Creative Lead (Part-time, 3 days/week)

About Ghostnote

Ghostnote is a fast-growing music startup based in Berlin. Since launching in 2025, we've been building instrumental music brands that millions of people study, sleep, game and relax to - from piano lullabies to anime and gaming covers, lofi and ambient music.

Everything we produce is made by real musicians and we have a strict zero-AI music policy. Ghostnote's catalogue is streamed millions of times every week by listeners all over the world.

Our brands have a distinct sonic and visual identity, brought to life through music, illustration and creative direction across DSPs and social media channels. We're hiring our first dedicated Creative Lead to help shape this for the company.

Tasks

The Role

We're looking for a Creative Lead to turn our founders' creative vision into distinctive visual identities, brand systems and ongoing creative direction for our music brands. You'll set the visual identity for the brands and artists we launch and build the pipeline that keeps every asset on-brand as we scale.

Working closely with our Co-Founder & Creative Director, you'll research and present creative concepts, develop approved directions into brand systems, source and manage the external talent, and oversee the full creative pipeline from initial assets through to ongoing release artwork and social content.

You will also own the day-to-day creative direction across our brands: setting priorities and timelines for our Content Editor and external artists, and reviewing everything before it goes live.

This is an excellent opportunity for someone who wants to give artists a distinct creative identity and build the pipelines that sustain it - not just execute individual assets - while directing a small team and a bench of external talent.

You will:

→ Turn the founders' creative vision into fully realised visual identities for the brands we launch, including illustration, art and animation style

→ Research and present creative concepts to the founders, then develop the approved direction into clear, repeatable brand systems

→ Build the formal brand foundations for our highest priority brand launches, including brand bible, brand voice, logo, fonts, and social media kit

→ Identify and vet external illustrators, animators and artists to work with, including sourcing through platforms like Instagram and Behance

→ Negotiate and agree terms, work within creative budgets set by the founders and own those relationships end-to-end

→ Map deliverables and project-manage the creative pipeline, from launch assets to ongoing content release artwork and social content

→ Set our Content Editor's priorities and workload, briefing them against the creative identity you've built

→ Review and sign off all creative output before it goes live (DSP assets, social assets, external artist deliverables) against the agreed guidelines, including in-house brand bibles

Requirements

What You Bring

→ A genuine love of music, with an appreciation for gaming and anime worlds

→ Real experience building or art-directing a visual brand or universe - agency, games, animation, publishing or artist-brand backgrounds all welcome

→ Experience managing external creative talent, from sourcing and briefing illustrators to providing clear, constructive feedback and direction through the process

→ A strong eye for distinctive, cohesive visual identities that feel distinctive, cohesive, and thoughtfully developed

→ Commercial awareness and experience managing creative budgets, contracts and external partners

→ Confident directing others' work day to day, self-directed enough to own a 3-day/week role with real scope

→ Based in Berlin or able to work hybrid from our office

→ Bonus points if you've worked with anime, gaming, or internet subculture audiences before, or have an existing network of illustrators

Benefits

What We Offer

→ A central creative role in a lean, growing music company where your work shapes what millions of people see and hear

→ Real ownership - you'll execute the creative direction for our flagship brands working closely with our Co-Founders

→ A collaborative team that cares about music, design and doing things properly

→ An office at The Delta Campus in Neukölln, with access to a gym, rooftop pool, bar, community spaces and events

How To Apply

Send us your CV and a short cover letter including a portfolio or examples of visual identities or content pipelines you've built or directed. Please don't use AI to write it.

The process is a first interview, a short task, a second interview then offer stage.