The Role
We're MDRN Creative Group, the company behind MDRN Activations (corporate experiential marketing), MDRN Photobooth Co. (premium event photo experiences), and Photo Booth Mastery (PBM), an education platform for photo booth operators.
We're at a point in our growth where creative output needs to match the level of the business we're doing. We need someone to come in, take ownership of the department, and build it into something that runs with consistency, speed, and a high standard. That means establishing new systems, raising the bar on execution, and leading a team member through that transition.
This is a hands-on leadership role. You direct and you produce. You set the standard and you hold it. You build the infrastructure that makes the team fast and then you make sure the team uses it.
Our clients are corporate. Our events are high-profile. Our education brand serves hundreds of photo booth operators across North America. The work shows up at the Fairmont, at FIFA activations, Nike, Xbox, at brand launches, and in course content that students build businesses from. It needs to be right, and it needs to be on time.
What You'll Own
Creative Leadership
- Own creative output across all three brands: you set the standard, enforce it, and are accountable for it
- Assess the current state of the department and implement the structure, processes, and quality benchmarks it needs
- Oversee, direct, and develop creative team member(s): assign work, review output, give clear actionable feedback, hold them accountable to the company goals
- Make resourcing and team decisions in partnership with the CEO: you have real authority here, not just a title
- Be a producing leader: you're not above the work, you're in it. This is the start up life.
MDRN Activations & Photobooth Co. (75%)
- All client-facing event design: photo booth overlays, screens, branding assets, animations, mock ups and video compositing
- Brand activation creative: from brief to final deliverable. Across multi-city corporate events
- Promotional and marketing design: service guides, pitch decks, social content, email assets
- Video production and editing for client activations (highlight reels, event content, on-site screen content)
- Motion graphics and animation for photo booth software, digital screens, and activation environments, and experiences.
Photo Booth Mastery (PBM) (25%)
- Full video production for PBM course content: planning, shooting, editing, and delivering finished educational video
- Motion graphics and animated sequences for course modules
- Marketing video assets for PBM launches, ads, and social campaigns
- Visual design templates for student-facing materials, workbooks, and digital assets
Systems & Infrastructure
- Audit what exists and replace or rebuild what isn't working: file structures, asset libraries, production workflows
- Build template systems and production SOPs so the team can produce event-ready assets quickly and consistently without reinventing the wheel
- Create foolproof design systems for common deliverables: overlays, screens, branding kits, social assets, video templates. Built so anyone can execute them independently
- Document everything you build so the department runs with or without you in the room
- Own the request pipeline: intake, scope, prioritization, and delegation and make sure nothing is late without advance notice
What We're Looking For
This is a unicorn job description. We know it. We're a team of unicorns looking for one more to ride with us.
Hard Skills — Required
- 5+ years of professional design and video experience in client-facing, deadline-driven environments
- Video capture: confident behind the camera. You shoot talking-head and b-roll for course content, direct talent to a teleprompter script, and handle run-and-gun capture at live events, with framing, lighting, and clean on-set audio so the footage is right before it reaches the edit
- Demonstrated experience leading or overseeing another creative. You've managed output and developed someone, not just done the work yourself
- Motion graphics and animation - After Effects - Non Negotiable
- Video editing: multicam, colour correction, transitions, sound sync; capable of producing polished educational and brand content
- Graphic design: Photoshop, Illustrator, Canva; fast and clean across multiple brand styles
- Fluent with AI creative tools: Midjourney, Adobe Firefly, RunwayML, Claude Design or equivalent; you use AI to move faster and produce better, not as a substitute for craft
- Strong systems thinker. You build templates, document processes, and create infrastructure that makes other people more capable
- Airtight file hygiene and version control: you name, organize, and hand off files that others can actually use
Soft Skills
Non-Negotiable
- You come into a situation, assess it honestly, and improve it without drama and without waiting to be asked
- You deliver to the brief. Not your interpretation. Not what you think looks better. What was agreed to by the team. We ideate as a team but once locked it, you or your team delivers that.
- You lead by example. Your team learns from watching you, not just from being told.
- You communicate proactively: if a deadline is at risk, you say so before it's missed, not after
- You ask the right questions at the start of a project so you're not rebuilding it in the middle
- You manage multiple concurrent projects across different brand identities without letting them bleed into each other
- You speak up. In Slack, in meetings, directly to the CEO. You don't wait to be managed into a conversation.
- You're self-directed. When one thing is done, you know what's next without being told.
- You project manage in a transparent way that anyone can see where the project is at.
Nice to Have
- Experience with photo booth software (Breeze, LA Photo PArty, Snappic, Photo Booth Supply Co. products)
- Background in experiential marketing, brand activations, or live event production
- Experience producing educational or tutorial-style video content
- Podcast audio/video editing experience
- Basic photography skills useful for PBM content shoots
How We Work
We run on ClickUp, Slack, and Dropbox. If it's not in ClickUp, it doesn't exist. Communication happens in public Slack channels. We use Fireflies to record and document key meetings. You'll work from our Ottawa office full-time, in-person presence is part of how this team operates.
You'll report directly to Cat (CEO). Design requests flow through the CEO and the events team. You own intake, delegation, and delivery.
We care about output, not optics. Finish early and it's right , great. Need more time? Tell us before the deadline. The only failure mode is silence followed by a missed delivery. It stresses the entire team out.
What Success Looks Like — 90 Days
- You've assessed the department and have a clear picture of what needs to change and you've started drafting the plan to change it.
- The request pipeline is owned, visible, and nothing is late without prior notice
- Your team is producing work independently, guided by systems and feedback you've established
- PBM video content is delivered on time, correct to the script with the right footage and, visual treatment, first try
- Client activation design is delivered to brief with one round of revisions or fewer
- At least one core template system is built and the team is using it
- The team is not chasing creative status updates and the events team isn’t constantly following up on deliverables
Compensation & Details
- Compensation: $85,000 – $125,000 per year, based on experience
- Location: Ottawa, ON — in-office, full-time. You must be based in Ottawa or able to relocate. This is not a remote role.
- Schedule: Full-time; some evening and weekend availability required around live events
- Start date: As soon as the right person is ready
How to Apply
Apply here and send the following to [[email protected]] if you can't attach it the Indeed document:
- Your portfolio — must include motion graphics or animation work, video editing samples, and at least one brand or event design example
- Examples of systems, templates, or SOPs you've built that other team members executed from
- A brief note (3–5 sentences) on why this role fits where you are right now
- Your available start date and compensation expectations
Applications without a portfolio will not be reviewed.
We review applications on a rolling basis. First-round interviews are conducted via video call.
Pay: $85,000.00-$125,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Casual dress
- Dental care
- Life insurance
- On-site parking
- Paid time off
- Vision care
Work Location: In person
