---
title: 'Creative Director, Certificates at MasterClass'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/creative-director-certificates-masterclass-california-e63d1f4px36h'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-11'
---

# Creative Director, Certificates at MasterClass

- **Company:** MasterClass
- **Location:** California
- **Compensation:** $165k–$190k
- **Posted:** 2026-07-31
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-11
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/masterclass/jobs/8097329

## Job description

## Who We Are

MasterClass is the streaming platform where the world's best come together so anyone, anywhere, can access and be inspired by their knowledge and stories. We put you in the room with the creators, thinkers, makers, and leaders who have changed the world so you can change yours.

Members get unprecedented access to 200+ instructors and classes across various fields, including Arts & Entertainment, Business, Design & Style, Leadership, Writing, and more. Step into Issa Rae’s writing session and Gordon Ramsay's kitchen. Go behind the big screen with James Cameron. Start your career with Martha Stewart.

## About the Role

We're looking for a Creative Director to shape the creative and brand strategy for MasterClass Certificates and lead its execution across the business. You will bring individual Certificates to market in fresh, compelling ways while helping evolve how the broader offering is positioned as the product grows.

You'll be a creative lead on the marketing team, working directly with our Executive Creative Director to shape how MasterClass Certificates show up in the world. You'll work alongside a small, close-knit team assembled around each project. This is a hybrid role: part strategist, part maker. You'll help position and launch one of MasterClass’ newest products by getting close to the work and leading a nimble team made up of editors, designers and writers.

You'll have creative authority, a seat with senior stakeholders, and the trust to make calls fast, often with incomplete information. Success here comes from building alignment across teams and earning trust through strong campaigns, concepts and execution. At its core, this role is about finding the strongest idea and helping it become something people can't ignore.

## What You'll Do

- Shape creative strategy and lead execution for MasterClass Certificates. Concept and oversee work across trailers, course promos, statics, social, lifecycle marketing, product storytelling, and executive presentations.
- Help define and evolve the Certificates brand. Partner with the GM, Product Marketing, Product, and GTM leads to translate changes in the product and business model into clear positioning, messaging, identity, and creative expression.
- Lead creative direction on trailers, from identifying on-set capture needs through final edit. Dream up video content that pulls audiences toward a course, including ideas beyond the traditional trailer.
- Roll up your sleeves when it counts. Write scripts and copy, shape a rough layout or edit, build your own decks, and stay close to the work, not just directing it.
- Set and hold the creative bar for Certificates marketing. Lead video, design, and copy creative with clear direction on the idea, tone, message, and craft.
- Connect the work across Content, Social, and Product. Partner with the teams shooting the classes, creating organic content, and building the product to ensure the creative reflects real audience needs, not just a marketing brief.
- AI is part of your process. Use AI to accelerate ideation, exploration, and production without sacrificing brand voice, originality, or craft.
- Present with authority. Pitch creative strategy and rationale to senior leadership and hold the room.

You Are

- A brand builder who can move between positioning a product, defining how a business shows up, and turning that strategy into creative people recognize and want.
- A natural leader who rallies teams around a creative direction without formal authority over them
- Skilled at translating strategy into a clear creative point of view
- A creative with strong taste and original thinking that still sells
- Comfortable directing editors, designers, and writers
- Able to turn a product pitch into a story someone actually wants to hear
- Fluent in using AI as part of your process, not as a separate step
- Confident making calls with 80% of the information
- Fast without sacrificing judgment
- Energized by cross-functional work and able to turn multiple perspectives into focused action
- Direct and discerning, raising the work without deflating the people making it

## Qualifications

- 8–12 years of experience in creative roles, ideally including both agency and in-house environments.
- A portfolio that shows both strategic range and hands-on craft, not just direction of others' work.
- A track record of building or evolving brands across positioning, messaging, identity, campaigns, and product experience, not simply maintaining an established system.
- Experience presenting creative strategy directly to senior stakeholders.
- Comfortable leading through matrixed or project-based team structures rather than direct reports.
- Working fluency with AI creative tools in an active production workflow.
- Versatility across copy, visual and art direction, video/trailer direction, and executive presentation materials.

At MasterClass, we believe we put our best work forward when our employees bring together ideas that are diverse in thought. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, genetic information, veteran status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local law. In addition, MasterClass will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities. If you have a disability or special need, we would like to know how we can better accommodate you. The salary range listed is for NYC/CA/WA. As a company, we have a location based strategy, which means the disclosed range estimate has not been adjusted for any applicable geographic differential associated with the location where the position may be filled.

MasterClass’s salary ranges are based on paying competitively for our size and industry. In addition to salary, we also offer equity and comprehensive benefits (medical, dental, vision, flexible PTO, and more). The range listed is for the expectations as laid out in the job description, however we are often open to a wide variety of profiles, and recognize that the person we hire may be less experienced (or more senior) than this job description as posted. If that ends up being the case, the updated salary range will be communicated with you as a candidate.

Salary Range $165,000—$190,000 USD

## About MasterClass

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: MasterClass is a streaming platform where anyone can learn from the world’s best instructors across a wide range of subjects.
- **Entity Type**: Private (venture-backed; latest funding round not disclosed in provided sources)
- **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, USA (with an additional office in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada) [careers.masterclass.com](https://careers.masterclass.com/)
- **Founded**: 2015 [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/masterclass)
- **Founders**: David Rogier and Aaron Rasmussen (public knowledge; not explicitly listed in the provided sources but widely documented)

## Core Business
- **Primary Industry**: Online education / e‑learning / streaming content
- **Target Customers**: B2C – individual subscribers (annual membership model)
- **Mission/Purpose**: “Transform Members’ Lives” by helping people unlock their full potential through learning from the world’s greatest minds. The company’s core values include “Be Passionately Curious” and “Build A Legacy” [careers.masterclass.com](https://careers.masterclass.com/)

## Products & Services
- **MasterClass Subscription**: Annual membership providing unlimited access to 90+ instructors and classes. Classes feature cinematic video lessons (~20 per class, ~10 minutes each) across categories such as Arts & Entertainment, Business, Design & Style, Sports & Gaming, and Writing. Streamable on mobile, tablet, desktop, Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Roku devices. [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/masterclass)

## Market Standing
- **Valuation / Market Cap**: Not publicly available from the provided data (most recently reported valuation of $2.75 billion in 2021 is not sourced here).
- **Key Metric**: ~314 total employees (as of posting) | $150,000+ annually per employee (estimated from funding rounds, not verified in provided sources) – *Not publicly available in the provided search results*.
- **Notable Investors / Partners**: Not disclosed in the provided sources.
- **Growth Signals**: Launched in 2015 and now streams thousands of lessons globally; maintains offices in two countries; continues to add new instructors and categories; operates a hybrid/remote workforce with in‑person collaboration days.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Exclusive Instructor Roster**: Access to world‑renowned figures (Anna Wintour, RuPaul, Shonda Rhimes, Neil Gaiman, Chris Voss, etc.) that other learning platforms cannot replicate.
- **Cinematic Production Quality**: Each class is produced with high‑production values, making learning feel immersive and intimate.
- **Brand Trust & Recognition**: “MasterClass” is synonymous with premium, aspirational online learning.

## Strategic Focus
- **Content Expansion**: Continuously adding new instructors and categories to attract and retain subscribers.
- **Community & Belonging**: Emphasizes diversity, equity, and inclusion through Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and a commitment to “Think Differently, Act Together” [careers.masterclass.com](https://careers.masterclass.com/).
- **Technology & Personalization**: Hiring for roles such as Staff AI/ML Engineer, indicating investment in recommendation systems and personalization [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/masterclass).

## Why Work Here
- **Culture & Values**: Strong emphasis on curiosity, legacy, inclusion, and member focus. ERGs include Women at MasterClass, APDAT (Asian), LGBTQIA+, and mental health/neurodivergence communities [careers.masterclass.com](https://careers.masterclass.com/).
- **Work Environment**: Hybrid model – teams choose which days to meet in person. Offices in San Francisco (HQ) and Kitchener, Ontario. Fully stocked kitchen, catered lunch on Tuesdays, and $120 monthly stipend during remote periods [builtinsf.com](https://www.builtinsf.com/company/masterclass/benefits).
- **Benefits**: Unlimited PTO, 16 weeks primary / 12 weeks secondary parental leave, $600 annual wellness stipend, $1,500 annual learning & development budget, 100% covered health/dental/vision insurance (employee and 50% dependents), equity with 4‑year vesting (1‑year cliff), 401(k), charitable contribution match (up to $1,000/year), adoption assistance ($5,000 reimbursement), and relocation assistance [builtinsf.com](https://www.builtinsf.com/company/masterclass/benefits).
- **Professional Growth**: Lunch‑and‑learns, open‑door policy, and a highly diverse management team.
- **Remote Options**: Many roles are listed as remote (e.g., Staff AI/ML Engineer), while others are in‑office or hybrid [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/masterclass).

## Sources
1. [MasterClass Careers Page](https://careers.masterclass.com/)
2. [Built In – MasterClass Company Profile](https://builtin.com/company/masterclass)
3. [Built In San Francisco – MasterClass Benefits](https://www.builtinsf.com/company/masterclass/benefits)
4. [LinkedIn – MasterClass](https://www.linkedin.com/company/masterclassinc)
5. [MasterClass Job Board (Greenhouse)](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/masterclass)

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