Design Director

BigStar; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, and vision insurance

Remote Fridays option

Full-time staff position with benefits

Job summary

BGSTR in NYC seeks a Design Director to lead our graphic design practice, setting visual language, typography, and design systems across projects. The role demands a senior designer with deep craft, capable of translating typography and identity into motion with precision and wit.

This full-time staff position is primarily on-site in our NYC studio Monday through Thursday, with the option to work remotely on Fridays.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of graphic design experience with mastery of visual identity and brand systems.
• Strong typography expertise and architectural design approach to type.
• Experience designing for motion and collaboration with motion designers.
• Proven ability to lead and mentor design teams and give actionable feedback.
• Clear conceptual thinker who communicates ideas to clients and teams.
• Able to manage multiple projects while maintaining quality and energy.
• Excellent presentation and client-facing communication skills.
• Proficient in Adobe Creative Suite; motion workflows and AI awareness a plus.
• Experience in broadcast or motion-adjacent design is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Define and lead the graphic design direction across multiple projects.
• Set visual language, typography systems, color, and composition from concept to delivery.
• Uphold high craft, intentionality, and visual intelligence across projects.
• Collaborate with Creative Directors, Art Directors, and Motion Designers.
• Lead and develop the design team; mentor designers at all levels.
• Drive concepting and pitch development for clients and internal teams.
• Develop comprehensive design systems and scalable brand language.
• Make typographic choices that elevate the work for static and motion contexts.
• Ensure design timelines are met across active projects without sacrificing depth.
• Stay current with design tools and AI-assisted workflows.

Skills

Graphic design

Visual identity

Typography

Design systems

Motion design

Leadership

Communication

Conceptual thinking

Project management

Creative direction

Tools

Adobe Creative Suite

After Effects

Illustrator

Job description

BGSTR is seeking a Design Director to lead and elevate the graphic design practice within our studio. This is a senior creative role for a designer who is, first and foremost, an exceptional graphic designer—one who brings deep expertise in visual identity, typography, composition, and design systems, and who understands how those disciplines come to life in motion.

The Design Director sets the visual standard for our work - defining the design language, typography, and graphic logic that underlie everything BGSTR produces. The right candidate thinks in systems and expresses them with precision, wit, and craft. They are a designer who has developed a genuine fluency in motion as a medium, understanding how graphic principles translate across time and interaction without losing their integrity.

Typography is a particular strength. The Design Director has a sophisticated command of type - its history, its rules, and when and how to break them. They approach type not as decoration but as architecture: the structural backbone of any great piece of visual communication.

This is a full-time staff position with benefits. The role is primarily on-site in our NYC studio Monday through Thursday, with the option to work remotely on Fridays.

Responsibilities

• Define and lead the graphic design direction across multiple simultaneous projects - establishing visual language, typography systems, color, composition, and overall design logic from concept through final delivery.
• Set and uphold the design standard at BGSTR, ensuring every project reflects a high level of craft, intentionality, and visual intelligence.
• Work closely with Creative Directors, Art Directors, and Motion Designers to ensure graphic design principles are faithfully and compellingly expressed in motion - informing how design systems behave, move, and communicate across time.
• Lead and develop the design team: provide clear, substantive creative direction; mentor designers at all levels; and build a culture of rigor, curiosity, and craft.
• Drive concepting and pitch development - shaping the visual strategy and design rationale presented to clients, and leading or co-leading creative presentations.
• Develop comprehensive design systems and brand language that are robust enough to scale and flexible enough to breathe across a wide range of applications and deliverables.
• Bring a typographer’s eye to every project - making decisive, considered choices about type that elevate and define the work, not just support it.
• Collaborate with producers to manage design timelines and ensure quality is maintained across multiple active projects without sacrificing depth or intention.
• Stay current with the evolving landscape of design, type, and emerging tools - including AI-assisted workflows - and bring an informed perspective on how new technologies can push the craft forward at BGSTR.
• Represent and articulate a strong design point of view in every room - with clients, collaborators, and the team.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in graphic design, with a portfolio that demonstrates mastery of visual identity, brand systems, typography, and design direction at a high level.
• A background rooted in graphic design - not motion - with a clear, developed point of view on what makes design work at its best.
• Exceptional typography skills: a deep, working knowledge of type history, type selection, typographic systems, and the expressive power of letterforms in both static and motion contexts.
• Demonstrated experience designing for motion contexts - understanding how graphic systems translate across time, interaction, and screen-based media, and how to brief and collaborate effectively with motion designers and animators.
• Proven ability to lead and develop design teams, providing the kind of creative feedback that makes work better and people grow.
• Strong conceptual thinking - the ability to move from a strategic or editorial brief to a distinct visual point of view, and to articulate that vision compellingly.
• Experience managing and directing multiple projects simultaneously, maintaining quality and creative energy across a full slate of work.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills: able to clearly articulate design decisions and defend creative thinking to clients and internal stakeholders at all levels.
• Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign); working knowledge of After Effects and motion design workflows strongly preferred.
• Awareness of and genuine curiosity about emerging tools and technologies - including AI-assisted creative workflows - and a clear point of view on how they can enhance, rather than replace, the quality of the work.
• Experience in broadcast, entertainment, or motion-adjacent design is a significant plus.
• Competitive salary commensurate with experience
• Health, dental, and vision insurance coverage