Design Director

VirtuHire; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 600,000 - 1,000,000; Full time

Job summary

VirtuHire in Cape Town is seeking a highly experienced design professional for a future-facing leadership role. The position involves leading creative direction, managing team output, and aligning with the founder's vision in a boutique studio setting. While currently loosely defined, the role emphasizes strong leadership capability and quality control within high-performance projects, making it essential to fit the founder's design philosophy. Details around exact responsibilities and team structure will be developed following other hiring priorities.

Qualifications

• Highly experienced design professional required for leadership role.
• Strong leadership capability within a boutique, high-performance environment.
• Ability to align closely with the founder’s design philosophy and working style.

Responsibilities

• Lead creative direction and manage team output.
• Responsible for team oversight and project quality control.
• Define the role in terms of strategic and hands-on design involvement.

Job description

Client Overview

A Cape Town-based luxury interior design studio specialising in high-end hospitality and residential environments. The studio operates with a boutique structure and places strong emphasis on creative leadership, design excellence, and close alignment with its founder’s vision.

Role Summary

This is a future-facing leadership role and not the immediate hiring priority. The position will require a highly experienced design professional capable of leading creative direction, managing team output, and aligning closely with the founder’s vision and studio standards.

The role is currently loosely defined, as the existing function evolved organically within the business. A more structured brief will be developed following the completion of current hiring priorities.

Key Considerations (Preliminary)

• Will require strong leadership capability within a boutique, high-performance environment
• Likely responsible for team oversight, creative direction, and project quality control
• Must align closely with the founder’s design philosophy and working style
• Personality fit and leadership approach will be critical

Next Steps / Role Definition

• Further scoping required around:
• First 3–6 month deliverables
• Team structure and management expectations
• Strategic vs hands‑on design involvement
• This is expected to be a niche search requiring careful calibration