Associate Creative Director

The Brand Creative Lab is looking for a bold, insights-driven  Associate Creative Director who can elevate storytelling through video, inspire teams to push creative boundaries, and deliver work that moves culture and drives business impact. This role is ideal for someone with a deep expertise in video production. You thrive on crafting high-impact visual narratives and collaborating with internal and external creative teams through the full production lifecycle – from concept to final delivery. You bring precision, craft, and strategic thinking to every phase of production, ensuring that every piece of content is emotionally resonant and aligned with brand goals. The Brand Creative Lab is Microsoft’s in-house creative team within the Consumer Marketing Organization supporting consumer-facing businesses including Copilot, Copilot+ PCs, Surface, Microsoft 365, Windows, Edge, and Bing.

Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As employees we come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to realize our shared goals. Each day we build on our values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond.

In alignment with our Microsoft values, we are committed to cultivating an inclusive work environment for all employees to positively impact our culture every day.

Responsibilities

Video Production Leadership:

• Partner with producers and editors to bring ideas to life with precision and impact.
• Oversee all phases of video production—from pre-visualization and scripting to post-production—ensuring excellence in shot selection, graphics, music, and pacing.
  
  

Audience Centric Storytelling

• Craft compelling, emotionally resonant narratives with a deep understanding of consumption behavior, attention patterns, and platform-specific pacing.
• Shape story arcs that maximize impact across video, digital, social, and experiential formats.
  
  

Social-First Format Strategy

• Apply a strong understanding of social-first content formats to develop creative that retains audiences for extended durations.
• Leverage platform-native behaviors, pacing techniques, and interactive storytelling to drive sustained engagement and cultural relevance.
  
  

Creative Execution

• Provide hands-on direction and feedback throughout the creative process—from ideation to execution—ensuring work is bold, cohesive, and on-brand.
• Provide clear direction on tone, pacing, and visual storytelling.
  
  

Strategic Partnership

• Collaborate closely with brand strategists, product marketers, and business stakeholders to ensure creative aligns with business goals and audience needs.
• Translate insights and feedback into accessible, high-impact creative concepts.
  
  

Mentorship & Collaboration

• Inspire and mentor junior creatives while fostering a collaborative, inclusive, and high-performing team culture.
  
  

Embody our culture and values.

Qualifications

Required/Mminimum Qualifications

• 4+ years experience in professional production environment or post-production environment
• OR equivalent experience.
• 4+ years of experience in advertising, design, or digital content creation, with a strong focus on social and video platforms.
• 4+ years of experience leading the visual direction of content, with a focus on crafting authentic, human-centered narratives through compelling imagery and artful storytelling.
• 4+ years of experience of working directly within creative software (i.e., Figma, Adobe Suite, Microsoft products) and video editing software (i.e., Final Cut Pro, After Effects)
  

Other Required Qualification

• Portfolio showcasing conceptual thinking, storytelling, and craft across video and digital platforms.
  
  

Additional/Preferred Qualifications

• 6+ years experience in professional production environment or post-production environment.
• OR equivalent experience.
• 6+ years of experience in advertising, design, or digital content creation, with a strong focus on social and video platforms.
• Proven ability to lead concept development and deliver integrated campaigns that drive brand and business impact.
• Expertise in digital-first creative marketing and exceptional campaign development.
• Proven experience in leveraging AI and machine learning technologies to enhance creative processes and deliver innovative solutions.
• Understanding of storytelling, narrative structure, pacing, graphics, music, shot selection and all key aspects of audio-visual content.
• Creative agency experience preferred.
• Experience working with cross-functional teams and external creative partners.
  

Video Production IC4 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $119,800 - $234,700 per year. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $158,400 - $258,000 per year.

Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here: https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay

Microsoft will accept applications for the role until October 6, 2025.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. Consistent with applicable law, all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations.