Executive Design Director (Brand & Product)

About this role

MetaLab is seeking an Executive Design Director to shape and lead the integration of brand, experience and product design. The role involves setting craft standards, guiding strategic design direction, and mentoring senior designers, while also contributing hands-on to projects. The position requires strong leadership across brand systems, product-led engagements, and cross-disciplinary collaboration, with emphasis on storytelling, systems thinking, and client partnerships. The role is ideally based in EST to align with multiple time zones, with overlap into PST. Equal opportunity employer, welcoming applicants from diverse backgrounds.

What you would do

• Define and evolve the company’s product and brand design vision across teams and client work.
• Coach senior design leaders and project teams with actionable feedback and career guidance.
• Hands-on contribution to pitches, reviews, and live work to maintain high creative standards.
• Oversee design quality and provide feedback to raise creative standards across the department.
• Guide strategic direction for brand and product design engagements to meet client and business outcomes.
• Develop and refine brand systems that integrate with product experiences.
• Advance design critique culture and storytelling, systems thinking, and craft.
• Partner with clients at a strategic level to articulate, evolve and scale brands for digital environments.
• Collaborate with design leadership to shape hiring, feedback, and growth processes in brand and product design.
• Represent MetaLab in the design community and lead accounts to grow business through quality work.

What they are asking for

• Minimum 12 years in brand and product design, creative direction, or digital design leadership in a digital-first environment.
• At least 2 years leading design teams at senior director or executive level.
• Ability to maintain at least 4 hours overlap with Pacific Time business hours.
• Visionary design leader who balances creative risk with strategic business value.
• Proven experience guiding multidisciplinary teams on large-scale product-led brand engagements.
• Portfolio demonstrating mastery in visual identity, brand systems, and digital storytelling.
• Fluency with modern design tools and emerging AI tooling; understanding of motion, interaction and content in product-led brands.
• Ability to translate complex ideas into scalable brand and product design systems and direct execution across environments.
• Experience presenting to and influencing executive stakeholders with clear narratives.
• Experience cross-functional collaboration with product, engineering, marketing and executives.

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