Design Director

Freeman•Los Angeles, IL

8d•Hybrid

About The Position

Sparks is a global brand experience agency that designs and produces trade show exhibits, corporate events, brand activations, and immersive experiences for major brands. They focus on helping companies build real human connection through creative, strategic, and memorable experiences. Sparks recently joined Freeman, but they still operate with their own team, culture, and creative approach. The Design Director defines and leads the creative vision for experiential environments, shaping impactful brand expressions through immersive physical spaces. With a holistic view of creative strategy, execution, and client partnership, this role oversees the entire design lifecycle, ensuring the work meets both brand standards and business objectives. This position will our Sparks Creative team. It is eligible to work a hybrid schedule, generally requiring work in-office and/or show-site 2-3 days per week.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree preferred, High School Diploma or Equivalent with relevant work experience required.
7+ years of design experience.
Demonstrate mastery in developing creative concepts, leading multidisciplinary teams, and navigating complex client engagements.
Deep expertise in 3D design strategy, cross-functional collaboration, and creative business leadership, including oversight of budgets, timelines, and resourcing.
Ability to communicate clearly, thoroughly and succinctly both verbally and in written form; Can clearly articulate an idea or design and the reason(s) behind it.

Responsibilities

Set and drive the overarching design vision for events, exhibits, and brand experiences, ensuring alignment with client objectives and strategic narratives.
Lead and inspire creative teams across multiple projects, establishing a high standard of design innovation, quality, and brand coherence.
Oversee the full design process—from initial ideation to final execution—while managing timelines, deliverables, and creative consistency.
Collaborate with executive leadership and clients to ensure creative output fulfills brand goals, stakeholder expectations, and functional requirements.
Translate brand narratives into immersive three-dimensional design solutions, maintaining cohesion between conceptual storytelling and technical production.
Act as the senior-most creative point of contact with clients, guiding design presentations, managing revisions, and shaping stakeholder feedback into actionable direction.
Provide creative and strategic mentorship to junior and senior designers.
Review and approve final design deliverables, ensuring they adhere to brand standards, technical requirements, and project deadlines; collaborate with production, fabrication, and technical teams to ensure feasibility, accuracy, and excellence in execution.
Maintain expert-level proficiency in industry-standard design tools and technologies, and stay ahead of trends in experiential, spatial, and interactive design.
Partner with leadership to manage project budgets, resource planning, and team assignments, ensuring operational efficiency across the creative department.