Job Description

As Creative Director at Provoke, you are the central force behind our creative excellence. You combine strategic oversight, cultural insight, and hands-on leadership to steer the agency’s most important creative output. This is not a “head in the clouds” role; we’re looking for someone who is just as comfortable setting a long-term vision as they are jumping into a deck, guiding a designer or getting their hands dirty on some executional work.

You will work closely with the whole team, account, project, strategy, production and operations teams and lead creatives across disciplines (design, film, content, campaigns, experiences) with clear ownership, ensuring continuity, quality, and energy across projects. At the same time, you’ll remain available and alert to new opportunities, supporting pitches, and the overall development of the creative department.

Responsibilities

1. Creative Direction & Strategy

• Define, own, and evolve the creative vision across clients, pitches, and internal IP

• Set the creative bar and ensure all output meets high standards of quality, cultural relevance, and originality

• Translate research, cultural insights, and strategy into strong creative directions and concepts

• Stay deeply connected to youth, fashion, sports, and music culture to keep the work authentic and current

2. Leadership & Team Development

• Lead, mentor, and inspire designers, creatives, directors, and freelancers across disciplines

• Provide clear creative direction, feedback, and decision-making throughout the process

• Establish creative standards, workflows, and feedback loops that enable speed, creativity and quality

• Build a culture of ambition, craft, curiousity and accountability

3. Execution & Oversight

• Oversee creative work from concept to delivery across all projects (film, content, digital, and experiential formats)

• Work closely with production, project management, and operations to balance ambition with feasibility

• Ensure priorities, deadlines, and expectations are clear and upheld

• Guide revisions and iterations, continuously raising the bar while protecting timelines and budgets

4. Client & Concept Ownership

• Lead concept development for key clients and new business pitches

• Present ideas confidently to senior client stakeholders

• Act as the creative counterpart to brand, marketing, and innovation leads on the client side

• Make sure all deliverables, from treatments to decks, are on-brief, on-brand, are on point

Who Are You

• A senior creative with 8–12+ years experience (agency, studio or hybrid)

• Comfortable operating at the Creative Director level

• Strong in conceptual thinking, not just aesthetics

• Fluent in culture, sport, youth, internet, and brand storytelling

• Confident in leading teams and getting your hands dirty

You have:

• A strong portfolio covering campaigns, content, film or experiences

• Experience working with global brands or complex stakeholders

• The ability to turn abstract strategy into clear creative ideas

• Taste, judgement, and the courage to push work further

Bonus points if you:

• Have experience in sports, fashion, music or cultural platforms

• Have built or scaled creative teams before

• Are interested in IP, media and venture-style thinking

What We Offer

• A key leadership role in a fast-growing, ambitious creative company

• Direct influence on Provoke’s creative direction and future

• High-profile global clients and culturally relevant work

• Competitive salary and growth upside

• A founder-led environment with short lines and real autonomy

• Work from our 1,000m² creative space in Amsterdam.

Who Are We 

Provoke is a creative research laboratory and production house. We specialize in Research, Production, and Campaign Strategy, partnering with brands like FIFA, Nike, Jordan, Alpha Industries, Amazon Prime, and Snipes to transform creative ideas into reality.

Research is our foundation. For over a decade, we’ve conducted deep cultural research across 20+ European cities to decode youth, sports, fashion, and music culture. This allows us to understand the why: ensuring every strategy is rooted in relevance and cultural truth.

Campaign Strategy is how we create focus and momentum. We translate research into clear strategic direction by defining narratives, audiences and moments that matter, turning brand ambition into work that lands at the right time.

Production is where strategy comes to life. From fast social-first content to large-scale brand campaigns or live experiences, we produce sharp and culturally credible work, built for impact. Our trusted creative and production talents combine strong concepts with flawless execution.

Aside from working with world-class clients, Provoke is building its own media titles, events, and cultural experiences from our 1,000m² creative compound in Amsterdam West. Think music, fashion, sports, and tech colliding in one place.

We value doers over talkers. Execution over promise. Action over fluff. If you care about making ideas real and making them count, you’ll feel right at home at Provoke.

NOTE: an incorrect email address was previously listed in this vacancy.

we kindly ask you to resend your application to recruitment@provoke.nl.