Principal, Visual Design

About the role

You will own the strategic visual direction and creative standards for high-impact digital projects as part of the core creative leadership at DEPT®®. This role requires a visionary mindset capable of challenging existing paradigms and establishing new benchmarks for conceptual and visual excellence across all deliverables. You will mentor and elevate the creative team, fostering a culture that is collaborative, proactive, and relentlessly optimistic. A central part of your responsibility is to synthesize strategic insights and translate them into compelling moodboards and visual languages that drive innovation. You will define and implement cohesive design strategies that ensure all work, including websites, branding, UX, and content, meets exceptional standards. Your leadership will be critical in guiding complex digital projects from initial kick-off through to final delivery, ensuring outcomes consistently exceed client expectations. You will establish clear project direction, craft production guidelines, and actively contribute hands-on expertise to the design process when needed. Success in this role depends on your ability to build and maintain strong relationships with key client decision-makers while collaborating seamlessly across internal departments and external stakeholders. You are expected to actively contribute to the evolution of the design discipline through mentoring, insightful conversation, and proposing ideas that elevate both team operations and client results.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Collaborate closely with multidisciplinary teams of talented people to align design solutions with business goals.
• Lead and mentor the creative team, cultivating a collaborative, optimistic, and proactive culture that encourages ownership.
• Provide fresh, insightful perspectives that inspire both internal teams and clients, consistently prioritizing their needs and project success.
• Define and implement robust design strategies, setting high visual and conceptual standards for websites, branding, UX, and content initiatives.
• Generate strategic insights and construct moodboards that facilitate creative innovation and guide project direction.
• Drive complex digital projects from initial kick-off through to completion, ensuring deliverables exceed client expectations while respecting budgets and deadlines.
• Establish project direction, craft detailed guidelines, and assist with production tasks as required to maintain quality and consistency.
• Identify key client decision-makers and leverage exceptional interpersonal skills to develop and sustain long-term relationships.
• Collaborate across all internal departments and external stakeholders to achieve aligned results and seamless execution.
• Actively contribute to the design discipline by mentoring peers, participating in strategic conversations, and proposing process improvements.
• Champion a user-first mindset while balancing business objectives, technical constraints, and creative ambition.
• Translate complex business requirements into clear visual frameworks and design systems that support scalable digital experiences.
• Conduct design reviews and provide constructive feedback that pushes the team toward innovative and best-in-class solutions.
• Ensure all design outputs are consistent, accessible, and aligned with brand guidelines across digital touchpoints.

Requirements

• Bring 5+ years of proven experience in design and interactive work for leading brands, including at least 2 years in a leadership role.
• Hold a Bachelor's Degree in Design, Visual Arts, or a related field, or demonstrate equivalent professional experience.
• Mastery of Figma, including efficient use of components, variants, and auto layout to streamline design systems.
• Demonstrate strong knowledge and experience in visual design, user-centered experience design, interaction design, and brand development.
• Show a proven ability to develop and maintain a robust design system that scales across products and teams.
• Exhibit excellent public speaking and presentation skills, with the capacity to clearly articulate complex information to clients and stakeholders.
• Be highly detail-oriented, proactive, and comfortable navigating complex organizational environments.
• Focus on strategic problem-solving and process efficiency to deliver high-quality outcomes on schedule.
• Communicate fluently in English with excellent written and verbal skills, as collaboration with international teams is essential.
• Be prepared to work EST hours to align with the primary working hours of the business.

Nice to have

• Experience working within a Growth Invention framework and understanding of how design intersects with technology and marketing at scale.
• Familiarity with collaboration tools such as Hubspot, Google Suite, and Slack to streamline communication and project management.
• Exposure to B Corp-certified organizations and commitment to purpose-driven outcomes.

Practical notes

• This role requires EST hours.
• Fluency in English and excellent communication skills (both written and verbal) are mandatory for effective collaboration with international teams.