
Associate Creative Director, Design at Kettle (San Francisco Los Angeles Portland OR Austin, TX)
Kettle· San Francisco Los Angeles Portland OR Austin, TX·
Role details
Job description
Kettle is a team of passionate, fearless creatives focused on delivering great products, redefining best-practices, and providing new opportunities for our clients.
We are hiring an Associate Creative Director, Design, to oversee end-to-end digital website project execution for one of our largest clients, a Bay Area based creative tech company. In this embedded role, you’ll partner directly with our clients to design world-class digital experiences that both adhere to established standards and push the creative in new directions. You’ll be hands-on in the work as an experienced designer, while guiding other Designers and Art Directors in your pod as a project lead. If the term conceptual digital design resonates with you, along with detailed execution, then this role may be a fit.
These roles require team members to be onsite 5 days per week, for 2-3 months at a time, for specific projects. At other times during the year, the team is remote.
Candidates should have:
- Significant experience in digital design and art direction, and the ability to create pixel perfect designs while innovating work within a rigorous product environment
- Excellent collaboration and communication skills with cross-functional partners, including design, copy, motion, production, and account partners
- Excellent client collaboration and management skills, with the ability to present design work internally and to senior level clients
- Experience managing or mentoring junior to senior level designers, including formal and informal reviews and other talent development areas
- While not required, bonus if you have experience with similar global creative tech clients
We’d like to know that you can:
- Understand and challenge your clients’ needs across the board to ensure the integrity and excellence of our work
- Be the person the client looks up to be inspired and to get their creative questions asked. Help them understand the team’s perspective and align on the creative North Star
- Explore multiple unique, on-brand creative solutions to answer the brief and encourage your team to do the same
- Guide your team to create own-able experiences for the client through simple and relevant concepts, clear innovative UX, beautiful art direction and on-point tone & voice
- Work with cross-functional leads to prioritize work and resources across engagements based on short and long-term needs
- Consistently demonstrate an expertise in the competitive landscape from a creative standpoint, and stay abreast of design culture and best-in-class creative across channels
- Manage and mentor designers of all levels, helping them chart their career path and provide opportunities to grow
- Embrace challenges, not afraid to get your hands dirty and solution with fellow teammates and clients
The target range of base compensation for this role is $160k - 190k. Actual compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, and location.
Why work at Kettle
- Remote/Hybrid: Remote-first with in-office options in New York, Austin, and Oregon; many roles are listed as fully remote (US-based)
- Culture: Described as “curious, ambitious, always pushing for better,” with a strong emphasis on belonging and inclusion. Rated 3.6/5 on LinkedIn (62 reviews; compensation 3.8, culture 3.6).
- Benefits: Competitive pay, bonus opportunities, monthly digital stipend, generous 401(k) matching, comprehensive healthcare coverage
- Engineering & Design Culture: Heavy use of modern tools (React, Figma, Docker, Jira) and opportunities for senior talent (31% senior-level roles). Open positions include Product Design Director, Copy Intern, Design Intern, and more.