Design Director

Adelphi Group•New York, NY

4d•$200,000 - $230,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Design Director ensures creative excellence and operational effectiveness, and is accountable for the performance, growth, and wellbeing of the design team. The role defines standards for high-quality work and balances craft, culture, and commercial outcomes to strengthen client relationships and contribute to agency growth. The Design Director brings a distinct perspective informed by design culture and personal creative interests. The position leads design quality, approaches, systems, and frameworks; oversees work across multiple projects or accounts; and develops a team through coaching, feedback, learning, and capability building. It also oversees client partnerships and senior stakeholder relationships, represents design and innovation in pitches, and contributes to account satisfaction, retention, and growth. The role owns team utilization, profitability, and contribution to the agency P&L, improves processes and delivery models, and collaborates on productized offerings and accelerators. The position is with dotdotdash, a global experience and innovation agency and part of Omnicom Advertising Group. The agency combines boutique service and craft with the reach and resources of a global network, and focuses on making and producing work using emerging media and technology. Omnicom policy requires employees to work in the office at least three days per week, subject to local law and any additional direction from the agency or manager.

Requirements

10+ years of experience in design.
A portfolio showcasing exceptional work across design communications, including campaigns, digital, and experiential work.
Exceptional craft and care, with the ability to adapt expertise across brand identity systems, art direction, interface design, and motion design.
Expertise in visual design philosophy, methodologies, and techniques.
Expertise in conceiving modern brand design systems for digital 2D and 3D experiences.
Expertise in design execution across media and experiences, including brand identity, brand systems, graphic and communications design, user interface design, and design systems.
Knowledge of leveraging AI tools and platforms to enhance creative ideation and design production.

Nice To Haves

Experience in art direction, including campaign concept generation and production, campaign treatments, visual narrative treatments, and content and experience storyboarding.

Responsibilities

Define and uphold quality standards across the design discipline.
Lead the development of design approaches, systems, and frameworks that enable consistency and innovation.
Oversee multiple projects or accounts, providing guidance and critique to elevate creative output.
Ensure the team's work aligns with strategic and business objectives.
Manage and develop Leads, Seniors, and Intermediates through regular coaching and structured feedback.
Drive discipline-wide learning and capability development, fostering accountability and inclusion.
Maintain healthy team utilization and workload balance while supporting engagement and retention.
Build succession and growth plans for emerging leaders.
Oversee the creative and strategic quality of client partnerships and ensure design outcomes deliver measurable impact.
Build senior client relationships and serve as a trusted advisor to executive stakeholders.
Represent design and innovation in high-level conversations and pitches.
Support satisfaction, retention, and growth across key accounts.
Own team utilization, profitability, and contribution to the agency's P&L.
Lead efficiency and quality improvements across processes and delivery models.
Collaborate with leadership to develop and evolve productized offerings or accelerators.
Shape the culture and reputation of the discipline within the agency and broader network.
Direct illustration, typography, animation, motion, and design production.