Design Director

SHADOW is currently seeking to fill a Design Director position within its Creative Division. The ideal candidate has a minimum of 10+ years of relevant experience, in a design, creative or advertising agency environment, preferably with consumer brands. This individual will report directly to the Executive Creative Director and serve as a senior creative leader across the agency, setting design direction, overseeing design excellence, and guiding teams from concept through execution across a wide range of client and internal initiatives. This position requires the submission of a portfolio.

 

What You Bring:

• Creative Vision and Design Leadership: Your portfolio reflects a refined, strategic point of view and a deep understanding of visual storytelling across platforms including print, branding, digital, social, experiential, UI, packaging, presentations, merch, and more. You are equally comfortable defining high-level creative vision and diving into hands-on execution when needed. You have an exceptional eye for typography, composition, color, and craft, and can push bold, innovative ideas while maintaining brand integrity.
• Agency Expertise and Strategic Thinking: With 10+ years in a creative agency or advertising environment, you understand the pace, pressure, and nuance of client service. You are fluent in translating briefs into compelling visual systems, partnering with strategy and account teams to align creative output with business objectives, and presenting work clearly and confidently to senior clients and stakeholders.
• Technical Fluency: You have expert-level proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign) and PowerPoint/Google Slides. Working knowledge of Generative AI design, Figma and motion/video workflows is expected. You understand production processes across digital, print, and experiential formats.
• People Management and Mentorship: You lead with compassion and know how to inspire, guide, and develop designers at different levels. You bring clarity, constructive feedback, and set and uphold standards of excellence, fostering a collaborative and creatively ambitious team culture. You are experienced in scaling teams, overseeing multiple designers, and mentoring talent to do their best work.
• Communication and Problem Solving: You are an articulate communicator and persuasive presenter, able to clearly express creative rationale both internally and externally. You anticipate challenges, proactively surface risks, meet audiences where they are at, and approach problems with a solution-oriented mindset. You are adaptable, calm under pressure, and skilled at navigating ambiguity.

 

What You Do:

• Set and Drive Creative Direction: You define and uphold the visual design vision across agency clients and internal initiatives, ensuring work is conceptually strong, culturally relevant, and executed at the highest level. You lead the development of design systems, campaign identities, and visual languages across brand, social, experiential, digital, and presentation-based projects.
• Lead and Oversee Design Execution: You oversee the end-to-end design process—from concept and creative exploration through refinement, production, and delivery—across multiple workstreams. This includes brand identities, event branding, social and digital content, presentations, websites, OOH, merch, and photo/video-led projects.
• Collaborate Across Disciplines: You partner closely with creative directors, art directors, copywriters, strategists, producers, and account teams to bring ideas to life consistently across PR, Influencer, Event, Social campaigns and fully integrated campaigns. You help translate strategy into compelling visual narratives and ensure alignment across all creative outputs.
• Manage and Mentor the Design Team: You lead, mentor, and review the work of senior and junior designers, providing clear direction, feedback, and growth opportunities. You help set priorities, allocate resources, and maintain quality and consistency across all design deliverables.
• Client Leadership and Presentation: You play a key role in client-facing moments, including creative presentations, reviews, and working sessions. You confidently articulate design thinking, respond to feedback, and guide projects toward strong, strategic outcomes.

 

Annual Compensation

$150K - $180K (commensurate with experience)