Art Director, Events & Experiences Creative

Enboarder; Indianapolis (IN); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Salesforce seeks a Lead, Art Direction to bring strong craft and hands-on execution to our events portfolio. This role is an individual-contributor-leaning position, capable of taking an art direction vision from concept to install while guiding junior designers on a project basis.

You will translate brand identity into physical space, design footprints, and extend the thinking to interactive experiences that engage attendees.

Qualifications

• 5-8 years of design/art direction experience spanning event design and brand design.
• Experience designing event footprints and user journeys for large-scale activations.
• Exposure to interactive or experiential design—activations, installations, digital/tech-driven experiences.

Responsibilities

• Own art direction for assigned events, ensuring touchpoints reflect a cohesive, on-brand story.
• Design event footprints and map user journeys across a space from arrival to departure.
• Concept and design interactive elements—activations, installations, digital moments—adding engagement layers.
• Translate strategy into tangible, on-brand experiences for physical spaces.
• Provide creative direction and informal mentorship to junior designers.
• Partner with brand design, copy, producers, and strategists to translate concepts into production-ready work.
• Maintain quality control across design deliverables before production.
• Travel to events to oversee on-site design execution and setup.
• Present creative direction and rationale to stakeholders and align cross-functional partners.
• Manage workload across multiple concurrent event programs.

Skills

Adobe Creative Suite

Figma

Art direction

Event design

Brand design

3D/rendering tools

Tools

3D rendering tools

Job description

About the Team

The Global Brand & Creative team within Marketing is responsible for our brand and marketing creative. From building brand awareness campaigns to designing experiences like Dreamforce, our multi-faceted team does it all. We are a collection of thinkers, makers and doers, whose sole purpose is to bring the brand to life across our incredible portfolio of work. Within this team, the Events & Experiences Creative function is responsible for how Salesforce shows up in physical spaces — from flagship events and trade shows to brand partnerships, activations, and executive experiences.

About the Role

Salesforce is looking for a Lead, Art Direction to bring strong creative craft and hands-on execution to our events portfolio. This is an individual-contributor-leaning role for someone who can take an art direction vision and run with it — from first concept to final install — while also stepping up to guide junior designers on a project-by-project basis.
You're fluent in event design and know how to translate brand identity into physical space, but you also carry real brand design chops, so nothing you ship ever feels off-brand or half-finished. You know how to design a footprint and map a user journey through it. Beyond the physical environment, you're comfortable extending that same thinking into interactive and experiential elements — activations, digital touchpoints, sensory or tech-driven moments — that turn a static space into something people actually want to engage with. You have an obsessive attention to detail, a strong point of view, and the ability to turn strategy into experience — taking an abstract brief and making it walkable, tangible, and on-brand.
This role travels. You'll be on-site for major events, overseeing design execution and setup in real time, catching what needs catching, and making the calls that keep the work true to the vision when reality gets messy.

What You’ll Do

• Own art direction for assigned events, ensuring every touchpoint — environmental graphics, signage, stage design, activations — reflects a cohesive, on-brand story

• Design event footprints and map user journeys, choreographing how attendees move through and experience a space from arrival to departure

• Concept and design interactive and experiential elements — activations, installations, digital or tech-enabled moments — that add engagement layers on top of the physical environment

• Translate strategy into experience — turning a marketing or brand strategy into a tangible, well-paced physical narrative

• Provide creative direction and informal mentorship to junior designers on assigned projects

• Partner with brand design, copy, producers, and strategists to translate concepts into production-ready creative

• Maintain strict quality control across all design deliverables, catching inconsistencies and detail issues before they reach production

• Travel to events to oversee on-site design execution and setup, making real-time creative and production calls

• Present creative direction and rationale to stakeholders, building alignment across cross-functional partners

• Manage your own workload across multiple concurrent event programs, balancing creative ambition against production timelines and budgets

What Experience You Have

• 5-8 years of design/art direction experience, with a portfolio spanning event design and brand design

• Experience designing event footprints and user journeys for large-scale activations

• Exposure to interactive or experiential design — activations, installations, digital/tech-driven experiences

• Comfort providing creative direction to junior designers, even without formal management experience

• Deep fluency in environmental and spatial design — stage design, signage, wayfinding, large-format production

• Strong brand design background, with an eye for how identity systems translate into physical space

• A track record of translating strategy into experience — turning briefs into tangible, on-brand spaces

• Meticulous attention to detail and a track record of maintaining quality under tight deadlines

• Comfortable presenting and pitching creative direction to stakeholders

• Willingness and ability to travel extensively to oversee on-site event design and setup

• Expert proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite and Figma; familiarity with 3D/rendering tools or interactive prototyping tools is a plus

• B2B and/or tech experience is a strong plus

You Are Excited About This Role Because:

• You love the craft of event design and want more room to push it — including into interactive and experiential territory

• You get energized turning a strategy brief into a space people actually walk through and feel

• You have zero tolerance for sloppy execution and take pride in catching what others miss

• You want to grow your creative leadership without stepping fully into people management yet

We Are Excited About You Because:

• You bring strong craft and a growing point of view on experiential design

• You think in journeys and narratives, not just visuals

• You're calm under pressure and decisive when things go sideways on-site

• You have an eye for brand and space, and you know how to marry the two