Retail Creative Director (Hybrid - Seattle, WA)

Job Description

The Retail Creative Director at Nordstrom leads the vision and strategy for new creative concepts for stores and select visual merchandising initiatives, while ensuring these efforts reflect Nordstrom’s design and brand principles and deliver outstanding retail experiences.

As a key member of the Creative leadership team in Marketing, the Director manages a team of designers and program managers, guiding the conceptual direction of new retail formats, visual displays, brand partner activations, experiential spaces, seasonal campaigns, and large-scale marketing initiatives across all store touchpoints.

Working closely with the Nordstrom Visual Merchandising and Construction teams, this leader oversees every aspect of store and shop layouts for new concepts, fixture and merchandising display design, lighting, furniture, materials, pop-in shops, and events for assigned projects. The Director also collaborates with other Nordstrom Creative Directors to integrate marketing campaigns into store environments. The ideal candidate is a proactive and innovative retail design expert with a passion for creating exceptional shopping experiences, balancing strategic vision with detailed execution. This role requires strong leadership, project management, and communication skills.

A day in the life...
 

Strategic Leadership:

• Define the multi-year strategic road map for new in-store creative concepts and visual marketing experiences, aligning with Nordstrom’s brand identity guidelines, marketing objectives and evolving customer expectations.
• Develop and execute innovative and creative strategies for new store design concepts and connect brand storytelling with visual display for campaigns and brand partner initiatives that align with Nordstrom brand identity.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including marketing, merchandising, store VM, construction and operations, to ensure a cohesive customer experience across all store locations.
• Regularly report on the impact of creative design and assigned visual merchandising efforts to senior leadership including the President of Nordstrom stores and the Chief Merchandising Officer.

New Store Design Concepts:

• Lead the end-to-end design and development of new store concepts including innovative store prototypes, adaptable layouts, fixtures and finishes that reflect the Nordstrom brand and aesthetic and resonate with Nordstrom’s target customers.
• Stay current on retail trends and customer behaviors to create innovative, scalable, and future-proof store environments.
• Oversee the development of architectural and interior design plans, working closely with external design firms, internal teams and contractors as needed.
   

Store Display Design & Concepts:

• Develop end-to-end creative concepts and design for all marketing 360 campaigns and promotions working with Visual Merchandising to produce and execute.  Align concepts in partnership with Nordstrom Creative directors and develop store environment displays that meet vision, budget, and timeline.
• Partner with the store environment merchandising team to ensure product placement and visual displays align with seasonal and scaled marketing campaigns, brand launches, and promotional objectives.
• Ensure that campaign-based storytelling is visually expressed with impact, customer relevance, and consistency across Nordstrom stores and aligns back to the Nordstrom brand across other touchpoints.
   

Project Management:

• Oversee multiple store department design and campaign visual display projects simultaneously and throughout all phases, to ensure delivery of design intent and brand storytelling goals.
• Collaborate with construction and VM teams as needed to oversee the rollout of new store concepts and remodels.
   

Performance Analysis:

• Analyze the performance of store design and visual merchandising initiatives, using data and customer feedback to optimize layouts, displays, and overall store experiences.
   

Leadership & Team Development:

• Communicates effectively and addresses challenges with honesty and courage.
• Mentors and empowers teams to achieve goals while fostering creativity and collaboration.
• Makes sound decisions and provides constructive feedback to ensure high-quality, innovative results.
• Cultivates a supportive environment that encourages growth, idea-sharing, and excellence.

You own this if you have...

• Minimum 10+ years of design and construction-related experience in luxury/fashion retail environments, with a proven track record of delivering high-end, customer-focused spaces that meet industry-specific deadlines and sta