--- title: 'Director, Design at Darkroom' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/director-design-darkroom-portugal-xvh42bejefw9' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-10-19' --- # Director, Design at Darkroom - **Company:** Darkroom - **Location:** Portugal - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** remote - **Posted:** 2026-04-10 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-19 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/darkroom/2d5e30d6-c04b-4a0f-bb1d-0af8e177db4b ## Job description ## About Darkroom Darkroom is the leading next-generation growth marketing firm engineering the brands of tomorrow. Founded in 2017, we set out to redefine what a modern agency could be, by replacing the inertia of legacy advertising behemoths with a model built for speed, intelligence, and measurable impact. At our core, Darkroom is a human services company powered by Shadow, a universal AI commerce layer that integrates executive-level strategy with proprietary agentic technology. This fusion enables our teams to deliver outsized returns by enhancing creative output, operational efficiency, and revenue generation across every stage of the customer journey. Our track record speaks for itself: billions in attributable revenue driven across e-commerce marketplaces, media networks, DTC ecosystems, and social commerce platforms. Every engagement feeds into our proprietary data infrastructure, enabling a continuous feedback loop that accelerates growth, improves margins, and compounds results across our client portfolio. What began as a boutique design studio has evolved into one of the fastest-growing private companies in America (Inc. 5000) and among the most effective performance media agencies of the 2020s (Varos). Our founders were recognized by Forbes 30 Under 30 for advancing the intersection of technology, marketing, and advertising, cementing Darkroom’s role as a defining player in the future of media innovation. ## About the role We are hiring a Design Director - a visionary leader with a strong design background who thrives in driving high-quality design execution across various platforms as well as managing creative talent. You’ll combine strategic oversight with hands-on involvement, ensuring that every design project meets the highest standards of excellence. This role requires deep experience in branded UI/UX design. You’re a senior-level design lead that can independently own multiple web design engagements simultaneously. Navigating client feedback and pushback is an everyday muscle you successfully work with. You can show deep experience in being able to thread the needle between game-changing UI, conversion-oriented UX, and technical feasibility, all on a tight timeline. Clients are consistently impressed by your knowledge of e-commerce heuristics and how you combine that with unique and branded design. You love working with developers to understand how to make your ideas come to life and sell clients on design solutions and tradeoffs they have to make to complete engagements on-time. You pride yourself on being able to effortlessly spin up a new brand design system for a client that feels differentiated, elevated, and informed by your strategic market analysis. You have consistently merged business thinking with exceptional visual craft into scalable brand identities that work across paid media, retention, web, social, and packaging. In addition to your individual contributor responsibilities, you will report to the Director of Creative and play a key role in guiding a talented team of designers, overseeing the delivery of exceptional designs for paid ads, emails, landing pages, and e-commerce web design. With your deep expertise in UI/UX and brand design, you’ll empower your team to elevate their skills while maintaining a high bar for creative output and attention to detail. This role requires a balance of creativity, business strategy, and leadership in a fast-paced, collaborative environment. You’ll work closely with marketing, product, and development teams to ensure the alignment of design goals with broader business objectives. Your ability to drive creative strategy and manage multiple projects with precision will be essential to your success. Darkroom is a career incubator for ambitious talent looking to operate at the intersection of business, design, and innovation. This is a fully remote role operating in the EST Time Zone and all business is conducted 100% in English. Open to candidates in the following locations: Brazil, Portugal and Spain. Senior Individual Contributor Responsibilities: - Lead 1-3 UI/UX engagements as needed, focusing on creating branded e-commerce websites. - Emphasize branded UI, conversion-focused UX, and clarity in design approaches. - Present design work to clients, explaining design choices based on effective reasoning and UX principles. - Manage design projects independently from discovery to hand-off, adhering to timelines and collaborating with developers to ensure feasibility. - Develop component systems and maintain design guidelines for consistency. Management Responsibilities: - Manage a team of