Design Director

Summary

Join SketchDeck as a Design Director and partner with Business Development & Project Managers to build and deliver creative pitches, lead overall design vision within accounts, and mentor your team. You will oversee client projects (65%), manage accounts and brand strategy (25%), and contribute to team development (10%). Success requires strong client skills, efficient design processes, and an entrepreneurial spirit. The ideal candidate has 7+ years of experience, including 4 in a fast-paced agency, and expertise in Adobe Creative Suite and Figma. This is a fully remote role, ideally in the Pacific or Mountain Time zones, but open to strong candidates in other time zones.

Requirements

• 7+ years of creative and art direction experience, including at least 4 in a fast-paced agency environment
• Proven ability to lead strategic, cross-channel creative work—from concept to execution—across marketing, branding, and communications
• Strong communicator with the ability to shape and share a compelling creative vision that aligns with business goals
• Seasoned people leader with a track record of mentoring creative teams, inspiring innovation, and delivering impactful work on time and within budget
• Expert-level skills in Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop) and Figma; familiarity with Google Slides and PowerPoint is a plus
• Collaborative by nature—you thrive in team settings and work closely with project managers, developers, and QA to bring ideas to life
• Demonstrated success working with large, enterprise-level clients, understanding their complex needs and delivering standout solutions

Responsibilities

• Partner with Project Managers on project scoping and estimates on higher creative projects
• Support larger corporate accounts with fast-paced deadlines
• Lead kick-off calls (internal/external), creative presentations and problem-solving meetings with clients, Project Managers and Designers
• Feel comfortable brainstorming ideas live during client calls
• Identify which projects could benefit from high-level strategic input vs. more production-focused projects that could be led by a Brand Manager
• Communication/coordination of project needs, timelines, team skills and creative staff availability with Project Managers
• Set up briefs, provide creative direction and inspiration to the design team on projects
• Work with the Project Manager defining workflow and scope of work for the team
• Lead communication from brainstorm to final production
• Provide creative reviews and feedback to designers
• Decide who should work on each project, building collaborative and strategy-led teams for creative projects
• Drive design excellence, knowing when to push creative boundaries, and not settling for the status quo
• Lead the onboarding of new client accounts by reviewing brand materials, setting up brand pages, and ensuring seamless integration into our workflow. Ask the right questions to uncover client goals, setting the foundation for a strong partnership
• Build collaborative, creative partner relationships with our clients
• Learn and understand our clients goals and how to best support them creatively
• Master clients’ brand guidelines and preferences
• Maintain and improve account-level design quality
• Train designers on keeping brand pages, templates, Adobe CC libraries and brand assets in general updated
• Push existing brands’ creative boundaries and finding new opportunities to elevate brands
• Train and mentor Designers and Brand Managers on brands
• Be the authority on brand and design — setting a high standard for the rest of the design team to meet
• Provide creative design and management input on new accounts, setting them up for success
• Look for opportunities beyond the current workload within accounts to grow or expand the services. Suggest how our clients can benefit from SketchDeck, not just pushing during an existing project but on an account level, thinking big picture
• Develop and present proposals and pitches to prospective clients that showcase SD’s breadth of capabilities
• Support Business Development teams with creative concepts for new accounts and work
• Elevate design by making tools accessible to our designers, training them on skills, providing them with design inspiration
• Share responsibility for managing team talent and assist with recruiting as needed
• Escalate issues and important opportunities to the Director of Design
• Keep designers inspired and excited about our clients’ brands
• Prove input and ideas to improve the design team structure, processes, and development
• Lead SketchDeck internal projects (eg: new portfolio work, designer assessments/levels, internal trainings, new designer interviews, etc)
• Maintain effective communication across all teams and set clear goals to achieve

Preferred Qualifications

Ideally looking for Pacific or Mountain Time candidates for collaboration purposes, but we’re open to strong candidates in Central or Eastern Time Zones

Benefits

• Salary range: $95,000 - $110,000 + $5,000 performance-based bonus (discretionary bonus)
• Health insurance (medical, dental, and vision)
• 401(k) with company match
• Fully remote working (that started pre-covid and will continue after!)
• Paid time off that grows with tenure
• Annual company retreat
• Computer hardware of your choice (up to $1500)
• $500 towards your office setup expenses
• To work with a talented team of creatives, business people, and engineers!