Retail Experiential Design Director

YourStudio is a strategy and creative agency shaping next-generation experiences and environments for global brands. With studios in London, Melbourne, New York and LA, we work as one global team to deliver award-winning experiences that are recognised globally.

We’re looking for a Design Director with an experiential 3D design skillset to own creative execution across environments and experience design, from first concept through to built delivery. You’ll set the creative standard, hold it across every touchpoint, and bring the kind of precision and craft that makes the difference between good work and defining work.

Working across a multidisciplinary studio, you’ll translate ambitious ideas into emotionally resonant, spatially considered retail experiences. You’ll collaborate fluently with internal strategists, designers and project leads, external consultants, fabricators and brand partners.

Fluent across retail environments, in-store experience, and brand activation, you’ll bring deep knowledge of retail design fundamentals and the spatial intelligence to translate brand identity into the built environment, with a sharp eye for how technology and creativity can converge meaningfully within physical space.

This role can be based across either the East or West Coast of the US.

The Role

As Design Director, you’ll be the creative anchor across key client projects, translating strategic vision into purposeful, meticulously crafted design outcomes that work in the real world. You’ll lead multidisciplinary teams, build trusted client relationships, and deliver to a consistently high creative standard.

You'll report to the Creative Director and work closely with Strategy Directors, Account Directors, and Project Managers to deliver projects that elevate our studio's reputation for creative excellence.

What you’ll do

Creative Leadership

• Set and hold creative direction across key client projects, ensuring every output meets an uncompromising standard of craft, coherence, and strategic intent

• Translate high-level creative direction into actionable, detail-oriented guidance for teams

• Hold the bar on design quality and integrity across multiple concurrent projects

• Push ideas further, sustaining creative ambition from brief through to delivery without losing coherence or on-brand integrity

Team Development

• Mentor and develop Associate Design Directors and Senior Designers, guiding creative thinking, craft, and confidence

• Lead design reviews and workshops, providing clear, constructive feedback that sharpens ideas and execution

• Build an environment of shared ownership and pride, encouraging initiative and growth across the team

Client Engagement

• Act as the creative lead in client presentations, articulating ideas with confidence and clarity

• Build trusted, collaborative relationships with clients, agencies, and external partners, working in a way that invites creative bravery and shared ownership of the outcome

• Represent the studio's design vision externally, helping position it as a leader in experience and brand design

Creative Process & Delivery

• Own the design process from initial concept through to construction delivery, maintaining rigorous standards of craft, documentation, and presentation at every stage

• Collaborate closely with Project Management and Client Services to maintain clarity on scope, timeline, and priorities

• Identify opportunities to improve efficiency, design systems, and studio workflows without compromising creative quality

• Contribute to scope writing with a strong understanding of how individual projects sit within wider business commercials

What you'll bring

• 10+ years of experience in retail environments, experiential design, brand activation, and spatial storytelling with a portfolio that demonstrates both conceptual ambition and executional excellence.

• A portfolio demonstrating conceptual leadership and executional depth, showing work that is ambitious at concept stage and uncompromising at delivery, across retail, bran