Lead Art Director

About the role

The role defines experience innovation for recognized brands across the Americas. The Lead Art Director shapes high-impact visual narratives and digital journeys as a key member of Creative Practices. This position targets professionals who merge artistic direction with strategic problem solving.

Designers shape how products look and feel. Designers create user flows, wireframes, prototypes, and polished visuals. They test ideas with users and iterate on feedback. Design work spans research, interaction design, and visual design. Collaboration with product and engineering happens daily. Design decisions are judged by outcomes such as usability, conversion, and customer satisfaction. Most design teams keep a living design system to keep products consistent.

Key facts

Requirements

Bring 7+ years of experience in agencies, consultancies, studios, or similar environments focused on advertisements and digital experiences. Present a portfolio demonstrating exceptional visual craft, art direction, conceptual thinking, and brand-led experience design. Show deep expertise in visual design, UI design, and digital brand experience across multiple channels and platforms. Translate strategic objectives, user needs, and brand narratives into compelling digital experiences. Communicate fluently in English to engage clients and teams across North America through storytelling, presentations, and stakeholder interaction. Confidently articulate and defend design decisions while remaining open to feedback and collaboration. Demonstrate strong understanding of interaction design principles, information architecture, and user-centered design methodologies, with experience turning concepts into interactive prototypes that enhance storytelling and usability. Manage multiple priorities effectively, work under pressure, and deliver high-quality outcomes within tight timelines. Organize workflows to prioritize effectively and maintain focus throughout complex design processes. Use AI-enabled design workflows to improve ideation, visual exploration, asset creation, prototyping, content generation, and productivity. Show advanced proficiency with Figma and its ecosystem, including AI-driven capabilities and plugins. Apply experience with image generation and other creative AI tools as part of a modern design practice. Pursue ongoing learning around emerging technologies and methods to evolve team capabilities.

Nice to have qualifications

Value experience in advertising and design within travel and tourism contexts highly. Consider experience with luxury hospitality, travel, aviation, or premium consumer brands as a strong advantage. Appreciate experience working with multicultural and distributed teams across regions and time zones. Recognize experience leading design-system governance across large, multi-brand organizations as an asset. Value comfort working independently while proactively seeking input, feedback, and collaboration. Respect experience within multidisciplinary teams that combine strategy, UX, technology, content, and creative disciplines.

Skills & tools

Proficiency in Figma, prototyping tools, image generation tools, and emerging design technologies supports this role.

Practical notes

This position requires availability from Ontario or Québec. This is a full-time Canada-based role.

Typical interview steps

Design interviews usually include a portfolio review, a design exercise, and a team conversation. Candidates present past work and explain their process and decisions. Some loops include a live design challenge. Communication matters as much as the visual output. Portfolios are strongest when they show the problem, the constraints, and the iteration, not just the final screens. Interviewers also watch how you take feedback.

Good to know

Design systems, AI-enabled workflows, and component-driven design are central to modern practice in this field. Cross-disciplinary collaboration and clear storytelling are critical in client-facing creative work. Continuous learning and adaptability are essential in fast-moving digital environments.

Career growth

Design careers grow from junior to senior, staff, and principal levels. Some designers move into design management or design operations. Specializations include UX research, interaction design, and brand design. Cross-functional influence grows with seniority. Senior designers are expected to influence product strategy, not just execute visuals. Building a habit of user research strengthens any design career.