Design Director, Digital Brand

A hands-on maker who develops visual identity systems for digital-first brands. Come lead our brand practice and develop a new process for delivering brand through digital.

The Role

At Upstatement, we believe branding is inseparable from product and web design, an approach we call “brand through digital.” The work we deliver benefits both clients and their users by creating meaningful ways for them to interact — and brand is at the center of that relationship.

• Lead teams and engage clients through the entire project.
• Develop verbal & visual identity systems for digital-first brands.
• Plan and run a design process that delivers on core business goals.
• Design solutions that unlock opportunities for teams and clients.
• Explain decisions, win over stakeholders, and fulfill the creative strategy.
• Navigate complex business, user, and team needs with empathy.
• Shape the growth of Upstatement's brand practice.

Last but not least: People who succeed here are empathetic teammates who are candid, kind, caring, and embody our core values. We believe that diverse, inclusive teams make the most impactful work. Upstatement is deeply invested in ensuring that we have a supportive, growth-oriented environment that works for everyone.

Why Upstatement

Upstatement is a digital product studio with an editorial mindset. We use the tools of design, engineering, and journalism to enrich lives and create a more just society. Our 50-person team works with established leaders (MIT, ESPN, PBS) and emerging companies who are about to change the world.

• Work with ethical and mission-driven organizations.
• Collaborate in a high-trust environment that empowers creative ownership.
• Build a portfolio you can be proud of.
• Blossom in a small studio culture full of top talent and peers who help you grow.
• Find your path at a place that prizes flexibility: We encourage experimentation, support role switching, and help people balance between maker/manager and lead/support.
• Contribute to a progressive, values-driven culture that has deep commitment to DEI, puts people first, and believes in making each other better.
• Experience true life-work balance with a 4-Day Work Week.

What You’ll Do

On Projects:

• Deliver portfolio-worthy work: As a hands-on designer and team leader.
• Drive research: Develop a deep understanding of each client’s goals, business context, user behavior, and opportunities. Run interviews, workshops, and analysis.
• Define the why: Establish a foundational strategy through design that will unlock goals and drive future creative output. Inspire content creators, engineers, product managers, and clients with your ideas.
• Make from the start: Use your strength as a designer and communicator to synthesize insights that inspire any room to believe in your vision — and act on it.
• Engage clients: Demonstrate expertise that builds long-term relationships. Relentlessly explain the why behind every decision, win over stakeholders, and fulfill the creative strategy throughout the project lifecycle.
• Navigate complexity: Resolve tensions between clients, users, and teams effectively and with empathy.

Inside Upstatement’s brand practice:

• Continuously improve: Plan, run, and refine the way brand projects go at Upstatement, documenting and sharing best practices, so they set the new standard.
• Develop others: Coach teams to achieve their best, providing opportunities to own tasks and build expertise.
• Expand capabilities: Make every project more impactful than the last. Grow our network of project partners, from freelancers to agencies.
• Integrate brand with digital: Help teams translate brand to products and websites.
• Promote expertise: Collaborate with business development and marketing teams to attract top talent and client prospects.

About You

• 7+ years of hands-on brand design and project leadership experience at a digital agency or equivalent.
• Independent design leader with a portfolio of work demonstrating business impact across brands, products, and websites. Thinks of a brand as the experience itself, especially in terms of complex interactions and content. 
• Proven ability to lead research progra