designers, starting with 2-4 direct reports and expanding as the team grows. Provide support in strategy, project management, design feedback, performance evaluation, and handling escalations. - Conduct weekly 1:1s with direct reports to assess client health, offer feedback, and oversee career development. - Ensure high-quality work output from direct reports, focusing on visual craft, UX expertise, and meeting deadlines. - Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including marketers, strategists, developers, and clients, to develop project plans, understand business objectives, and address client issues. - Refine internal processes for client work in coordination with the Director of Creative. Provide training and feedback to enhance the skills of the design team. You Should Apply if this Sounds Like You: - 3-6+ years of senior-level web design experience with e-commerce companies, with at least 1 year of people management experience preferred. Must have experience in responsive web design. - Digital portfolio showcasing web design and branding skills, including color theory, hierarchy, composition, and typography. - Self-motivated, proactive, and detail-oriented with a strong sense of ownership. - Experience collaborating with developers and documenting designs for development hand-off. - Comfortable with client-facing responsibilities in English, including leading discovery calls and resolving client feedback. - Capable of providing constructive internal feedback and guiding direct reports to improve their work. - Ability to tackle ambiguous problems, understand business challenges, design solutions, and execute them effectively. - Proficiency in Figma, including features like Auto Layout, Components, and Variants, is essential. - Experience with Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator) is required. - Bonus: Familiarity with HTML/CSS or frameworks like Tailwind. Working at Darkroom Darkroom is not a typical agency. We are looking for A players who want to build something great. We move fast, think deeply, and expect every team member to bring insight and rigor to everything they touch. We hold a high bar for performance, creativity, and ownership — but we also support each other relentlessly. No egos, no red tape — just world-class talent building something remarkable. We believe in autonomy with accountability, truth over comfort, and outcomes over optics. - Unlimited PTO + Local holidays (Relevant to your hub): Rebooting is part of the work. Take the time you need to stay sharp. - Remote-First Culture: Many roles are fully remote. Employees based in or near our New York or Lisbon HQs are expected to work hybrid with weekly in-office time. Hub locations include the Brazil and Spain. - Parental Leave: Flexible parental leave to support new parents during this important transition. - Growth: Our interdisciplinary model gives every Darkroomer exposure far beyond their core role. Grow your skills, expand your influence, and stay at the forefront of the industry. ## Equal Opportunity Statement Darkroom is an equal opportunity workplace—we are dedicated to equal employment opportunities regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national orientation, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, or Veteran status. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. ## About Darkroom ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Darkroom is a full-service digital growth marketing agency that combines human expertise with a proprietary AI commerce layer (Shadow) to drive measurable revenue for consumer brands across paid media, e-commerce marketplaces, and social commerce. - **Entity Type**: Private (Privately Held) - **Headquarters**: New York, New York, United States - **Founded**: 2017 - **Founders**: Lucas DiPietrantonio (CEO) and Peter Gao (Managing Director, Social Commerce) – both recognized on Forbes 30 Under 30 for their contributions to marketing & advertising [darkroomagency.com/about](https://www.darkroomagency.com/about) ## Core Business - **Primary Industry**: Advertising Services / Digital Marketing - **Target Customers**: Growth-stage consumer brands (B2C) – mid-market to enterprise, including DTC, e-commerce marketplace, and social commerce companies. - **Mission**: “The growth marketing agency built for the AI Era” – focused on delivering trackable revenue growth through a blend of senior human talent and an agentic AI technology stack [darkroomagency.com](https://www.darkroomagency.com/) ## Products & Services Darkroom’s services are organized under five core verticals, each supported by their AI platform Shadow: - **Paid Media Management**: Full-funnel strategies across paid social, connected TV, paid search, programmatic, retail media, and mobile. Manages over $250M in media spend. - **Performance Creative**: Short-form video, UGC, AI-generated ads, static design, and motion graphics – treated as the primary growth lever. - **E-Commerce Marketplace Management**: Amazon and TikTok Shop management including strategy, advertising, creative, inventory, and SEO. - **Retention Marketing**: Email, SMS, and lifecycle campaigns to maximize customer lifetime value. - **AI Marketing (Shadow)**: A universal commerce layer that powers AI search (SEO, GEO, AI search ads), agentic commerce, sentiment analysis, and content creation – deeply embedded into every client team. - **Supporting Offerings**: Growth strategy, conversion rate optimization, website development (Shopify), organic social management, creator program management, design studio, and financial services. