Head of Creative, Athleta

About the Brand

Athleta has spent the last 25 years focused on one mission: empowering women and girls. The brand is built around inspiration, collaboration, connection, and inclusivity, and it looks for people who are energized by active living, personal growth, and building products and experiences that make a meaningful difference.

Athleta operates with a business-for-good mindset, balancing people and planet alongside profit. As a certified B Corp, it is committed to a larger purpose and to creating an environment where people can do impactful work together.

Role Overview

The Head of Creative will shape Athleta’s visual identity and brand storytelling across every customer touchpoint. This senior leader is responsible for delivering creative work that reflects purpose, performance, and community while helping more women and girls connect with the brand’s mission and message.

Reporting to the Chief Marketing Officer, this role sits on the Athleta leadership team and oversees the in-house creative function, including art direction, copywriting, design, and styling. The position works closely with Marketing, Product, Visual Merchandising, and outside agencies to create emotionally compelling, strategically aligned creative that strengthens how customers experience the brand.

The role also calls for building a diverse, high-performing creative team and shaping a culture rooted in inclusion, inspiration, accountability, and innovation. The Head of Creative will play a major part in ensuring Athleta’s work remains distinctive, consistent, and aligned with its values.

Key Responsibilities

• Set and evolve a creative strategy that authentically speaks to women and girls and encourages confidence, movement, and connection.
• Lead creative ideas that reinforce belonging and purpose across retail, digital, social, packaging, and experiential channels.
• Maintain a consistent brand voice and emotional tone across all customer-facing creative outputs.
• Use consumer and cultural insights to guide creative choices and improve engagement with the brand.
• Build and deliver a full creative vision that supports the long-range brand plan and marketing priorities.
• Promote a high-performance creative environment centered on inclusivity, innovation, and measurable results.
• Work with Brand Marketing, Product, and Visual Merchandising to ensure creative direction supports business objectives and brand differentiation.
• Partner with external agencies to produce integrated campaigns that protect brand standards and motivate customer action.
• Recruit, mentor, and develop a diverse creative team with strong performance and growth potential.
• Create an environment that attracts strong creative talent and encourages curiosity, collaboration, and development.
• Strengthen cross-functional alignment so creative execution supports broader marketing and brand storytelling goals.
• Improve creative workflows with operations and production teams to support efficient, high-quality delivery.
• Explore new trends, cultural signals, and formats to keep the brand fresh and relevant.
• Evaluate creative performance and refine output to increase brand and business impact.
• Ensure consistency across retail, digital, social, packaging, and event experiences.

Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate brings senior creative leadership experience, a strong track record in brand storytelling, and the ability to guide teams and partners toward excellent execution. This person should be equally comfortable thinking strategically, leading people, and elevating creative quality across channels.

Requirements

• 10 or more years of progressive creative direction experience in apparel, lifestyle, or agency settings.
• Demonstrated ability to shape brand evolution through emotionally compelling, purpose-led creative work.
• Experience building, coaching, and retaining diverse creative teams with strong performance.
• Ability to create alignment and trust across internal teams and external agency partners.
• Strong command of design, photography, digital standards, and omnichannel marketing practices.
• Ability to review, measure, and improve creative performance against business objectives.
• Excellent storytelling, presentation, and interpersonal communication skills.
• Proficiency with Adobe Creative Suite, G-Suite, Keynote, and similar tools.
• Willingness to travel as required for creative and cross-functional work.

Compensation

The posted annual salary range for this role is USD 320,000 to USD 350,000. Actual pay may differ based on qualifications, experience, skill level, competencies, and work location. Compensation will meet any applicable minimum wage or minimum pay-range requirement, whichever is higher, based on city, county, and state regulations.

Benefits

• 50% discount on regular-priced merchandise at Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, and Athleta, plus 30% off outlet purchases for all employees.
• One of the industry’s most competitive paid time off programs.
• Up to five paid volunteer hours each month to support a charity of choice.
• 401(k) plan with company matching contributions of up to 4% of base pay.
• Employee stock purchase plan.
• Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance.
• Additional benefits are available for eligible employees.

Equal Opportunity Statement

The employer maintains a workplace free from harassment and discrimination and makes hiring, training, promotion, and other employment decisions without regard to protected status. The organization is committed to recruiting and supporting people from all backgrounds and fostering an inclusive environment where everyone belongs.

Additional Information

This employer has been recognized for its commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion, including acknowledgment as one of the World’s Best Employers and one of the Best Employers for Diversity in 2022.