Sr. Director, Creative Strategy & Services

Role Overview

Cortland is looking for a senior creative leader to shape and elevate the brand experience across every resident and prospect interaction. In this position, you will combine strategic brand thinking, creative leadership, and operational discipline to deliver scalable, high-quality creative output. You will report to the CMO and oversee the in-house creative function, ensuring the brand stays consistent, memorable, and clearly differentiated in the market.

What You Will Do

• Create and guide an enterprise-wide creative and brand strategy that supports business growth.
• Build, refine, and maintain brand identity and visual systems across different markets.
• Turn business goals into creative concepts that help generate demand and support performance.
• Develop reusable standards, systems, and toolkits that keep brand execution aligned.
• Lead creative work across digital, social, print, video, and experiential channels.
• Shape integrated storytelling across owned and paid media.
• Oversee concept development through final delivery while maintaining strong creative quality.
• Ensure every brand touchpoint feels distinctive, cohesive, and emotionally engaging.
• Direct creative strategy for owned media, paid media, and internal/external presentations.
• Improve creative workflows, operating processes, and production efficiency.
• Guide the use of AI and emerging tools to scale content creation and personalization.
• Use performance insights and data to sharpen creative effectiveness.
• Work with technology teams to align tools, systems, and platforms.
• Stay ahead of innovation in creative technology, digital storytelling, and consumer experience design.
• Partner with teams across Community Marketing, Marketing Technology, Communications, Brand Strategy & Experience, HR, Investments, and Operations.
• Align brand building with performance marketing efforts.
• Act as a strategic advisor who translates business and audience insights into creative direction.
• Lead video production from concept to post-production.
• Direct experiential and event creative to support consistent brand experiences.
• Guide storytelling across multiple content formats to maximize engagement.
• Recruit, develop, and lead a high-performing in-house creative team.
• Set performance expectations and operating cadences for the team.
• Encourage a culture centered on creativity, accountability, and innovation.
• Manage agencies and outside creative partners effectively.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Design, Marketing, Advertising, or a closely related field.
• At least 10 years of experience in creative, design, or brand leadership.
• Background in consumer-facing industries such as hospitality, retail, or lifestyle is preferred.
• Proven success in building and scaling creative teams.
• A strong portfolio that shows brand systems and campaign work.
• Hands-on experience with AI and newer creative technologies.
• Excellent communication and storytelling abilities.
• Ability to influence senior stakeholders in a fast-moving environment.

About Cortland

Founded in 2005, Cortland is an international multifamily real estate investment, development, and management company with a resident-focused approach. The organization is recognized among the top 10 multifamily owners and operators in the U.S. and combines design, construction, and operations in-house to deliver innovation and value across its portfolio.

The company promotes an environment built on performance, innovation, and disciplined execution, and it aims to support talented professionals with the resources and autonomy needed to grow.

Equal Opportunity and Employment Information

Cortland is an equal opportunity employer and considers all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected characteristic. Applicants who need accommodation or assistance during the application process may reach out to the company by email.

Cortland operates as a drug-free workplace and participates in E-Verify to confirm employment authorization for people hired to work in the United States.

Privacy Notice and Data Processing

California applicants may request access to or deletion of personal information collected during recruiting by contacting the company directly. Personal information gathered from applicants may include identity details, employment history, qualifications, and education records, and is used for recruiting, interviews, evaluation, and hiring decisions.

For candidates covered by GDPR, personal data is processed for recruitment and selection purposes, may be shared with recruitment software providers in the United States, and can be retained as long as needed to assess the application. Individuals may have rights to access, correct, erase, restrict, or port their data, and may also file a complaint with an EU supervisory authority.