Senior Manager, Creative Services - Pottery Barn

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About the Photo Direction Team

Housed under Pottery Barn’s Creative department, the Photo Direction team translates our brand’s creative direction into compelling photography and videography creating desire by inspiring our customers to decorate, entertain, and live with the things they love. 

Our team supports Pottery Barn’s omni-channel business model through passionate and dedicated individuals who develop and execute every season’s photographic vision. We support and cultivate a highly collaborative and positive team environment that results in beautiful, on-brand photo imagery.

Overview 

You will be part of the team that creates photographic assets to support seasonal campaigns through our website, email, social channels and print catalogs for marketing, advertising and in-store use. You will work closely with our cross-functional partners in merchandising, product development, e-commerce, video, and social media. You will have the opportunity to lead a team of photographers, stylists, producers, and set builders for Pottery Barn. You will be responsible for translating the visual ideas, developed by the Product Design team and led by our Brand President/Chief Creative Officer, into photo assets inspired by seasonal concepts and product showroom displays. You are a skilled visual storyteller that brings campaigns to life through images. You are passionate about home décor, see the big picture, and think in a strategic, conceptual way. You will report directly to the Vice President, Creative and Photography and work closely on strategy with the Senior Vice President of Creative. This is an excellent opportunity to grow with a team and with responsibilities integral to Pottery Barn's brand evolution.

Responsibilities: 

• Attend all concept showroom walk-throughs and meetings led by the Product Development department related to seasonal creative direction.
• Lead on-site art direction with responsibility for creating assets according to a daily schedule, including lighting and lens direction, camera angle, mood, tone and approach, styling “look and feel” (soft goods, interior design, artistic gestures, food) and all related elements in creating imagery.
• Initiate positive, collaborative, creative, and productive relationships with photographers, stylists, producers, digital technicians, assistants, merchandise coordinators, set builders, and warehouse staff at the Pottery Barn photo studio.
• Partner with VP Creative and Social team as needed to execute video shoots in conjunction with still shoots as needed.
• Collaborate with digital technicians on asset reviews and approve all images for review and comment from internal stakeholders and executives, including dispensing direction on color accuracy, photo retouching, mood, background selection, and page layout. Ensure assets are moving through workflow with Digital Tech and Production team to meet all agreed upon timelines.
• Develop a Creative Brief for each campaign or seasonal chapter that conveys visual concepts, including decorating ideas, styling inspirations, camera angles and lighting, set design ideas and the overall “look and feel” for asset deliverables. Present Creative Brief to VP & SVP Creative prior to seasonal shoot for sign off.
• Collaborate with the Merchandising team on photo pre-production needs to ensure alignment on the creative vision as it relates to product representation.
• Participate with Creative Directors and the Vice President Creative in the photo planning process, such as photographer and stylist selection, time allocation, and workflow. 
• Design sets for photography, review and seek approvals, and communicate needs to the set building team.
• Initiate and lead photo pre-production meetings with stylists and producers to convey creative and production expectations.
• Partner with Photo Producers to create shot lists insuring timely deliverables on a daily, weekly, and seasonal basis.
• Prior to shooting, partner with Pagination team within Creative to ensure pagination for each spread is complete, robust, visually pleasing and adequate quantities are planned for in advance. Work through any issues with Merchandising team that arise through creative development phase. 

Criteria: 

• Undergraduate or graduate degree in a visual/creative discipline, such as advertising, interior design, interior architecture, graphic design, fine art, or photography.
• Minimum of 10 years having held titled positions, such as Art Director, Associate Art Director, or Assistant Art Director with proven progression from r