Executive Design Director

Position Overview

• Location Type: Remote (PST or 4-hour overlap with PST)
• Job Type: Full-time
• Salary: Not Specified

Metalab partners with companies to create products that improve lives, reshape markets, and shift culture. As an Executive Design Director, you will shape the future of design at Metalab, leading with strategic vision and setting the standard for excellence. You will coach leaders, steward craft, and guide clients and internal teams through high-impact engagements. You are a systems thinker, strategic partner, and trusted voice with deep expertise in product design, storytelling, and organizational design. You will build and support inclusive, high-performing teams and push the boundaries of digital product design.

Responsibilities

Lead by Example

• Define and evolve Metalab’s design vision, ensuring alignment across teams and client work.
• Coach senior leaders and project teams, providing clear, actionable feedback and long-term career guidance.
• Model creative excellence in your own work, jumping in hands-on when needed and sharing your thinking openly.
• Approach any client situation confidently, sell ideas and design, and possess the execution chops to back it up.

Drive Design Strategy & Execution

• Guide strategic direction across projects, ensuring user and business outcomes are met.
• Elevate the craft of UX, visual, brand, systems, and content design across teams.
• Lead conversations with clients and internal stakeholders, translating insights into direction.
• Promote a culture of critique, continuous improvement, and cross-disciplinary collaboration.

Lead Organizational Impact

• Collaborate with executive leadership to influence company direction and design operations.
• Shape internal systems for hiring, feedback, and growth within the design discipline.
• Represent Metalab in the design community through thought leadership and speaking opportunities.
• Identify opportunities for innovation and quality improvement across all aspects of delivery.

Requirements

Technical Expertise

• UX Design: Define UX quality standards, guiding teams through user-centered design rooted in research, strategy, and behavior.
• Visual Design: Assess and shape creative direction for polished, differentiated, and relevant work. Push teams to explore new visual approaches while maintaining clarity and cohesion.
• Product Strategy: Align design efforts with product roadmaps, business goals, and market positioning to deliver meaningful impact.
• Critique & Feedback: Foster a culture of open, constructive critique internally and with clients to drive better outcomes.
• Research: Collaborate with researchers to prioritize insights, shape design direction, and ensure real user needs inform decisions.
• Content Design: Champion clear, intentional communication, integrating narrative and voice into product experiences.

Leadership & Influence

• Selling Design: Help clients understand and embrace the value of design through strong narratives and business context.
• Vision: Lead product visioning and future-state planning, inspiring teams to explore opportunities and connect vision to execution.
• Creative Direction: Define and guide strategic, original, and compelling creative direction tied to user needs.

Application Instructions

Not Specified