---
title: 'Creative Director, CandyJar at Inkitt'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/creative-director-candyjar-inkitt-san-francisco-6ev62b2njwdx'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-19'
---

# Creative Director, CandyJar at Inkitt

- **Company:** Inkitt
- **Location:** San Francisco, CA
- **Compensation:** $160k–$170k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-08-07
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-19
- **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/inkitt/1fb2ebbd-c327-4161-97e0-8f64856de0f4

## Job description

Inkitt is building the Disney of the 21st Century, standing at the forefront of technology and entertainment. Leveraging AI and predictive algorithms, Inkitt discovers unknown stories and turns them into blockbuster hits, producing a new $1M ebook every 4 weeks and selling directly to consumers through its Galatea app. Inkitt has become the 11th most bestseller-generating publisher in the world, boasting a 40x higher hit-rate than traditional publishers. Recently raising a Series C and backed by some of the top VC’s such as: Khosla, Kleiner Perkins, and NEA Ventures, our recent expansion into CandyJarTV is only the beginning of our journey to becoming the next-gen entertainment powerhouse.

Top 3 Objectives of the Role

Own and protect the creative vision across AI-generated film projects, ensuring storytelling quality is never compromised for speed. Translate traditional film directing into AI production, bringing narrative directing expertise while embracing new AI creative workflows. Help shape the future of AI-native entertainment, bringing excitement for Inkitt's storytelling model and contributing to innovative narrative content.

Top 5 Hard Skills + Channel Experience

Professional narrative directing experience (independent film, television directing programs, narrative shorts, music videos, or similar) Script analysis and story development, including breaking down scripts and providing creative feedback Editorial review experience, giving direction on edits, pacing, color correction, and sound design Visual storytelling fundamentals, including shot composition, shot selection, storyboarding, and cinematic language Professional production experience, collaborating with writers, editors, producers, and creative teams in a production environment

Additional preferred experience: Independent film or boutique studio backgrounds Film festival recognition or directing fellowship programs Romance, women-forward, or action/adventure storytelling experience Exposure to AI creative tools (preferred) Experience working across multiple productions simultaneously

Top 5 Softer Skills

Exceptional vision communication, with the ability to clearly articulate and defend creative direction Constructive creative leadership, providing thoughtful, actionable feedback to creative teams Open-mindedness, incorporating feedback and alternative perspectives without ego Strong prioritization, balancing multiple projects while determining what creative feedback matters most Passion for innovation, with genuine excitement for AI, new storytelling formats, and Inkitt's mission

At Inkitt, we strive to build a company culture and provide employment opportunities based on diversity and inclusion. We believe every author should have an equal opportunity to succeed, as should our team members. As a growing team from 20+ countries, we welcome everyone to apply.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Check out our Careers Blog 💼 Follow us on Instagram & LinkedIn! 💻

## About Inkitt

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Inkitt is a data-driven, AI-powered entertainment company that discovers unknown authors, turns their stories into blockbuster ebooks through its Galatea app, and adapts them into TV series via its CandyJar TV platform.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series C backed; $117M total funding)
- **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, United States (additional offices in Berlin, Germany and Krakow, Poland)
- **Founded**: 2014 (conflicting reports cite 2013)
- **Founders**: Ali Albazaz (CEO)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Entertainment / Digital Publishing / Streaming Media
- **Target customers**: B2C readers and viewers (direct-to-consumer via Galatea and CandyJar TV); B2B author acquisition through the Inkitt writing platform
- **Mission**: "We believe every author should have an equal opportunity to succeed. Our mission is to discover hidden talents and turn them into globally successful authors." — Inkitt describes itself as building "the Disney of the 21st century" as the most data-driven, most AI-driven company in entertainment.