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed (privately held) - **Key Metric**: The company has generated over $1B in trackable revenue for clients; manages over $250M in media across channels [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/darkroomagency) - **Notable Investors/Partners**: No external investors (bootstrapped). Clients include **Olipop, TOTEME, Unilever, Amazon, Everlane, Adobe, Sauz, VYBES, Verb Energy**. - **Growth Signals**: - Named to the **Inc. 5000** list of fastest-growing private companies in America. - Employee headcount: **96** (+35.2% YoY) with hubs in **New York, Lisbon, São Paulo, and Barcelona**. - Operates across **17 countries** with a global team. - Active job postings: **28** (though trending down recently) [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/darkroomagency) ## Competitive Advantages - **First AI-native agency**: Shadow is built into every team and workflow, giving clients an integrated human-AI marketing team. - **Top-heavy, senior-first model**: Leadership and senior talent are directly involved in client accounts, ensuring strategic depth. - **Design-grade creative**: One of the few performance agencies with a Chief Creative Officer and in-house design studio, infusing brand-quality creative into performance marketing. - **Omni-channel integration**: Manages all major commerce channels (Amazon, TikTok Shop, DTC, Retail) as one unified program. - **Proven track record**: Billions in client revenue and hundreds of millions in media under management provide proprietary data and insights. ## Strategic Focus - **Scaling the AI platform**: Shadow is being positioned as a universal commerce layer, with investments in agentic commerce, AI search, and automated workflows. - **Global hub expansion**: Growing teams in Lisbon, São Paulo, and Barcelona to access diverse talent and support a 24/5 operational model. - **Deep vertical specialization**: Continuing to concentrate on high-growth consumer verticals (CPG, fashion, beauty, health/wellness) rather than expanding horizontally. - **Productization of services**: Blending services with technology to offer retainer-based and outcome-based partnerships. ## Why Work Here - **Culture**: “Built for the AI future” – employees are expected to work alongside AI tools daily; strong emphasis on output, innovation, and continuous learning. - **Work policy**: Remote-first with physical hubs in New York, Lisbon, São Paulo, and Barcelona. All employees operate on EST time and gather for team meetups and annual company events. - **Perks**: Unlimited PTO (with a minimum of 14 days plus holidays), 401k with company match, medical/dental/vision for US employees, performance bonuses, and clear internal promotion paths based on results. - **Engineering focus**: The Full Stack Engineer role (Shadow) offers $170K–$200K salary, indicating strong investment in technical talent [indeed.com](https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Darkroom-3). - **Talent base**: High-caliber peers from top agencies (VaynerMedia, Wpromote, Hawke Media) and companies (Accenture, Google). ## Sources 1. [darkroomagency.com](https://www.darkroomagency.com/) 2. [darkroomagency.com/careers](https://www.darkroomagency.com/careers) 3. [darkroomagency.com/about](https://www.darkroomagency.com/about) 4. [linkedin.com/company/darkroomagency](https://www.linkedin.com/company/darkroomagency) 5. [indeed.com/cmp/Darkroom-3](https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Darkroom-3) ## Other roles at Darkroom - [Senior Director, Creative Strategy](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-director-creative-strategy-darkroom-new-york-ptxhy0dqxh7m) — New York, NY - [X Writer](https://feeny.ai/job/x-writer-darkroom-new-york-q10gp5rg02za) — New York, NY - [AR & Billing Specialist](https://feeny.ai/job/ar-billing-specialist-darkroom-brazil-8epf08ke15ek) — Brazil - [Associate Director, Paid Search](https://feeny.ai/job/associate-director-paid-search-darkroom-new-york-00vdfns1zh8f) — New York, NY - [Editor, Marketing](https://feeny.ai/job/editor-marketing-darkroom-lisbon-766eqgna9h1v) — Lisbon, Portugal - [Designer, Social & Brand](https://feeny.ai/job/designer-social-brand-darkroom-brazil-bkgayabkb0cw) — Brazil - [X Writer](https://feeny.ai/job/x-writer-darkroom-brazil-9w5qtga02qkk) — Brazil - [Partnerships, Webinars & Events Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/partnerships-webinars-events-manager-darkroom-brazil-g2zsv4c5wk57) — Brazil - [Marketing Ops Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/marketing-ops-manager-darkroom-brazil-krsna052z193) — Brazil - [Creator Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/creator-manager-darkroom-portugal-2t4exdwshekw) — Portugal