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Jose Martinez

Jose Martinez

Creative Director · Performance Creative · AI · Gaming

San Jose, California

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  • Profile

    Creative Director with 12+ years of experience across performance creative, gaming, consumer technology, interactive advertising, and emerging AI workflows. I combine creative strategy, hands-on production, performance insights, and team leadership to build campaigns, interactive experiences, and scalable creative systems.

    Core Expertise

    Creative Direction · Performance Creative · Team Building & Mentorship · Interactive / Playable Advertising · Video & CTV · AI-Assisted Production · Creative Systems & Workflow Design · A/B Testing & Performance Analysis · Illustration · Motion Design

    Tools

    FloraFloraKreaKreaGeminiGeminiMidjourneyMidjourneyRunwayRunwayProcreateProcreateAdobe Premiere ProPremiere ProChatGPTChatGPTClaudeClaudeAdobe Creative CloudCreative CloudAdobe After EffectsAfter EffectsAdobe PhotoshopPhotoshop

  • Experience

    • Jest logoJest — Creative Director2025–2026

      • Joined as the first creative hire and built the creative department from the ground up, recruiting, onboarding, and leading a multidisciplinary team of 11 at peak.
      • Directed 480+ production-ready onboarding experiences across roughly 25 games while scaling monthly production from about 13 to 60 experiences at peak.
      • Led performance creative across interactive, video, static, and AI-assisted production, contributing to 80K+ tracked subscribers during the subscriber-reporting period.
      • Established the creative pipeline from research and briefing through review, development, tracking, QA, launch, performance analysis, and iteration.

    • AppLovin logoAppLovin — AI Lead Designer2024–2025

      • Led AI adoption across creative production and trained 40+ designers on practical AI-assisted workflows.
      • Developed and introduced selected workflows that reduced production time by roughly 50% while maintaining creative quality.
      • Partnered with Google, Adobe, and RunwayML to evaluate emerging creative technology and production workflows.
      • Led outsourced production and helped translate new tools into repeatable systems designers could use in day-to-day work.

    • AppLovin logoAppLovin — Lead Designer2021–2024

      • Led performance creative across video, playable, CTV, and interactive campaigns for mobile games and consumer apps.
      • Built After Effects production systems that reduced production time by roughly 40% and enabled faster creative iteration.
      • Directed internal and external designers, developed campaign concepts, reviewed performance, and translated results into new creative directions.
      • Led long-running title campaigns including Cooking Madness and Hooked Inc., combining hands-on production with vendor direction and performance analysis.

    • AppLovin logoAppLovin — Senior Designer2018–2021

      • Created and optimized performance video and playable ads using A/B testing, competitive research, and campaign data.
      • Served as Interim Manager for a seven-person design team while continuing hands-on creative production.
      • Mentored designers and supported hiring, onboarding, creative review, and production quality.

    • Machine Zone logoMachine Zone — Lead Marketing Artist2016–2018

      • Led a seven-person design team producing performance creative for major mobile titles including Game of War, Mobile Strike, and Final Fantasy: A New Empire.
      • Directed campaign execution across static, animated, and interactive advertising while improving production systems and team consistency.
      • Contributed to high-volume user-acquisition campaigns, marketability testing, ASO, and celebrity-led creative.

    • Machine Zone logoMachine Zone — Senior Marketing Artist2014–2016

      • Created performance advertising across illustration, photo manipulation, motion, ASO, and interactive formats.
      • Recognized as department MVP for creative pipeline improvements, efficiency, and onboarding support.
      • Helped establish early performance-driven creative practices using A/B testing and iterative production.

    • Storm8 logoStorm8 — Marketing Art Consultant2018

      • Helped define the foundation of the marketing art function, including roles, workflows, and production best practices.

    Education

    San José State University
    BFA, Animation / Illustration

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Resume

Creative Director · Performance Creative · AI · Gaming

Creative Director and AI creative technology leader with 12+ years of experience building performance creative teams, production systems and interactive advertising programs across gaming and consumer technology. Led teams that shipped 480+ playable onboarding experiences across 25 games and directed creative contributing to 80K+ tracked subscribers.

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Experience

JEST · Creative Director | Apr 2025 – Aug 2026

  • First creative hire; built the function, team structure, workflows, tools and quality standards.

  • Led 6 designers and 5 game developers; scaled output from ~13 to 60 interactive experiences per month, shipping 480+ across 25 games.

  • Directed creative contributing to 80K+ tracked new subscribers; playables had lower cost per subscriber across most comparable titles, including ~50% lower in several core casual and puzzle games.

  • Served as final quality gate across playable, video and static ads; improved AI workflows and built lightweight production tools; partnered with ~10 external studios.

AppLovin · AI Lead Designer | Apr 2024 – Jan 2025

  • Introduced AI tools in selected workflows, helping reduce production time by ~50%.

  • Trained 40+ designers; led a 15-person outsourced design team across hiring, onboarding and quality.

  • Evaluated enterprise AI with Google, Adobe and RunwayML; advised a partner company’s leadership and Art Director on AI-assisted workflows.

AppLovin · Lead Designer | Oct 2021 – Apr 2024

  • Led and mentored designers while creating video, playable and interactive ads for games and consumer apps.

  • Used A/B tests, performance data and market research to shape concepts; built reusable templates and production systems.

AppLovin · Senior Designer | May 2018 – Oct 2021

  • Served as Interim Manager for four months, leading seven designers while continuing hands-on creative work.

Storm8 · Marketing Art Consultant | May 2018

  • Advised studio leadership on team structure, scalable production pipelines and creative best practices.

Machine Zone · Marketing Artist → Senior Marketing Artist → Lead Marketing Artist | Apr 2014 – Apr 2018

  • Directed and developed a team of 7; led campaigns for Game of War, Mobile Strike and Final Fantasy: A New Empire.

  • Built production practices and trained designers, improving creative quality, turnaround and team development.

Core Expertise

Creative direction · Performance creative · User acquisition · A/B testing · Generative AI · Creative technology · Playable ads · Interactive experiences · Creative UX · Team leadership · Creative operations · Production systems · Studio partnerships

Education

San José State University
BFA, Animation/Illustration · 2007–2012

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