Design Director

Freeman Company; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 125,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Tuition Reimbursement

Retirement with Company Match

Paid Time Off

Hybrid work schedule

Job summary

The Freeman Company is seeking a Design Director to define and lead the creative vision for experiential environments, shaping brand expressions across events, exhibits, and brand experiences.

You will manage the full design lifecycle from ideation to execution, collaborate with executives and clients, mentor designers, and ensure projects meet brand standards, budgets, and schedules. This role supports Sparks Creative with a hybrid work schedule.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree preferred with 7+ years design experience.
• Demonstrated mastery in developing concepts and leading multidisciplinary teams.
• Deep expertise in 3D design strategy, cross-functional collaboration, and leadership including budgets.
• Strong communication skills to articulate ideas clearly, both verbally and in writing.

Responsibilities

• Set and drive the overarching design vision for events, exhibits, and brand experiences.
• Lead and inspire creative teams across multiple projects.
• Oversee the full design process—from ideation to execution—managing timelines, deliverables, and creative consistency.
• Collaborate with executive leadership and clients to ensure output fulfills brand goals and stakeholder expectations.
• Translate brand narratives into immersive three-dimensional design solutions.
• Provide creative mentorship to junior and senior designers.

Skills

3D design strategy

Creative leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Budget management

Design tools proficiency

Education

Bachelor’s degree preferred

High School Diploma or Equivalent with relevant work experience

Tools

Industry-standard design tools

Job description

Sparks is a global brand experience agency that designs and produces trade show exhibits, corporate events, brand activations, and immersive experiences for major brands. They focus on helping companies build real human connection through creative, strategic, and memorable experiences. Sparks recently joined Freeman, but they still operate with their own team, culture, and creative approach.

Summary

The Design Director defines and leads the creative vision for experiential environments, shaping impactful brand expressions through immersive physical spaces. With a holistic view of creative strategy, execution, and client partnership, this role oversees the entire design lifecycle, ensuring the work meets both brand standards and business objectives.

This position will our Sparks Creative team. It is eligible to work a hybrid schedule, generally requiring work in-office and/or show-site 2-3 days per week. The ideal candidate will be based out of any of the following locations:

• Las Vegas, NV
• Philadelphia, PA
• Chicago, IL
• Set and drive the overarching design vision for events, exhibits, and brand experiences, ensuring alignment with client objectives and strategic narratives.
• Lead and inspire creative teams across multiple projects, establishing a high standard of design innovation, quality, and brand coherence.
• Oversee the full design process—from initial ideation to final execution—while managing timelines, deliverables, and creative consistency.
• Collaborate with executive leadership and clients to ensure creative output fulfills brand goals, stakeholder expectations, and functional requirements.
• Translate brand narratives into immersive three-dimensional design solutions, maintaining cohesion between conceptual storytelling and technical production.
• Act as the senior-most creative point of contact with clients, guiding design presentations, managing revisions, and shaping stakeholder feedback into actionable direction.
• Provide creative and strategic mentorship to junior and senior designers.
• Review and approve final design deliverables, ensuring they adhere to brand standards, technical requirements, and project deadlines; collaborate with production, fabrication, and technicalteams to ensure feasibility, accuracy, and excellence in execution.
• Maintain expert-level proficiency in industry-standard design tools and technologies, and stay ahead of trends in experiential, spatial, and interactive design.
• Partner with leadership to manage project budgets, resource planning, and team assignments, ensuring operational efficiency across the creative department.

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree preferred, High School Diploma or Equivalent with relevant work experience required.
• 7+ years of design experience.
• Demonstrate mastery in developing creative concepts, leading multidisciplinary teams, and navigating complex client engagements.
• Deep expertise in 3D design strategy, cross-functional collaboration, and creative business leadership, including oversight of budgets, timelines, and resourcing.
• Ability to communicate clearly, thoroughly and succinctly both verbally and in written form; Can clearly articulate an idea or design and the reason(s) behind it.

Travel Requirements

Travel up to 25%

What We Offer

The Freeman Company provides benefits that aim to empower our people and their families to thrive mentally, physically, and financially. These are a handful of the types of programs and benefits our full-time people may be eligible for. There may be some variances in specific benefits across regions.

• Tuition Reimbursement
• Life, Accident and Disability
• Retirement with Company Match
• Paid Time Off
• Salary range of $125,000-140,000 based upon experience
• Eligible for an annual bonus of up to 10% of the base salary

Diversity Commitment

At The Freeman Company, our commitment to diversity and inclusion is helping us to create not only a great place to work, but also an environment where our employees, our customers and our communities around the world can reach their goals and connect with each other. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, veteran status and other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.