Performance Creative Designer

Optimal•Austin, TX

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

Optimal is looking for a conceptual, strategic, and data-obsessed Performance Creative Designer to join our fast-paced creative team. This is not a typical design job. You're a perfect fit if you share our obsession with ideating, designing, and executing performance-oriented advertisements that drive measurable results. As a Performance Creative Designer, you will be a leader on the team, developing high-impact ad concepts and delivering pixel-perfect assets that drive clicks, conversions, and client success. This is a rare opportunity to help build a creative function from the ground up. You’ll join at the earliest stage of our performance creative team, working closely with our creative lead to establish how we ideate, design, and ship high-performing work and deliver on our promise of purposeful growth for our clients. As we scale, you’ll be instrumental in shaping the department by mentoring and growing the team around the standards you help set now. Who Are We? Optimal is a performance marketing agency on a mission, bringing together the best data, technology, and people to achieve our clients’ marketing goals. Brand, campaign, or cause: we maximize performance at every moment. We are not only digital media strategists – we’re award-winning industry leaders, with deep knowledge spanning all things digital: from advertising and paid media to marketing and communications, to audience data and analytics, we deliver for our clients. Everyone at Optimal has the opportunity to learn, grow, and progress. Through our proprietary training programs, we provide our team members with the personal and professional development they need to achieve advancement at any stage in their careers. We’re always looking for exceptional people to join our team. If this sounds like you, please apply!

Requirements

3+ years of professional design experience, ideally with a background in paid media, performance marketing, or an agency environment
Excellent attention to detail with a drive to deliver great work and a willingness to accept constructive and collaborative feedback
A performance-focused portfolio that showcases your ability to create high-volume ad creative across multiple platforms. Your portfolio must demonstrate strong design skills in typography, layout, color theory, and visual hierarchy.
Expert proficiency in the Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, and Premiere Pro) and Figma
Proficient in video editing and motion graphics ideation and execution
Experience with generative AI tools like ElevenLabs, Sora, Veo, Chat-GPT Image Gen, Adobe Firefly, etc.
Exceptional communication and presentation skills, with the ability to articulate the "why" behind your design decisions to internal teams and clients.
Excellent time management and organizational skills, with the ability to prioritize tasks and manage multiple projects simultaneously in a fast-paced environment.

Nice To Haves

HTML5/Adobe Animate experience
Advanced video editing and motion graphics skills (e.g., 3D, complex character animation)
Prior experience mentoring or managing junior creatives
Experience designing and prototyping high-fidelity landing pages (UI/UX)

Responsibilities

Design and produce high quality static, animated (GIFs, motion graphics), and video creative assets.
Expertly design for and adapt creative across all major paid media platforms (Meta, TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube, Google Display Network, CTV, DOOH, etc.), understanding the unique specs, user behaviors, and digital ad trends of each.
Uphold and push client brand guidelines, ensuring all creative fits the client's brand, speaks to their brand pillars, and drives traffic.
Communicate and assess creative needs with our account teams. Collaborate seamlessly with creative strategists and account managers to define creative strategy, scope, and estimated turnaround times.
Manage creative projects from end-to-end with minimal oversight , anticipating potential challenges and managing stakeholder expectations to meet all internal and external deadlines.
Regularly assess developing trends in digital media, including developments in generative AI, and apply that knowledge to creative decision-making