Associate Creative Director, Design

We are looking for a digital ACD of Design with world-class expertise in user interaction design, graphic design, motion design and a passion for helping junior designers, other creative team members and clients craft and build experiences based on modern design systems. As an ACD of Design, you will help lead creative projects and design award-winning work across a number of design service offerings for multiple clients of Merkle. You will be a combination of hands-on visual designer and creative workstream leader, helping structure and drive our design process and working to inspire deep collaboration within your creative studio and with the client team. You will be a problem solver, a creative strategist and creative sales advocate, while always exhibiting world-leading design aesthetic, relentlessly pursuing the best possible design outcomes, and striving for innovative solutions.

IN THIS POSITION YOU WILL

• Play an active role in new business pitches (both regionally and potentially globally) working along with your Group Creative Director

• Personally design and help others create world-class design solutions for digital marketing and commerce experiences, digital products, and digital systems

• Help lead and work closely with other designers, experience designers, experience strategists and partners to deliver projects of exceptional quality from start to finish
• When needed, help moderate and co-lead client-facing workshops and presentations, collaborate in discovery research and user testing, helping turn qualitative data into actionable insights and opportunities
• Personally help define (and oversee the work of others helping to define) digital brand visual identity systems and atomic design pattern libraries
• Personally design and help mentor other designers in the creation of design concepts, visual design comps, clickable prototypes and more
• Stay apprised of social trends and produce unique ideas and designs that produce engagement
• Advocate for customer-centric ways to create value and solve problems for client businesses
• Think systematically about the client’s goals and develop holistic design solutions
• Take a leading role in the presentation of design concepts and executions to clients with presentations that merge creative storytelling with genuine business insights to articulate and sell ideas
• Understand our clients’ target audience and look for unique opportunities to reach them through a variety of channels

• Help lead the evaluation, experimentation and adoption of new design tools (including Generative AI tools) within our Merkle design process
• Be an active contributor and leader within our Merkle design community, helping to build and amplify our culture of creativity, design and innovation
• Help develop and grow the skills and expertise of the more junior members of your creative studio team
• Assist in the formation of project budgets and risk assessments
• Partner with studio leadership to drive resolution of issues with projects
• Mentor and inspire and elevate the design product that comes out of your studio
• Champion our agency, helping recruit the next generation of creative talent to join our company

• Experience working with distributed creative teams
• Bachelor’s degree; in lieu of degree, equivalent experience in a relevant field required
• Lean Start-Up/Lean UX Design
• Emerging fluency with Generative AI design tools
• Agile/Scrum/Kanban methodologies
• Design Thinking/Product Thinking
• Eagerness to take on design challenges, collaborate and grow professionally.
• Fluency with Figma, Adobe Creative Cloud, Microsoft Office/Teams
• Rapid Prototyping/Systems Interface Development
• Experience participating in projects involving:
  • Design Thinking/Product Thinking
  • Lean Start-Up/Lean UX Design
  • Rapid Prototyping/Systems Interface Development
  • Agile/Scrum/Kanban methodologies
• Deep experience in digital product design, systems design, service design, commerce design and overall digital experience design
• Outstanding interpersonal and presentation skills

The anticipated base salary range for this position is$113,000 - $182,850. Salary is based on a range of factors including relevant experience, knowledge, skills, other job-related qualifications, and geography.Additionally, this position is eligible for discretionary incentive compensation. Our incentive compensation plan is subject to change. A range of medical, dental, vision, 401(k) matching, paid time off, and/or other benefits also are available. For more information aboutdentsubenefits, please visitdentsubenefitsplus.com

Dentsu (the "Company") is committed to a policy of Equal Employment Opportunity and will not discriminate against an applicant or employee of the Company, on the basis of age, sex, sexual orientation, race, color, creed, religion, ethnicity, national origin, alienage or citizenship, disability, marital status, veteran or military status, genetic information, or any other legally-recognized protected basis under federal, state or local laws, regulations or ordinances. Applicants with disabilities may be entitled to reasonable accommodation under the terms of the Americans with Disabilities Act and certain state or local laws. A reasonable accommodation is a change in the way things are normally done to provide an equal employment opportunity without imposing an undue hardship on the Company. Please [email protected] you need assistance completing any forms or to otherwise participate in the application process or to request or discuss an accommodation in connection with a job at the Company to which you are applying.

About dentsu

Dentsu is the network designed for what’s next, helping clients predict and plan for disruptive future opportunities in the sustainable economy. Taking a people-centered approach to business transformation, dentsu combines Japanese innovation with a diverse, global perspective to drive client growth and to shape societywww.dentsu.com.

We are champions for meaningful progress and we strive to be a force for good—for our people, for our clients, for the industry and for our society. We keep our people at the center, creating space for growth, understanding and learning so they can thrive. We embed diversity, in our mindset, in our solutions and in our teams to empower an inclusive, equitable and culturally fluent environment. Building this culture within our teams makes us better collaborators with each other and with our clients, driving better outcomes for all.

Dentsu (the "Company") is committed to a policy of Equal Employment Opportunity and will not discriminate against an applicant or employee of the Company, on the basis of age, sex, sexual orientation, race, color, creed, religion, ethnicity, national origin, alienage or citizenship, disability, marital status, veteran or military status, genetic information, or any other legally-recognized protected basis under federal, state or local laws, regulations or ordinances. Applicants with disabilities may be entitled to reasonable accommodation under the terms of the Americans with Disabilities Act and/or certain state or local laws. A reasonable accommodation is a change in the way things are normally done that will ensure an equal employment opportunity without imposing an undue hardship on the Company. Please contact your recruiter if you need assistance completing any forms or to otherwise participate in the application process or to request or discuss an accommodation in connection with a job at the Company to which you are applying.