Art Director, Events & Experiences Creative

Salesforce•Chicago, IL

4d•Hybrid

About The Position

Salesforce is looking for a Lead, Art Direction to bring strong creative craft and hands-on execution to our events portfolio. This is an individual-contributor-leaning role for someone who can take an art direction vision and run with it — from first concept to final install — while also stepping up to guide junior designers on a project-by-project basis. You're fluent in event design and know how to translate brand identity into physical space, but you also carry real brand design chops, so nothing you ship ever feels off-brand or half-finished. You know how to design a footprint and map a user journey through it. Beyond the physical environment, you're comfortable extending that same thinking into interactive and experiential elements — activations, digital touchpoints, sensory or tech-driven moments — that turn a static space into something people actually want to engage with. You have an obsessive attention to detail, a strong point of view, and the ability to turn strategy into experience — taking an abstract brief and making it walkable, tangible, and on-brand. This role travels. You'll be on-site for major events, overseeing design execution and setup in real time, catching what needs catching, and making the calls that keep the work true to the vision when reality gets messy.

Requirements

5-8 years of design/art direction experience, with a portfolio spanning event design and brand design
Experience designing event footprints and user journeys for large-scale activations
Exposure to interactive or experiential design — activations, installations, digital/tech-driven experiences
Comfort providing creative direction to junior designers, even without formal management experience
Deep fluency in environmental and spatial design — stage design, signage, wayfinding, large-format production
Strong brand design background, with an eye for how identity systems translate into physical space
A track record of translating strategy into experience — turning briefs into tangible, on-brand spaces
Meticulous attention to detail and a track record of maintaining quality under tight deadlines
Comfortable presenting and pitching creative direction to stakeholders
Willingness and ability to travel extensively to oversee on-site event design and setup
Expert proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite and Figma; familiarity with 3D/rendering tools or interactive prototyping tools is a plus
B2B and/or tech experience is a strong plus

Nice To Haves

You love the craft of event design and want more room to push it — including into interactive and experiential territory
You get energized turning a strategy brief into a space people actually walk through and feel
You have zero tolerance for sloppy execution and take pride in catching what others miss
You want to grow your creative leadership without stepping fully into people management yet
You bring strong craft and a growing point of view on experiential design
You think in journeys and narratives, not just visuals
You're calm under pressure and decisive when things go sideways on-site
You have an eye for brand and space, and you know how to marry the two

Responsibilities

Own art direction for assigned events, ensuring every touchpoint — environmental graphics, signage, stage design, activations — reflects a cohesive, on-brand story
Design event footprints and map user journeys, choreographing how attendees move through and experience a space from arrival to departure
Concept and design interactive and experiential elements — activations, installations, digital or tech-enabled moments — that add engagement layers on top of the physical environment
Translate strategy into experience — turning a marketing or brand strategy into a tangible, well-paced physical narrative
Provide creative direction and informal mentorship to junior designers on assigned projects
Partner with brand design, copy, producers, and strategists to translate concepts into production-ready creative
Maintain strict quality control across all design deliverables, catching inconsistencies and detail issues before they reach production
Travel to events to oversee on-site design execution and setup, making real-time creative and production calls
Present creative direction and rationale to stakeholders, building alignment across cross-functional partners
Manage your own workload across multiple concurrent event programs, balancing creative ambition against production timelines and budgets