Lead Web Designer & Art Director — Strategic UX Leader

Interactive Strategies; Washington (District of Columbia); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Flexible Spending Account (FSA)

Profit sharing

Vacation/Sick time

Short-term and long-term disability

Life and AD&D insurance

11 paid holidays

401k with company match

New business referral bonus

Job summary

Interactive Strategies in downtown Washington, DC seeks a Lead Web Designer/Art Director to craft experiences that create emotional connections and inspire action. You’ll shape how causes engage audiences with strategic thinking, discovery insights, and compelling design and UX deliverables.

You’ll lead a talented team, mentor junior designers, and collaborate with writers and strategists to develop holistic creative solutions.

Qualifications

• 7+ years in UX and web design.
• Strong portfolio with diverse work.
• Ability to craft multiple visual styles and practical web solutions.
• Experience building logos and brand systems.
• Comfortable pitching to executives and collaborating with writers/strategists.
• Experience mentoring designers.
• Multidimensional skills: illustration, typography, motion, or front-end coding.

Responsibilities

• Shape experiences that connect audiences and drive action.
• Lead and mentor a design team.
• Collaborate with writers and strategists on holistic solutions.
• Present designs to clients and defend creative decisions.

Skills

UX design

Web design

Brand systems

Logo design

Mentoring

Client pitches

Front-end coding

Illustration

Typography

Motion design

Job description

At Interactive Strategies, we don’t just build brands, websites, and marketing campaigns—we help tell the stories that matter. Our work supports organizations tackling some of the world’s biggest challenges, from climate action to public health. We’re looking for a Lead Web Designer/Art Director to craft experiences that create emotional connections and inspire action.

We’re looking for a conceptual designer and visual thinker who can turn strategy into an original creative idea — and then bring that idea to life across a digital experience. You’ll work on everything from early creative exploration and brand expression to website concepts, visual systems, wireframes, and finished page designs. UX matters here, but this is not primarily a UX or product design role. We’re looking for someone whose portfolio demonstrates exceptional visual craft, fresh thinking, and the ability to originate ideas rather than simply extend an existing system.

The strongest candidates will be able to show us how they got from a blank page or strategic insight to a distinctive creative direction — not just how they refined, scaled, or systematized an established brand.

QUALITIES YOU BRING TO THE TABLE

• Creative. You come with imagination and fresh ideas; you create works of art that inspire and engage.
• Strategic. You deliver more than just great design; you craft elegant user experiences that meet our clients’ important goals.
• Innovative. You push boundaries and implement innovative techniques.
• Well-spoken. You can eloquently present your designs to clients and stand behind your ideas.
• Committed. You’re committed to valuing diversity and contributing to an inclusive working and learning environment.
• Passionate. You love what you do and are looking to work on a team with that same passion.
• Curious. You’re constantly seeking out new techniques and approaches to advance your skills.
• Friendly. You’re a people person who enjoys collaborating and works well with others.

Requirements

• You have 7+ years of experience in visual, digital, web, brand, or art direction roles, ideally in an agency or similarly fast-paced creative environment.
• Your portfolio demonstrates original concept development and exceptional visual craft.
• You can translate a strategic idea into a distinctive visual direction and carry that idea through a complete digital experience.
• You have strong web design experience and understand UX fundamentals, information hierarchy, responsive design, and how creative decisions affect usability.
• You have experience developing or meaningfully shaping visual identities, including typography, color, imagery, graphic language, and other brand elements.
• You can explain the thinking behind your work and confidently present creative concepts and design rationale to clients.
• You are collaborative and have demonstrated experience working with writers and strategists to develop holistic creative solutions.
• You have experience mentoring junior designers and raising the creative bar for a team.
• Bonus points for another creative strength such as illustration, typography, motion, or photography.

What we want to see in your portfolio: Show us work where you helped create the idea, not just execute it. We’re especially interested in hearing how you shaped a brand or creative direction, or transformed a strategic insight into something unexpected and memorable.

Our company culture is built around a simple belief: Everyone deserves to come to work and be happy. We value quality, creativity, and innovation while helping employees grow and build on their strengths. We believe work should be enjoyable, and we respect the importance of life outside the office. In that spirit, we offer the following benefits:

• Company-sponsored health, vision and dental insurance
• Pre-tax Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
• Profit sharing
• 4 weeks of vacation/sick time from day one; 5+ weeks at year 3
• Company-paid short-term and long-term disability
• Company-paid life and AD&D insurance
• 11 paid holidays
• 401k with company match
• New business referral bonus

Annual Compensation: $90,000 – $130,000

A little about us

We're a well-respected interactive agency in downtown Washington, DC, known for deep strategic thinking. We strive to cultivate a collaborative, innovative environment where people feel valued, respected, and free to push creative boundaries—all while finding balance between work, home, and life outside the office.

Interactive Strategies is a certified LGBTBE and equal opportunity employer that values workplace diversity. We believe that diverse voices and viewpoints are critical to producing great work and helping our clients represent themselves effectively.