Brand & Product Design Director at Metalab

Companies looking to make a meaningful impact on the world partner with Metalab to develop innovative products that enhance lives, transform markets, and influence culture.

As Executive Brand & Product Design Director, you will play a pivotal role in shaping Metalab’s creative direction across brand, experience, and product design.

You will establish and champion exceptional creative standards throughout the organization, provide strategic leadership, and ensure that outstanding brand and product design remain central to the company’s work, culture, and continued growth.

You will mentor and develop fellow design leaders, strengthen the organization’s approach to creative excellence, and guide clients and internal teams through significant, high-profile brand and product design projects.

Alongside your leadership responsibilities, you will also contribute directly to design work, bringing your expertise and creative vision to every engagement.

You are a strategic thinker who understands the relationship between brand and product, communicates compelling ideas through storytelling, and builds trusted partnerships across disciplines.

Your background includes extensive experience in product design, brand strategy and identity, experiential design, and organizational leadership. You know how to bring these disciplines together to create meaningful impact and drive results at scale.

At Metalab, senior creative leadership goes beyond providing direction. It requires active involvement and a commitment to leading by example.

You will balance strategic oversight with hands-on participation in client projects, working alongside teams to establish high standards for creativity, execution, and strategic thinking within the broader Design Leadership team.

By remaining actively involved in real-world projects, you will continuously strengthen your craft, demonstrate best practices, and contribute to the innovative, high-quality design work that defines Metalab.

What You’ll Do

Lead Through Creative Excellence

Establish and continuously refine Metalab’s vision for product and brand design, ensuring consistency and alignment across teams and client engagements.

Mentor senior design leaders and project teams by providing practical feedback, professional guidance, and support for long-term career development.

Demonstrate creative excellence through your own contributions, stepping into hands-on design work when necessary and openly sharing your ideas and expertise.

Go beyond directing exceptional work by actively creating it. As one of the organization’s most senior creative contributors, bring your design expertise to pitches, presentations, reviews, and active projects, ensuring every deliverable meets the highest creative standards.

Shape Design Strategy and Delivery

Take ownership of creative quality across the design department, delivering clear, constructive feedback that strengthens execution and raises overall design standards.

Provide strategic direction for brand and product design engagements, ensuring projects consistently deliver on client expectations and business objectives.

Develop, oversee, and refine integrated brand systems that connect seamlessly with product experiences.

Explore new creative possibilities through motion, 3D, and interaction design, creating engaging and immersive brand experiences within digital products.

Facilitate cross-functional design reviews, strengthen the culture of constructive critique, and help teams improve their storytelling, systems thinking, and creative execution.

Build strategic relationships with clients, working closely with founders and executive stakeholders to define, strengthen, and expand their brands for digital-first markets.

Drive Organizational Growth and Influence

Work closely with design leadership, including the Chief Design Officer, to shape the department’s strategic priorities, operational direction, and overall creative vision.

Collaborate with the Partnerships team on business development opportunities, developing compelling and forward-thinking creative concepts for client pitches.

Coordinate team capacity and available resources to identify and showcase outstanding creative work that supports the company’s marketing and promotional initiatives.

Partner with design leaders to improve internal processes for recruitment, performance feedback, professional development, and career advancement across brand and product design teams.

Represent Metalab within the wider design community through industry engagement, thought leadership, publications, and speaking opportunities.

Lead client accounts by maintaining exceptional creative standards, strengthening client relationships, and identifying opportunities for long-term business growth.

What You Bring

• A minimum of 12 years of professional experience in brand and product design, creative direction, or digital design leadership within a digital-first organization, including at least 2 years managing design teams at the Senior Director or Executive level.
• The ability to maintain a minimum of four hours of working-hour overlap with Pacific Time (PST), extending up to 12:00 PM PST.
• A forward-thinking design leader with the ability to inspire creative excellence, communicate strategic ideas effectively, and build lasting client relationships. You can balance bold creative thinking with business priorities to develop design solutions that are both innovative and commercially valuable.
• Demonstrated experience leading multidisciplinary teams and delivering large-scale, product-driven brand projects from initial strategy through final execution. Your portfolio showcases exceptional expertise in visual identity, brand systems, and storytelling across digital platforms.
• Strong proficiency in contemporary design tools and emerging AI technologies, alongside a comprehensive understanding of how product-led brands evolve through motion, interaction, and content. You can develop concepts, execute designs, and refine creative work to world-class standards.
• The ability to transform complex concepts into clear, adaptable, and scalable brand and product design systems spanning visual identity, verbal communication, user experiences, and technical implementation. You can guide teams in delivering cohesive experiences across digital interfaces, motion, storytelling, and code.
• Extensive experience presenting ideas to senior executives and influencing key business decisions through persuasive communication, compelling narratives, and strategic storytelling.
• A strong background in cross-functional collaboration with product, engineering, marketing, and executive teams, supported by a systems-oriented approach to connecting experiences across every customer touchpoint.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and facilitation abilities, with the confidence and interpersonal skills to lead workshops, strategic discussions, and multidisciplinary design critiques.
• A thorough understanding of emerging design trends and the changing relationship between brand, product, and experience design within the digital landscape.
• A proven ability to strengthen creative communities through mentorship, meaningful feedback, inclusive leadership, and a commitment to building diverse and equitable teams.
• Active participation in the professional design community through thought leadership, industry writing, events, conferences, or public speaking.
• A genuine passion for developing emerging talent, mentoring creative professionals, and helping shape a progressive, collaborative, and innovative design culture at Metalab.