Design Lead

Applecart•New York, NY

15h•$140,000 - $160,000•Hybrid

About The Position

As Design Lead, you will be a key member of Applecart’s Client Delivery organization leading creative strategy and execution for digital advertising placements across strategic communications and marketing campaigns in support of Applecart clients–guiding the look, feel, and best practices of creative across client campaigns. This role will work cross-functionally with Go-to-Market, Platform, and Operations teams and combine a refined design sensibility and an understanding of emerging technologies—especially AI-driven image and video generation—to craft compelling, scalable, and strategic content offerings. This role is ideal for someone at the intersection of design, strategic communications, and technological innovation.

Requirements

8+ years of experience in a senior creative role, within an agency, tech company, or fast-growing brand with experience creating corporate affairs content and creative assets for programmatic and social ad campaigns (e.g. communications and earned media, government relations, investor and employee relations, etc).
Strong understanding of branding, typography, motion, and digital design principles.
Strong understanding of intellectual property considerations, including copyright, fair use, and image and video licensing requirements.
Proficiency with creative software, including Adobe Creative Suite, Figma, and motion/video editing tools.
Hands-on experience with AI tools for image and video generation (e.g., Midjourney, Veo, Sora, Runway, DALL·E, etc.).
Strong portfolio showcasing conceptual thinking, storytelling, and multimedia work.
Excellent communication, collaboration, and presentation skills, and experience in a fast-paced, changing environment.

Nice To Haves

Experience integrating AI content generation into marketing campaigns or automated creative workflows is a plus.

Responsibilities

Collaborate with our account teams of communications and media strategists to understand clients’ communications goals to align digital advertising placements with our clients’ strategic business goals.
Manage graphic designers, oversee the production of, and ensure consistency and excellence across client campaigns and creative assets.
Set and uphold standards and best practices for visual style, tone, and clarity across a variety of client use cases such as legislative advocacy, investor relations, and corporate communications.
Partner with product and media teams to analyze performance across campaigns, identify characteristics of high-performing ads, and implement learnings in creative production.
Build scalable systems and creative processes that leverage graphic designers as well as automation. Stay ahead of emerging trends in generative media and advise on their practical use.
Working with counsel, consistently apply guidelines for fair and brand-safe use of images, videos, logos, news media, and AI-generated content.
While this role’s primary focus is client marketing efforts, it may also support the design and development of Applecart marketing and Go-to-Market materials and templates.