Art Director, Brand Systems

Relay • Raleigh, NC

5d • Onsite

About The Position

Relay is seeking an Art Director, Brand Systems to serve as the creative lead for the Relay brand during a period of significant growth. This is a hands-on role requiring expertise in building and operationalizing design systems, producing high-quality work across various B2B media, and fluent use of AI tools. The Art Director will report to the Creative Director, collaborating on sales enablement, campaigns, web presence, and conference programs. This role involves shaping the creative team by onboarding a Production Designer, guiding freelance partners, and evolving into a player-coach responsible for daily creative output. It offers significant influence and growth potential, with the opportunity to be the senior creative voice managing day-to-day operations while the Creative Director focuses on broader brand strategy.

Requirements

• 5+ years of design or art direction experience.
• Portfolio demonstrating both systems thinking and high-craft execution.
• Proven experience building and scaling a design system in Figma at another company.
• Recent, hands-on experience using AI tools as part of the design workflow, specifically for system architecture, consistency audits, documentation, and decision logic.
• Expert proficiency in Figma and Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign).
• Strong cross-medium range, comfortable directing print, web, tradeshow booths, and digital ads.
• Experience providing creative direction and feedback to other designers.
• Genuine interest in mentorship and team building.
• Excellent communication skills, including translating strategy into creative direction, writing clear briefs, and explaining creative decisions to non-creative stakeholders.
• Calm, organized approach to managing multiple projects and competing priorities.

Nice To Haves

• B2B SaaS experience
• Experience in a high-growth startup environment
• Web design fluency and comfort partnering with developers
• Motion or video direction experience
• Photography direction or production experience
• Conference and event creative experience
• Experience integrating AI into team-wide design operations

Responsibilities

• Build, establish, scale, and maintain a Figma design system, including component libraries, tokens, typography, color systems, and layout patterns.
• Develop documentation to enable the team to produce on-brand work efficiently.
• Integrate AI tools into the design system's creation and maintenance for tasks like naming conventions, decision logic, documentation, and consistency audits.
• Lead day-to-day creative production across sales enablement materials (one-pagers, decks, collateral), conference materials (booths, signage, takeaways, swag), digital advertising, web, and ongoing brand initiatives.
• Work fluidly across print, digital, physical, and web mediums, making informed decisions about format-specific requirements.
• Integrate AI tools into daily workflows for ideation, layout exploration, asset variation, and production, building prompt libraries, templates, and repeatable workflows.
• Translate strategy from the Creative Director and stakeholders into briefs, moodboards, and finished creative work aligned with brand and business goals.
• Set and maintain the quality bar for all creative output, ensuring work is on-brand, on-strategy, and well-crafted.
• Review work, provide clear and constructive feedback.
• Partner with and manage a Production Designer, provide direction to freelance partners, and help shape the operating rhythm of the in-house creative team.
• Act as a key thought partner with the Creative Director on brand evolution, visual system expansion into new channels, audiences, and campaigns.

Benefits

• 100% Paid Insurance (Health, Dental, Vision, Long/Short Term Disability, and Life Insurance)
• Generous Paid Time Off
• 401(K) Savings Plan + Company Match
• Baby Cash Reward + Paid Parental Leave
• Wellness Perks (onsite fitness center with instructor-led classes, outdoor amenities like tennis, basketball, cycling, pickleball)
• Free Snacks
• Latest tech, standing desks, and necessary software

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed