Design Lead Mumbai

HumanX; Mumbai; On-site; INR 2,600,000 - 3,800,000; Full time

Job summary

HumanX in Mumbai is seeking a Design Lead to guide a team of designers in shaping brand systems and experiences across digital and physical touchpoints. You will collaborate with CXOs and senior leaders to translate vision into distinctive brands that drive business outcomes.

You will define brand foundations, lead discovery sessions, craft storytelling, and ensure craft at scale. The role combines strategic thinking with hands-on execution and mentorship to raise the bar across projects.

Qualifications

• 5 to 8 years of experience in design or brand roles.
• At least 2 years of experience as a Senior Designer / Design Lead.
• Experience building brands from the ground up or evolving existing ones.
• High level of craft across typography, visual systems, and brand expression.
• Ability to translate strategy into scalable design systems.
• Experience working across digital-first brands or product environments is a strong plus.
• Strong communication, storytelling, and presentation skills.
• Experience managing teams and delivering projects end-to-end.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team of designers to shape how brands are built, expressed, and experienced across digital and physical touchpoints.
• Define and scale brand foundations, from positioning and voice to visual language, translating them into scalable systems.
• Guide discovery sessions and distill insights to shape strong, differentiated brand directions.
• Tell compelling brand stories through identity systems, narratives, and framework presentations.
• Maintain craft and ensure brand systems are practical, scalable, and consistent across campaigns, products, and collateral.
• Lead by example, mentor designers, and balance direction with hands-on involvement when needed.
• Build strong, collaborative relationships with clients and guide them toward better brand decisions.

Skills

Brand thinking

Discovery & insights

Storytelling

Craft & execution

Client partnership

Job description

As a Design Lead, you will be leading a team of talented designers to shape behavioural and business outcomes for global digital products.

We are a Strategic Design and Tech consultancy that shapes digital products that are unmistakably human. We are design partners for ambitious clients like Amazon, Bangalore Airport, DriveX, CSBC, NPCI, Seclore, Dr.Reddy’s, CNBC TV18 among other bluechip firms & startups in India and around the globe. Our work is defined with a singular intent of changing behaviour that changes outcomes.

We are looking for clear thinkers who are not afraid of challenging design norms and industry benchmarks.

We are trusted as design partners by global clients:

About the Role

As a Design Lead, you will lead a team of designers to shape how brands are built, expressed, and experienced across digital and physical touchpoints.

We’re growing across Bangalore and Mumbai and are looking for someone who can define and scale brands, from foundational thinking to real-world execution.

You will partner with CXOs, founders, and senior leaders to translate vision into distinctive brand systems that are not just beautiful, but meaningful and effective. You bring a strategic lens to brand building, along with the craft needed to execute at a high level.

You will guide clients and coach a talented team of designers to create work that sets category benchmarks while ensuring consistency, clarity, and impact across every touchpoint.

As a curious and driven thinker, you push boundaries to create work that works. You’re a strong listener and a persuasive communicator, someone clients trust to navigate ambiguity and deliver clarity.

Depending on the project, you will be hands-on and/or lead a team, setting the standard through both direction and execution.

Specifically, your role entails:

Brand Thinking

You think in systems, not just assets. You define brand foundations: positioning, voice, visual language, and translate them into scalable systems. You understand how brand influences perception, behaviour, and business outcomes. You can connect the dots between brand decisions and their impact across product, marketing, and communication.

You bring a sharp sense of what makes brands distinctive and relevant, grounded in both cultural awareness and practical experience.

Discovery & Insights

You know how to uncover the essence of a brand. Through workshops, stakeholder conversations, and research, you distill insights that shape strong, differentiated brand directions.

You are comfortable leading discovery sessions independently, guiding clients through ambiguity toward clarity and alignment.

Storytelling

You believe brand is ultimately a story and you know how to tell it well.

From crafting compelling narratives and brand frameworks to presenting identity systems, you bring clarity and emotion into every pitch. You help clients see not just what the brand looks like, but what it stands for and how it lives in the world.

Craft & Execution

You have a strong command of visual design, identity systems, typography, colour, layout, and motion.

You ensure that brand systems are not only conceptually strong but also practical, scalable, and consistent across touchpoints, whether it’s digital products, campaigns, or marketing collateral.

As a team lead, you set a high bar for both thinking and craft.

You create an environment that encourages exploration, ownership, and high standards. You mentor designers across levels, helping them grow in both strategic thinking and execution. You lead by example, balancing direction with hands-on involvement when needed.

Client Partnership

You build strong, collaborative relationships with clients, grounded in trust and shared ambition. You take the time to understand their business, context, and constraints, and guide them toward better brand decisions.

You don’t just execute briefs, you help shape them, identifying long-term opportunities to grow the brand and the partnership.

Ideal Candidate:

• 5 to 8 years of experience
• At least 2 years of experience as a Senior Designer / Design Lead
• Experience in building brands from the ground up as well as evolving existing ones
• High level of craft across typography, visual systems, and brand expression
• Ability to translate strategy into scalable design systems
• Experience working across digital-first brands or product environments is a strong plus
• Strong communication, storytelling, and presentation skills
• Experience managing teams and delivering projects end-to-end