Director of Creative Services

The Director of Creative Services provides strategic and hands‑on creative leadership for Norfolk State University Athletics, overseeing the development and execution of visual content that strengthens the NSU Athletics brand, promotes student‑athletes and teams, supports revenue‑generating initiatives, and increases engagement across digital, social, print, in‑venue, recruiting, and other platforms.

The Director serves as the department’s lead creative professional and must possess advanced graphic design capabilities, strong visual storytelling skills, and the ability to independently develop high‑quality creative materials from concept through completion.

The position supervises one full‑time creative services staff member and provides leadership, direction, training, scheduling, and quality control for student interns and other assigned creative personnel. The Director establishes creative workflows, manages project priorities and deadlines, maintains brand consistency, and collaborates closely with Strategic Communications, Marketing, Broadcast/Production, Corporate Partnerships, coaches, administrators, and other departmental stakeholders.

The Director must balance strategic leadership with hands‑on production and perform effectively in a fast‑paced intercollegiate athletics environment that requires evening, weekend, and event‑day work.

• Serve as the lead creative professional for Norfolk State Athletics and establish the visual direction for departmental creative content.
• Conceptualize, design, and produce high‑quality graphics for social media, digital platforms, websites, print materials, game‑day presentations, marketing campaigns, recruiting, special events, ticket sales, fundraising, corporate partnerships, and other departmental initiatives.
• Maintain advanced proficiency in Adobe Photoshop and other applicable design software and independently execute graphic design assignments from concept through final production.
• Develop and maintain templates and scalable design systems that improve efficiency while maintaining creative quality.
• Provide creative direction and quality control for work produced by other creative staff, interns, freelancers, and vendors.
• Ensure visual materials adhere to Norfolk State University, Athletics, conference, NCAA, and applicable partner brand standards.
• Prepare artwork appropriately for digital, print, signage, promotional, and other production specifications.

• Develop compelling visual storytelling concepts highlighting Norfolk State Athletics, student‑athletes, coaches, competitions, traditions, accomplishments, alumni, and departmental initiatives.
• Produce and/or oversee photography, videography, graphics, short‑form video, motion graphics, and other multimedia content.
• Develop creative concepts for season launches, schedule releases, championship recognition, rivalry games, theme games, special events, milestones, and other priority campaigns.
• Identify opportunities for timely and engaging content rather than relying solely on assigned requests.
• Support real‑time content production during athletic competitions and major events.

• Collaborate with Strategic Communications and Marketing to develop visual content supporting departmental social media and digital strategies.
• Create platform‑appropriate content designed to increase engagement, audience growth, attendance, brand awareness, and affinity for Norfolk State Athletics.
• Use performance data and engagement trends to help inform creative approaches and content development.
• Maintain awareness of emerging creative, digital, social media, and collegiate athletics trends while ensuring…