Associate Design Director (Digital / Web)

Awwwards; Atlanta (GA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Awwwards is seeking an Associate Design Director in Atlanta, Georgia, to lead and elevate the quality of digital design across multiple projects. This hands-on role requires 6–8 years of experience in web design/interactive direction and a robust portfolio demonstrating visual mastery. The ideal candidate will set creative standards, mentor design teams, and demonstrate proficiency in Figma, driving projects that enhance web experiences. You'll collaborate with strategy and development, facilitating beautiful and functional web solutions.

Qualifications

• 6–8 years of experience in digital design or interactive art direction.
• Creative leadership experience with a portfolio showcasing visual range.
• Highly proficient in Figma and design systems.

Responsibilities

• Lead digital design across multiple web engagements.
• Set visual standards and mentor designers.
• Collaborate with strategy and development teams.

Skills

Visual craftsmanship

Web design systems

Leadership

Agency experience

Figma proficiency

Tools

Figma

Webflow

HubSpot

WordPress

Job description

About the Role

We're looking for an Associate Design Director with a strong digital and web focus - someone who brings exceptional visual craft to web experience design and knows how to make the internet look and feel remarkable.

This is a senior, hands-on creative leadership role. You think in systems, design with intention, and set a standard that others want to rise to. You're not a wireframe-and-handoff designer. You're someone whose work turns heads in your industry and in the room when you present it.

You've built beautiful, conversion-smart marketing websites. You understand the rhythm of the web - motion, hierarchy, scroll behavior, type at scale - and you design with that understanding baked in from the start.

We're looking for someone who:

1. Sets the visual standard for digital craft across the agency
2. Designs actively and leads by example
3. Brings both aesthetic authority and strategic clarity to client conversations
4. Mentors designers to think more boldly and execute more precisely
5. Bridges the gap between creative vision and technical delivery

You'll work closely with strategy, creative, and development to produce web experiences that are beautiful, purposeful, scalable, and built to perform.

What You'll Do

You'll lead digital design across multiple web engagements - from early creative direction through high-fidelity UI, interaction design, and final delivery.

Own the visual and interactive quality of web output, including:

1. Marketing and campaign websites
2. Conversion-focused landing experiences
3. Brand-led digital systems
4. Scalable UI components and design systems
5. Responsive layouts across desktop, tablet, and mobile

Set and uphold standards around:

1. Visual design craft - typography, hierarchy, motion, colour, space
2. Interaction thinking and microanimation
3. Responsive and adaptive layout behaviour
4. Accessibility without compromising design ambition
5. CMS-driven environments including Webflow, HubSpot, and WordPress

Review work and give direction that makes it sharper. You'll mentor designers toward stronger visual thinking, better craft decisions, and clearer design rationale. Lead client presentations with confidence. You can walk a senior stakeholder through a digital concept, defend creative decisions, and bring people along with clarity - not just charisma.

At Associate Director level, you will also:

1. Help shape digital design standards and creative direction across the agency
2. Partner with the Creative Director on long-term quality, capability, and studio culture
3. Contribute to team development
4. Refine how creative, strategy, and tech collaborate on web projects

What You'll Bring

At least 6–8 years of experience in digital design, web design, or interactive art direction - with meaningful creative leadership experience and a portfolio that demonstrates serious visual range.

A Portfolio That Stops People

1. Visual mastery - sophisticated typographic thinking, spatial awareness, colour intelligence, and motion sensibility
2. Web-native thinking - layouts that feel designed for the scroll, not adapted from print
3. Brand-to-digital translation - taking a brand and making it move, breathe, and convert online
4. System thinking - design languages that scale across pages, states, and components
5. Process and rationale - not just beautiful outputs, but how you got there and why

Your portfolio should feel like the work of someone with a genuine visual point of view. We want to see taste, range, and decision-making - not just execution.

Creative Leadership

You lead creative conversations, not just design reviews. You can present work to CMOs and creative directors with equal authority, handle pushback without folding, and build alignment around a visual direction.

You mentor without micromanaging. You give feedback that's specific, constructive, and raises the ceiling - not just the floor.

Digital Craft and Technical Fluency

Highly proficient in Figma, including:

1. Building and maintaining structured component libraries
2. Designing within and evolving scalable design systems
3. Preparing files for clean, developer-ready handoff
4. Collaborating directly with front-end developers

You understand how design decisions affect build complexity, performance, and long-term maintainability. You design with implementation in mind - without using it as an excuse to play it safe.

Who You Are

You're a digital creative who leads with craft and backs it up with thinking.

You care deeply about the quality of what goes out the door. You have strong opinions about what good looks like on the web - and the skills to realise it. You're collaborative without being passive, opinionated without being precious. You're the kind of designer whose work makes people stop scrolling.

Strong candidates will have experience in agency environments and a portfolio featuring marketing websites, digital campaigns, or brand-led web experiences.