Creative Director, Experience Design

80Twenty is a boutique creative recruitment agency that connects high-growth companies with exceptional candidates.

About the Company
Our client is an established, independent brand and experience agency headquartered in New York City. With over three decades of expertise, they partner with complex, high-stakes organizations across financial services, higher education, professional services, and technology. Their work spans brand strategy, digital platforms, and integrated experience design — delivered for clients who operate in industries where trust, clarity, and long-term relationships define success. The agency is known for a rigorous, human-centered approach to brand and experience, and a culture built on craft, collaboration, and intellectual curiosity.

About the Role
This is a creative leadership role — not a UX or production role. The Creative Director, Experience Design exists to close the gap between brand idea and digital experience, ensuring that what is promised in strategy comes alive across websites, customer journeys, content systems, and interactions. Reporting to the Chief Creative Officer, this CD will define the creative north star for each engagement and hold creative integrity from concept through launch. The role requires digital fluency and strong brand instincts, but the primary strength must be creative leadership and conceptual thinking, not UX execution.

Key Responsibilities

Lead conceptual development across brand, web, and CX programs — establishing the creative north star for each engagement

Translate brand platforms into experiential, visual, and narrative systems that scale across digital touchpoints

Shape tone, mood, interaction feel, and experience personality; define the emotional arc of user journeys and interactions

Direct motion language — transitions, reveals, and micro-interactions — that bring brand ideas to life

Review and shape wireframes and prototypes for narrative alignment and creative integrity

Partner with the UX/UI Lead, who owns IA, flows, and interface, to ensure ideas scale into structure without losing creative intent

Collaborate with writers on messaging, narrative, and tone of voice across all deliverables

Present and sell creative vision to senior decision-makers and clients with confidence and persuasion

Maintain creative fidelity through the design-to-development handoff and QA process

Mentor designers, elevate creative craft, and help shape a culture built on clarity, rigor, and collaboration

Qualifications

8–15+ years in brand, digital, or integrated creative roles with a portfolio demonstrating conceptual excellence and experiential thinking

Demonstrated ability to direct the emotional flow of user journeys and shape interaction and motion language

Comfortable reviewing Figma files, prototypes, and digital layouts; able to provide meaningful creative feedback on interface and interaction patterns

Strong understanding of responsive behavior, component systems, and what is buildable — and where to push for creative ambition

Experience leading brand systems and digital experiences end-to-end, from concept through launch

Clear communicator with C-suite presence and strong presentation and storytelling skills

Collaborative leader who can work across disciplines — UX, content, and engineering — without losing creative authority

Commitment to accessibility, simplicity, and user clarity as core creative principles

Base salary: $175,000 – $225,000 (flexible and commensurate with experience)

New York, NY — Hybrid

Full benefits package; details available upon engagement

#J-18808-Ljbffr