EY Wavespace Experience Designer - Assistant Director

Ernst & Young AE; Riyadh; On-site; SAR 450,000 - 650,000; Full time

Job summary

Ernst & Young AE seeks an Assistant Director / Senior Manager to lead Experience Strategy and Innovation across Saudi Arabia and the GCC. The role requires hands-on design leadership, strategic thinking, and the ability to produce high-quality outputs in both Arabic and English.

You will drive end-to-end experiences across digital, physical, and immersive environments, while mentoring teams and engaging with C-suite executives to deliver client value and innovative experiences.

Qualifications

• 8–12 years in multidisciplinary design or related fields.
• Proven portfolio showing end-to-end ownership from concept to execution.
• Experience across digital, physical, experiential and immersive mediums.
• Experience within consulting, innovation, design agencies, customer experience or enterprise environments.
• Fluency in Arabic and English with Arabic-first design capability.

Responsibilities

• Translate business challenges and opportunities into compelling experience strategies and design solutions.
• Design end-to-end experiences across physical, digital, immersive, and hybrid environments.
• Apply human-centered design, service design, and design thinking methodologies.
• Leverage AI, emerging technologies, and innovative design approaches to create differentiated experiences and client value.
• Personally create and oversee design outputs across graphic, UX/UI, spatial and immersive design.

Skills

Arabic-English bilingual capability

Experience design leadership

Strategic thinking

Executive/Client engagement

AI-enabled experiences

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in Design

Tools

Adobe Creative Suite

Figma

Igloo Vision

Unity

Unreal Engine

Blender

Cinema 4D

Job description

Role Purpose

This is a unique opportunity to help shape a leading Arabic-first AI-enabled experience design capability across Saudi Arabia and the wider GCC.

The Assistant Director / Senior Manager Experience & Design Strategy will lead the design and delivery of impactful experiences across physical, digital, immersive, and experiential environments. This is a hands‑on design leadership role requiring an individual who combines strategic thinking, creative excellence, and execution capability.

The successful candidate will personally create high‑quality design outputs while leading the development of innovation experiences, executive workshops, immersive environments, digital products, strategic communications, and client activations. They will work across graphic design, experience design, UX UI, service design, spatial design, immersive storytelling, motion design, and executive communication design.

A critical requirement is the ability to conceptualize and design natively in both Arabic and English, creating original Arabic‑first experiences, content, interfaces, and narratives tailored to Saudi Arabian and GCC audiences.

Key Responsibilities

Experience Strategy & Innovation

• Translate business challenges and innovation opportunities into compelling experience strategies and design solutions.
• Design end‑to‑end experiences across physical, digital, immersive, and hybrid environments.
• Apply human‑centered design, service design, and design thinking methodologies.
• Leverage AI, emerging technologies, and innovative design approaches to create differentiated experiences and client value.

Multidisciplinary Design Delivery

• Personally create and oversee design outputs across graphic and visual design, brand storytelling and communication design, executive presentations and board‑level storytelling, workshop design and visualization, UX UI and interactive prototyping, product and service design, motion graphics and video content, event exhibition and activation design, spatial and environmental design, immersive and interactive experiences, Igloo Vision and 360 environments, Arabic‑First Experience Design.
• Create original design concepts and experiences directly in Arabic and English.
• Apply advanced Arabic typography, visual hierarchy, and RTL design principles.
• Design bilingual experiences, interfaces, presentations and communications.
• Ensure cultural, linguistic and visual relevance for Saudi Arabian and GCC audiences.
• Candidates whose experience is limited to translating English content into Arabic will not be considered.

Leadership & Stakeholder Engagement

• Provide creative direction and maintain design quality across multiple initiatives.
• Engage confidently with C‑suite executives, senior leaders, clients and external partners.
• Present recommendations with clarity, credibility and commercial awareness.
• Build design capability, mentor team members and contribute to the evolution of experience design practices.

Required Experience

• 8–12 years of experience in multidisciplinary design, experience design, creative direction, innovation or related fields.
• Proven portfolio demonstrating end‑to‑end ownership from concept through execution.
• Experience designing across digital, physical, experiential and immersive mediums.
• Experience within consulting, innovation, design agencies, customer experience or enterprise environments.
• Experience working directly with senior executives and client stakeholders.
• Strong understanding of AI‑enabled experiences, emerging technologies and digital innovation.
• Professional fluency in Arabic and English with demonstrated Arabic‑first design capability.

Education

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in a design‑related discipline including Graphic Design, Visual Communication, Experience Design, Interaction Design, UX UI Design, Product Design, Service Design, Digital Media, Motion Design, Spatial or Environmental Design, Architecture or Interior Architecture, Industrial Design.
• Equivalent professional experience supported by an exceptional portfolio will also be considered.

Technical Skills

• Advanced proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite, Figma and FigJam, Miro, Lucid, Microsoft PowerPoint and communication design tools, UX UI and prototyping platforms, AI‑assisted design and content creation tools.
• Preferred experience with Igloo Vision environments, AR, VR, XR and immersive technologies, Unity, Unreal Engine, Blender, SketchUp, Cinema 4D or similar platforms.

Leadership Competencies

• Strategic Thinking
• Creative Excellence
• Executive Presence
• Client Centricity
• Cultural Intelligence
• Commercial Acumen
• Collaboration & Influence
• Innovation Mindset
• Delivery Excellence
• Talent Development

Portfolio Requirement

Mandatory: Candidates must provide a portfolio demonstrating hands‑on design capability across multiple mediums including digital, physical, immersive, experiential and bilingual Arabic/English experiences. An exceptional portfolio demonstrating original Arabic‑first design capability, executive storytelling and experience design across multiple mediums is a mandatory requirement for this role.

8–12+ years of experience in multidisciplinary design, experience design, creative direction, innovation, or related fields. Proven portfolio demonstrating end‑to‑end ownership from concept through execution. Experience designing across digital, physical, experiential, and immersive mediums. Experience within consulting, innovation, design agencies, customer experience, or enterprise environments. Experience working directly with senior executives and client stakeholders. Strong understanding of AI‑enabled experiences, emerging technologies, and digital innovation. Professional fluency in Arabic and English with demonstrated Arabic‑first design capability. Candidates must provide a portfolio demonstrating hands‑on design capability across multiple mediums, including digital, physical, immersive, experiential, and bilingual (Arabic/English) experiences. An exceptional portfolio demonstrating original Arabic‑first design capability, executive storytelling and experience design across multiple mediums is a mandatory requirement for this role.