Associate Design Director

Worst Kept Secret; Tysons (VA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Worst Kept Secret seeks an Associate Creative Director, Design to own the design output for key accounts while shaping team direction. You will continue to produce work directly and set craft standards, typography, color, and systems that scale across ecosystems and motion.

You will mentor designers, advocate for AI-assisted workflows, and elevate concepts by partnering with Creative Directors to guide future design capability and external reputation.

Qualifications

• Eight or more years of design experience with time spent leading other designers.
• Portfolio built on systems as much as artifacts: identity work, digital product or web, and evidence that what you built held up as it scaled.
• Deep command of the tools and genuine interest in where they are going, including AI assisted workflows.
• The judgment to know which decisions are yours, which belong to the team, and which need the client in the room.
• Experience owning client relationships for design and presenting rationale without retreating into taste.
• A track record of raising the level of the people around you.
• Evidence that you build the kind of environment people want to work in, not just the work itself.

Responsibilities

• Own design output for an account or workstream while continuing to produce work directly.
• Set the craft and systems direction: typography, color, layout, components, tokens, and libraries that hold together and scale.
• Elevate concepts from Copy and Art Direction into exceptional, refined design across digital ecosystems, mediums, and motion.
• Mentor designers at every level and develop the seniors on the team.
• Bring a technical and analytical lens: flag early what will not execute or scale, and offer the better path.
• Foster the client relationship and own most design conversations directly.
• Improve the department's speed and consistency through reusable systems.
• Partner with Creative Directors and the Executive Creative Director on where design capability goes next, and manage up with a clear point of view.
• Build our reputation externally: scout talent, build connections, and represent the agency in the design community.
• Work in the open. Say where things stand before anyone asks, and raise problems while they are still fixable, with an option in hand. Late notice is the failure, not the problem itself.
• Contribute to the department, not only to your assignments. Come to critiques and department meetings with something, take part in internal and new business work, and share what you learn.

Skills

Leadership

Design systems

Portfolio development

AI workflows

Client relationship management

Creative direction

Tools

Figma

Adobe Creative Suite

Weavy

Parametric design systems

Job description

Design at Worst Kept Secret is the craft and systems engine of the work. Design takes a concept or a direction and turns it into refined, production-ready output through typography, color, layout, design systems, and motion, then makes it scale across ecosystems and mediums.

As Associate Creative Director, Design you own the design output for an account or workstream. You still design. What changes at this level is that your taste sets the bar for everyone around you, your work comes back near final, and you carry the client relationship for design rather than handing it upward.

What the Associate Creative Director level means here

We define every creative role against the same eight dimensions. This is the ACD column, in plain terms.

• Scope. You own design output for an account or workstream and still produce work directly while shaping the team's direction.
• Autonomy. You operate with high autonomy. Work comes back near final, needing only light finessing from a Creative Director.
• Craft. Your taste and your systems set the output bar for the team.
• Leadership. You set the craft tone, mentor the team, develop the seniors, and demonstrate Creative Director readiness.
• Reach. You operate at a senior level across creative, account, strategy, and production, and you partner with Creative Directors.
• Client. You foster the client relationship and own most client conversations.
• Industry and network.You scout talent and build creative connections, represent the agency externally, and manage up to senior leadership.
• Communication and contribution. You set the tone for the department. You build the forums and habits that make this a place people want to work, mentor broadly, and manage up with clear information early.

What you will do

• Own design output for an account or workstream while continuing to produce work directly.
• Set the craft and systems direction: typography, color, layout, components, tokens, and libraries that hold together and scale.
• Elevate concepts from Copy and Art Direction into exceptional, refined design across digital ecosystems, mediums, and motion.
• Mentor designers at every level and develop the seniors on the team.
• Bring a technical and analytical lens: flag early what will not execute or scale, and offer the better path.
• Foster the client relationship and own most design conversations directly.
• Improve the department's speed and consistency through reusable systems.
• Partner with Creative Directors and the Executive Creative Director on where design capability goes next, and manage up with a clear point of view.
• Build our reputation externally: scout talent, build connections, and represent the agency in the design community.
• Work in the open. Say where things stand before anyone asks, and raise problems while they are still fixable, with an option in hand. Late notice is the failure, not the problem itself.
• Contribute to the department, not only to your assignments. Come to critiques and department meetings with something, take part in internal and new business work, and share what you learn.

What you bring

• Eight or more years of design experience with time spent leading other designers.
• A portfolio built on systems as much as artifacts: identity work, digital product or web, and evidence that what you built held up as it scaled.
• Deep command of the tools and genuine interest in where they are going, including AI assisted workflows.
• The judgment to know which decisions are yours, which belong to the team, and which need the client in the room.
• Experience owning client relationships for design and presenting rationale without retreating into taste.
• A track record of raising the level of the people around you.
• Evidence that you build the kind of environment people want to work in, not just the work itself.

Tools

Figma is the center of how we work: Figma Design, Figma Slides, library systems, and tokens and variables. We expect deep fluency in the Adobe suite and appetite for Weavy and parametric design systems, which are priority growth areas for the department.