Design Lead

Summary

Join DEPT® as a Product Design Lead and collaborate with a creative team to develop large-scale digital products exceeding client needs. Leverage data and UX best practices, proactively challenging the team to deliver innovative solutions. Lead a team of 10+ creatives within a larger team of 30+, setting high standards for company efforts. Responsibilities include leading project workshops, generating strategic insights, driving digital projects to completion, and inspiring clients and teams. You will develop and implement design strategies, establish direction, and provide leadership, all while fostering a collaborative and innovative environment. This role requires a Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience, 5+ years of design experience, and mastery of various design and collaboration tools.

Requirements

• Knowledge, communicative, and analytical skills equivalent to those normally obtained through receipt of a Bachelor’s Degree in a design, visual arts, or a related field, or equivalent years of additional related professional experience
• Minimum 5+ years of a proven track record in design and interactive work for leading brands
• Minimum 2+ years experience in the role
• A high level of mastery of Hubspot or similar, Google Suite, Dropbox, Basecamp, Slack, Harvest, Figma, and Adobe Creative Suite
• Able to use excellent leadership skills, strategic vision, and creative inspiration to foster and inspire a large but cohesive team of over 30 individuals from different backgrounds and disciplines
• Strong knowledge of visual design, user-centered experience design, interaction design, brand development, and the creative process
• A love for typography, interaction, traditional graphic design, and technology
• Strong skills in modern design and prototyping tools
• Familiar with user testing and leveraging data to empower design decisions, and UX best practices
• Experience developing and maintaining a robust design system
• Must be comfortable working with Figma’s tools including auto layout, components, variants, and design libraries
• A solid point-of-view and a collaborative nature
• Excellent public speaking skills with the ability to develop plans, build presentations, and confidently present them in a professional and effective manner
• An open and curious mind in all areas of creative and design work and the ability to remain positive even in the most challenging of situations
• Excellent organizational skills and a very high level of attention to detail including tracking, recording, documenting, and saving of all processes and procedures
• High level of ability to set goals and priorities in a constantly changing environment
• Ability to think strategically and assess the needs of the company and its clients now and in the future
• Ability to communicate information, whether technical or non-technical, to clients and employees in a clear and concise manner
• Able to act in a professional manner while working in a creative culture
• Dedicates time to understand the requested task, or feedback and decisions being made. Isn’t afraid to ask questions to ensure clarity for informed decision-making
• Comfort navigating a complex organization with multiple stakeholders
• Constantly searches for and proposes process efficiencies
• Communicates effectively one-on-one and in large groups

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with the Creative leads to lead a team of 10+ creatives, with a team of 30+ talented people
• Design and set high standards for the company's efforts
• Lead and contribute to project kick-off workshops
• Generate strategic insights and moodboards that facilitate creative thinking and innovation
• Collaborate with the team to drive several large-scale digital projects to completion including websites, branding, content, UX thinking and more
• Inspire the client as well as the team to define and align on a collective vision
• Develop and implement successful design strategies, outlining how the design team will create deliverables and implement them for the project
• Establish direction, craft guidelines, build presentation materials, and even assist with production and delivery when required
• Provide leadership to the team to include putting the client and the team before yourself
• Responsible for bringing a point-of-view with fresh perspectives to the team
• Work with minimal processes in place, solving problems by being optimistic and using proactive thought processes and skills
• Contribute to the design discipline by inspiring, developing insights and elevating the work we do through conversation, and mentoring
• Collaborate to ensure that the company’s services and products always exceed the clients’ expectations and work to foresee any issues and develop solutions
• Assist with ensuring that projects come in within deadlines and specified budget
• Identify the decision makers within the client's organization and use excellent interpersonal skills to grow and maintain these relationships
• Work across all departments of BASIC, the client, and other stakeholders to achieve the desired results and meet the objectives of the company
• Support and grow in the role by actively seeking out and proposing ideas to better improve company operations
• Take on other duties and responsibilities as assigned

Preferred Qualifications

• Passion for lifestyle, fashion, entertainment, popular culture, and technology
• Familiarity with some front-end basics
• A long history of building strong relationships with colleagues, vendor/contractors, and business partners