## Products & Services
- **Galatea (App)**: A mobile reading app delivering serialized, interactive ebooks optimized through AI and predictive algorithms. Inkitt produces a new $1M ebook every 4 weeks and sells directly to consumers through this channel.
- **CandyJar TV**: A short-form streaming platform that adapts Inkitt's million-dollar ebook hits into TV series, sold episode by episode directly to consumers.
- **Inkitt (Author Platform)**: A free writing and publishing platform where authors upload stories; Inkitt's algorithm analyzes reader behavior to identify potential hits, removing subjectivity from the traditional publishing gatekeeping process. Over 50% of published authors achieve $100,000+ in sales.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed (privately held)
- **Key Metric**: Annual revenue of approximately $40M; total funding of $117M across 5+ rounds
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Kleiner Perkins (led Series A), New Enterprise Associates / NEA Ventures (led Series B), Khosla Ventures, redalpine (led early seed), and Henry Kravis (venture round)
- **Growth Signals**:
  - Headcount grew 26.1% YoY (+66 people) to 207 employees, distributed across 34 countries
  - Ranked the 11th most bestseller-generating publisher in the world
  - Claims a 40x higher hit-rate than traditional publishers
  - Launched CandyJar TV, expanding from publishing into original streaming content
  - LinkedIn following grew 83.3% year-over-year to 21,440 followers
  - Actively hiring across engineering, product, marketing, finance, and creative roles

## Competitive Advantages
- **Proprietary AI hit-prediction engine**: Uses reader behavior analytics to identify breakout stories before publication, achieving a 40x higher success rate than traditional publishers.
- **Vertical integration**: Controls the full content lifecycle — discovery (Inkitt platform), publishing (ebooks/audiobooks), and distribution (Galatea app), plus monetization of IP through TV adaptation (CandyJar TV).
- **Direct-to-consumer model**: Bypasses traditional publishing and streaming middlemen, selling content directly to end users.
- **Global, remote-first talent base**: A workforce spanning 34 countries enables round-the-clock content operations and diverse market insight.

## Strategic Focus
- **Scaling CandyJar TV**: Turning proven ebook hits into original TV series is the company's stated next growth frontier.
- **AI-native content production**: Inkitt is hiring for "AI Narrative Film" producer roles, signaling investment in AI-generated or AI-assisted film production.
- **International expansion**: With teams in San Francisco, Berlin, and Krakow, and a distributed workforce across 34 countries, Inkitt is building global content production and distribution capabilities.
- **Talent acquisition**: Active hiring for senior engineering, growth/product leadership, and creative strategy roles indicates continued scaling.

## Why Work Here
- **Hybrid & flexible work**: Employees work in a combination of remote and on-site; flexible schedules with the option to work from Berlin or San Francisco offices depending on location.
- **Compensation**: Competitive salaries — recent postings include Senior Software Engineer, Mobile at $175k–$215k; Senior CRM Lifecycle Marketing at $147k–$190k; People and Office Coordinator at $80k–$110k.
- **Benefits**: Generous parental leave, mental health benefits, 401(K), generous PTO, paid holidays and sick days, pet-friendly offices, and employee discounts.
- **Culture signals**: Employer rating of 3.7/5.0 across 143 reviews (culture 3.4, career 3.5, compensation 3.3, work-life 3.2); Indeed reviews are more mixed (3.2 work-life, 3.0 compensation, 2.6 job security).
- **Mission-driven environment**: Employees work directly on disrupting the traditional publishing industry with a data-driven approach — a rare blend of creative storytelling and AI engineering.
- **Growth trajectory**: 26% YoY headcount growth and a newly launched streaming platform mean employees can have outsized impact in a fast-scaling organization.

## Sources
1. [jobs.lever.co](https://jobs.lever.co/inkitt)
2. [linkedin.com](https://linkedin.com/company/inkitt)
3. [cbinsights.com](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/inkitt)
4. [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/inkitt)
5. [indeed.com](https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Inkitt?campaignid=mobvjcmp&from=mobviewjob&fromjk=51e076b9259ec222&tk=1jskme4dik3ea800)

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