. 10 - 15 years experience. The median annual pay in the U.S. is $250,000 - $350,000

Creative Director (CD)
A creatvie director is a hand-on, but mostly hands off strategic creative who has the ability to manage the day-to-day team or teams, as well as, present and conceptualize campaign level work that distinctively solves client problems. 10 - 15 years experience. The median annual pay in the U.S. is $189,000 - $250,000

Digital Creative Director (DCD)
Digital creative director’s role can span from day-to-day work load to managing a clients digital footprint. They may or may not be client facing depending on experience as they tend to lack the experience and training of working from a mentorship role and do not have the training to think holistically from a 360 strategic campaign approach. 5 - 8 years experience. The median annual pay in the U.S. is $150,000 - $225,000

Associate Creative Director (ACD)
Associate creative directors are at the point in their career where they can start to represent the agency at meetings under their direct leaders guidance. They are hand-on in nature and have a keen understanding of what creating content and campaigns takes, but have not mastered the strategic and unique subtleties of award winning vs good creative work. 8 - 12 years experience. The median annual pay in the U.S. is $110,000 - $180,000

Art Director (AD)
An art director has the hands-on ability to deliver a wide range of campaign work and campaign concepts, but needs guidance from senior creative leadership to make strategic and help define client or category differentiation. Part designer, part conceptual creative. They are able to execute or produce work with direct leaderships guidance. 3 - 8 years experience. The median annual pay in the U.S. is $35,000 - $90,000

Copywriter (C)
The copywriter is a role specific job that creates strategic written material and for many strategically relevant concepts as creative solutions. They are headline, body copy and tagline oriented. Their ability to strategically articulate solutions depends on their conceptual expertise. 3 - 8 years experience. The median annual pay in the U.S. is $40,000 - $85,000

"No one should be President who can’t handle a pie-in-the-face ceremony."
- Jeff Goodby

Design Director (DD)
The design director is the most senior designer and is responsible for high-order decisions that inspire and drive the entire design department forward. They are the strategic decision makers that interface with clients and stakeholders very early on and are the face of the organizations design team. 15 - 25 years experience. The median annual pay in the U.S. is $180,000 - $275,000

Lead Graphic Designer (LGD)
Lead graphic designers are responsible for designing and driving a company's brand or overseeing company-wide content. They collaborate with other artists and delegate work amongst a team of designers. They are content creators not conceptual campaign strategists. 5 - 12 years experience. The median annual pay in the U.S. is $150,000 - $225,000

Senior Graphic Designer (SGD)
Senior graphic designers manage the visual designs of projects and content, but are not necessarily in direct leadership role with other designers. 8 - 12 years experience. The median annual pay in the U.S. is $850,000 - $165,000

Senior Designers will keep going on the creative track, becoming Art Directors and eventually Creative Directors. For Design Leads may also take the route of becoming a Design Manager.

Graphic Designer (GD)
A graphic designer is a hands-on content producer with extensive foundational training in the craft of graphic communications. A graphic designer creates visuals for all kinds of projects, from websites to print ads. There individual skillset ranges dramatically and depends deeply on their background and core understanding of their craft. 3 - 15 years experience. The median annual pay in the U.S. is $75,000 - $125,000

Web Designer (WD)
A web designer is a hands-on technical digital designer focusing solely on user interface design (UI) and user experience design (UX). They should have extensive training in design systems for websites, mobile and iPads. They are screen designers with a keen understanding of user journey and data usage to make informed decisions. Managing transfer of digital designs with the development team. They tend to lack high level graphic design fundamentals as their background is focused on screens. 5 - 12 years experience. The median annual pay in the U.S. is $65,000

* Roles, experience and salary are all 'estimates' from direct experience or varies sources. Multiple factors including negotiating skill effects the outcome, hence the wide ranges.

If you're a company looking to create an original integrated marketing campaign to expand brand awareness and scale contact Kevin Amter. His nationally awarded work for T-Moble and dozens of other Fortune 500 brands will strategically move your company in a winning direction.

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