As creative lead, I oversee all aspects of marketing—from graphic design, product photography, and catalogue production to website management, email campaigns, social media, digital marketing, showroom merchandising, and content creation.
I'm a hands-on leader who works directly alongside my team to create content, execute campaigns, and provide creative direction. I balance day-to-day operations with strategic decision-making, ensuring brand consistency while driving the company's overall marketing vision.
Key Responsibilities:
Leadership & Team Management: Lead, mentor, and manage a cross-functional team across various marketing functions.
Hands-On Contribution: In addition to overseeing the team, actively participate in the creation of marketing content when needed. Be ready to step in and help execute projects alongside my team.
Management Role: Collaborate with the management team, providing marketing insights and creative direction to drive company strategy.
Creative Direction: Provide creative vision and direction for branding, product photography, catalogues, website content, social media, and other digital and print assets. Ensure visual, content, and brand/voice is consistent across all channels and lead creative initiatives related to company brand.
Project Management: Oversee the end-to-end management of marketing projects, ensuring timely delivery, quality output, and efficient use of resources. Balance hands-on work with team management responsibilities.
Brand Stewardship: Uphold and evolve company brand standards, working closely with the management team to ensure all marketing materials reflect the brand’s core values of creativity, reliability, and customer-centricity.
Campaign Development: Support and lead the planning, development, and execution of digital marketing programs across channels— websites, SEO/PPC, email marketing and automation workflows, follow-ups, optimize conversions throughout the customer journey and performance analysis to increase engagement and drive conversions.
Digital & Print Expertise: Oversee website management, social media, and digital marketing strategies while ensuring effective execution of print for catalogues, flyers, and product packaging.
Showroom & Display Oversight: Work with designers to develop and implement inspiring showroom displays that reflect the brand values and create an engaging customer experience.
Market & Trend Research: Monitor industry trends and competitor strategies to ensure company offerings remain innovative and aligned with market demand. Leverage data-driven insights to analyze marketing performance and provide actionable strategy adjustments for optimal results.
Analysis & Reporting: Coordinate and support marketing activities and day-to-day execution in collaboration with the marketing team to ensure strategic alignment and timely execution across all platforms. Monitor performance, provide recommendations, apply digital marketing best practices, and optimize content to maximize engagement.
Qualifications and Skills:
10+ years of expertise in design and marketing, with at least 3 years in a leadership role managing multi-disciplinary teams.
A collaborative and strategic leader, able to guide a team while working side-by-side to meet goals.
Proven experience in excuting creative direction and hands-on execution of marketing projects.
Experience collaborating with sales teams to create materials and strategies that align with business objectives.
Strong proficiency in Microsoft Office, graphic design software (Adobe Creative Suite), digital marketing platforms (Google Analytics, social media management tools), AI tools, Email and website management systems.
Manage and executing paid social campaigns across Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, AB testing, and market research
Solid understanding of print production processes and catalogue design.
Hands-on mentality, with the ability to balance high-level strategy with direct involvement in day-to-day tasks.
Interpret data and make informed decisions ensuring optimal product placement and alignment with marketing strategies that resonate with target audience.
Strong project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines simultaneously.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English with the ability to present creative concepts and marketing strategies.
Proactively build and maintain strategic relationships with local businesses, organizations, and stakeholders.
Stay current with design trends, tools, and software, and proactively apply best practices to elevate the quality of the team’s work.
Experience
I bring proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite, Google Analytics, and managing paid social campaigns. I remain current with design trends, tools, and software, proactively applying best practices to elevate team output.
Creative Design
Digital Marketing
Technical skills:
Adobe Creative Suite
Photoshop, Lightroom, Premiere Pro
Illustrator, XD, Acrobat, InDesign
Web Accessibility
Figma / Canva
HTML / CSS5 / CMS
ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Claude
3D + Ai online tools (Presti, Midjourney)
Shopify / Magento / Wordpress
Jira / Asana / Monday / Slack
Microsoft Office / Google / CRMs
Google / Meta Digital Paid Advertising
Interpersonal skills:
Critical Thinking
Verbal Communication
Active Listening
Time Management
Six Sigma
Project Management
Thought Leadership
Presentation Skills
Creative Process Development
Problem Solving
Companies & Clients I’ve worked with
Working with me
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As the global CIO and Head of IT, eCommerce and Inside Sales at Stork Craft, I worked with Stephen on re-branding of the company’s main brand and adding additional brands, acquired as part of the company’s recent makeover and general turnaround. Re-building the website and creating marketing material for the web was at the time one of my groups’ assignments, and Stephen was added to the team to assist with the company’s marketing re-do. Stephen is talented, motivated and creative senior graphic designer and marketing specialist. His web designs, marketing collaterals and image-for-the web projects are unique, stylish and catchy. With his talents and phenomenal results, Stephen is an asset to any organization!
LinkedIn Recommendation
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Stephen was a critical part of the marketing team at Visible Strategies. His ability to combine interesting content with visually stunning design led to the development of highly effective lead generation materials and initiatives, driving the creation of solid sales opportunities and impressive sales funnel growth. His technical skills as a designer, his ability to utilize automated marketing tools, his market research abilities, and his "can do" attitude made him a pleasure to work with and a highly regarded and well liked team member. I have no hesitation in recommending Stephen and would rehire him in a minute.
LinkedIn Recommendation
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I've had the pleasure of collaborating with Stephen at Cymax Group Technologies. From day one, he was very open and welcoming to me. As a senior graphic designer, Stephen possesses a strong understanding of design principles and is an exceptionally creative individual with a keen eye for detail and a passion for design. As a Marketing manager, I found it very easy to work with him. He always delivered his projects well before the deadline, which helped us achieve our targets. He has a knack for solving complex creative problems with ease and is a valuable asset for any company.
LinkedIn Recommendation