Lead Art Director

Valtech

5d•CA$100,000 - CA$150,000•Remote

About The Position

Valtech is seeking a Lead Art Director who is passionate about experience innovation and eager to push the boundaries of what’s possible. This role requires 8 years of experience, a growth mindset, and a drive to make a lasting impact. The Lead Art Director is an accomplished art director and visual designer with exceptional craft and expertise across advertising, interaction design, brand experience, and AI-enabled design practices. Working within Valtech's Creative Practices discipline across the Americas, this role is primarily responsible for creating compelling, high-quality ads and concepts, and secondarily designing digital experiences that bring brands to life while solving meaningful client and user challenges. The ideal candidate combines a strong eye for art direction, a high visual aesthetic, and a passion for innovative creativity. They are a proactive conceptual thinker who brings ideas, references, and a clear point of view to the table, equally comfortable creating and art directing advertising concepts and campaigns as they are crafting beautiful interfaces.

Requirements

7+ years of experience in a leading agency, consultancy, studio, or similar environment designing advertisements and digital experiences.
A portfolio demonstrating exceptional visual craft, art direction, conceptual thinking and brand-led experience design.
Deep expertise in visual design, UI design, and digital brand experience across multiple channels and platforms.
Experience translating strategic objectives, user needs, and brand narratives into compelling digital experiences.
Excellent communication in English, with the ability to engage clients and teams across North America through storytelling, presentations, and stakeholder engagement.
Ability to confidently articulate and defend design decisions while remaining open to feedback and collaboration.
Strong understanding of interaction design principles, information architecture, and user-centered design methodologies, with experience translating concepts into interactive prototypes that enhance storytelling and usability.
Proven ability to manage multiple priorities, work effectively under pressure, and deliver high-quality outcomes within tight timelines.
Strong organizational skills with the ability to prioritize effectively and maintain focus throughout the design process.
Demonstrated experience using AI-enabled design workflows to improve ideation, visual exploration, asset creation, prototyping, content generation, and productivity.
Advanced proficiency with Figma and the broader Figma ecosystem, including AI-driven capabilities and plugins.
Experience using image generation and other creative AI tools as part of a modern design practice.
Curiosity and enthusiasm for emerging technologies, with a desire to help evolve how design is practiced within the organization.

Nice To Haves

Experience with advertising and design in the travel and tourism space strongly considered.
Experience with luxury hospitality, travel, aviation, or premium consumer brands a plus.
Experience working with multicultural and distributed teams across regions and time zones.
Experience leading design-system governance across large, multi-brand organizations.
Comfortable working independently while proactively seeking input, feedback, and collaboration when needed.
Experience working within multidisciplinary teams combining strategy, UX, technology, content, and creative disciplines.

Responsibilities

Create and execute highly polished visual design concepts and campaigns that are consistently on brand and directly aligned with client objectives and business outcomes.
Design digital experiences across web, mobile, and emerging platforms, including typography, layout, visual systems, interfaces, interaction patterns, branding elements, and component libraries.
Translate brand expression into scalable digital experiences and user interfaces that balance creativity, usability, and performance.
Craft and present high-fidelity design concepts and creative directions, including references, sketches, storyboards, mood boards, prototypes, and conceptual design explorations.
Actively participate in workshops, brainstorming sessions, creative reviews, and design critiques, contributing ideas, inspiration, and innovative solutions.
Develop interactive prototypes and motion studies using Figma and other design tools to communicate design intent and user experience behaviors.
Create, evolve, and contribute to design systems, component libraries, brand guidelines, style guides, and other artefacts that support consistency and scalability.
Apply accessibility best practices and inclusive design principles to ensure experiences are usable by diverse audiences and aligned with recognized standards.
Collaborate closely with UX Designers, Strategists, Copywriters, Creative Directors, Developers, and other visual designers throughout the project lifecycle.
Partner with development teams to ensure design intent is preserved through implementation.
Maintain exceptionally high standards of design quality, presentation, documentation, and client engagement.
Stay current with emerging design methodologies, AI-enabled workflows, tools, and technologies, proactively identifying opportunities to improve the team’s capabilities and processes.
Support and mentor Junior Designers through constructive feedback, collaboration, and best-practice sharing.
Build and sustain strong working relationships across teams, disciplines, and client organizations.

Benefits

Comprehensive insurance plan (Gold, Silver, or Bronze modules available, with employer contribution up to 80%) including short- and long-term disability coverage.
Virtual healthcare services via Dialogue through Sun Life for emergencies, prescription renewals, etc.
Employee and Family Assistance Program.
Complete mental health support program.
$500 Personal Spending Account for healthcare reimbursements, gym memberships, public transit passes, office supplies, or RRSP contributions.
Retirement plan with Valtech matching 100% of RRSP contributions through a Deferred Profit Sharing Plan (DPSP) up to 4% (DPSP contributions start after 3 months, vesting after 24 months).
Flexible vacation policy (5 days during probation, prorated for the remainder of the year).
Personal Technology Reimbursement – $30/month offered on day 1.
Winter holiday closures.
Flexible scheduling.