- Location
- New York City New York USA
- Employment
- Full-Time
- Seniority
- Director
- Compensation
- $87,550–143,800/year
- Department
- Creative, Design & Styling
- Posted
- Oct 22, 2026
About MAC
MAC is a pioneering professional makeup authority, renowned for its artistry, inclusivity, and influential role in shaping contemporary beauty culture. Founded in Toronto in 1984 and now part of The Estée Lauder Companies, the brand empowers employees to champion self-expression, creativity, and diversity across retail, education, product innovation, and consumer experience. As an employer, MAC offers a dynamic, fast-paced environment where artistry meets commercial excellence, encouraging talent to develop deep product expertise, client relationships, and cultural awareness. Its heritage of supporting all ages, races, and genders continues to define a workplace built on bold ideas, collaboration, and authentic individuality.
M·A·C seeks an Associate Design Director, Social in New York to shape its global social strategy and creative vision, lead campaigns and shoots, and manage and mentor a small design team. The role is hands-on across social design, filming, editing and production, with a focus on Instagram and TikTok. The anticipated annual base salary is $87,550–$143,800, depending on experience, skills, education and budget; the range may vary by location, and the position is eligible for a competitive performance-based bonus.
Role & Responsibilities
- Partner with the Director of Social Creative to develop social-first campaigns for product launches and brand equity initiatives that elevate M·A·C’s visual identity, drive engagement and reach new audiences.
- Collaborate with Designers and Video Editors according to project scope, while independently designing, filming, editing and producing social assets for global 360 campaigns, particularly for Instagram and TikTok; oversee creative development, pre-production, production and post-production for assigned campaigns.
- Lead and art direct shoots ranging from lo-fi content to high-production photography and video, ensuring compelling visual expression, clear creative direction and social-first execution.
- Partner with Consumer Engagement and the Social Editor to develop earned TikTok concepts for high-priority campaigns.
- Work with the Audience team to optimize campaigns through strategic asset development, cadence planning, performance insights and benchmarking.
- Partner with Editorial to maintain a consistent social tone of voice, writing and refining on-brand, engaging, platform-native captions; support community engagement and commenting on selected platforms.
- Extend TikTok and Instagram strategy across M·A·C’s broader digital ecosystem and key brand touchpoints.
- Develop and oversee owned social content briefs for M·A·C makeup artists, external creators, regional channels and celebrity ambassadors.
- Communicate creative direction and design requirements to Designers, Video Editors and cross-functional partners throughout production.
- Identify and introduce emerging talent, creators, vendors and agencies for social asset creation and campaigns.
- Stay current with industry, cultural and platform trends, including emerging technologies.
- Manage and mentor a small team of designers; oversee social production and guide creative execution from concept through final delivery while maintaining a consistent visual and editorial point of view across global social channels.
Qualifications
- A portfolio demonstrating social-first creative thinking, hands-on design and editing, beauty-related creative direction, short-form video, and work across lo-fi and high-production content.
- Beauty experience, strong understanding of makeup and Artistry, and experience directing photo and video shoots with celebrity talent.
- Strong understanding of social campaign planning, content sequencing and cadence development across global and regional channels.
- Ability to interpret social performance data and apply insights to creative development and optimization.
- Exceptional visual taste and a strong point of view across beauty, fashion, entertainment and culture.
- Deep understanding of global social platforms, the digital media landscape and emerging platform tools.
- Experience using social publishing and scheduling tools, including platforms such as Dash Hudson.
- Strong communication and presentation skills, with the ability to articulate creative direction clearly and collaborate across business, creative and technical teams.
- Strong organizational and prioritization skills, including the ability to manage multiple workstreams and collaborate across disciplines.
- Comfort working in a fast-paced, highly collaborative environment.
Skills
Experience
5+ years of design experience, including proven experience leading and directing on set; beauty experience and experience directing photo and video shoots with celebrity talent are required.
Education
BA or BFA preferred.
Workplace
The successful candidate will be located in New York City, New York, USA.
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Compensation
The base compensation for this position ranges from USD 87,550 to USD 143,800 per annum.
Benefits
Eligible employees may receive medical, dental and vision insurance; wellness and family support programs; life and disability insurance; retirement savings plans; paid leave programs; education-related programs; paid holidays and vacation time. Many benefits are subsidized or fully paid by the company. The role is also eligible for a competitive bonus program, with potential for overachievement based on performance and company results.
Culture
MAC fosters a dynamic, artist-led workplace where creativity, individuality, and inclusive self-expression are central to the employee experience. The brand offers a fast-paced, collaborative environment in which beauty professionals are encouraged to build their artistry, connect authentically with diverse clients, and represent a bold global point of view.
About Cerulean
Cerulean is the definitive career portal for the global luxury industry. We match exceptional professionals with exclusive opportunities at the world's most prestigious brands. From haute couture and fine watchmaking to prestige beauty, hospitality, and boutique retail, Cerulean centralises luxury employment to help you find the career for which you were destined.
Frequently Asked Questions
The luxury industry is characterised by a diverse and nuanced nomenclature. Esteemed houses frequently employ proprietary terminology, and even within a single organisation like MAC, titles may vary across global markets to reflect local conventions. To ensure absolute clarity, Cerulean assigns a standardised, industry-coherent canonical title to every listing. However, it is worth noting that this role is functionally synonymous with «Social Creative Director», «Associate Creative Director, Social Media», «Social Art Director», «Social Content Design Director», and other variations. Our sophisticated search architecture anticipates these variations, ensuring that inquiries using related terms will seamlessly yield the exact roles you desire.