Join our team. Design Director

Beardwood is expanding our design team with a Design Director. Send portfolios to Design@beardwood.com with Design Director in the subject line.

This is an opportunity work directly in partnership with the new Creative Director to shape the future of our agency, design output, and grow your creative leadership.

The Work
01 Drive strategically grounded creative.
Lead the development of iconic world-class conceptual and executional work — Brand Worlds and Big Creative Ideas rooted in strategy — across industries, deliverables, and clients, without compromising on craft, originality, or ambition. Stay ahead of technology and trends and bring that fluency into the work.

02 Own client relationships.
Build and lead strong, successful relationships with clients and internal teams that grow the business. Be the person clients seek out for strategic perspective — a trusted creative advisor, not just an executor.

03 Champion design excellence.
Oversee quality and pixel perfection from concept through production, ensuring work is original, ownable, functional in the real world, and delivered on time and on budget.

The Design Team
01 Support and grow designers through thoughtful leadership and mentorship.
Oversee and lead designers at all levels (freelance or full-time) do their best work through clear feedback, goal setting, personalized guidance and skill development. Foster ownership and autonomy while maintaining quality standards and ensuring everyone's contributions align with project goals.

02 Foster design team culture.
Actively shape the design team culture by unifying and energizing designers both in and out of projects. Create opportunities for connection, knowledge sharing, and team building that strengthen relationships and cultivate a supportive, collaborative environment.

The Culture and Process
01 Drive cross disciplinary collaboration.
Lead and collaborate across Account, Strategy, Finance, Ops, Marketing, and the Co-CEOs. Elevate strategy outputs through open collaboration, constructive feedback, storytelling, and visualization, and partner with Account to build internal and external timelines grounded in real client scopes.

02 Champion AI leadership and new ways of working.
Set the agency's vision for how AI and emerging technology reshape the way we think, create, and work. Build a culture where experimentation is expected and where new tools are evaluated for their ability to deepen creative ambition rather than just speed up execution. Ensure AI is integrated as a genuine creative advantage, not a bolt-on efficiency play.

The Business
01 Managing and building scopes for new business opportunities.
Actively contribute to how we approach, scope, and price potential projects - developing timelines, reviewing pricing matrices, shaping proposals and understanding profitability, especially if there are clients or opportunities that you’re already involved in or interested in.

02 Active participation in pov development.
Play an active role in new business by uncovering client challenges, identifying strategic opportunities, and shaping perspectives that link business impact to brand growth in ways that excite prospective clients.

03 Support Business goals and health.
Gain clarity on budgets and annual targets, and actively contribute to achieving them. Drive growth through strategic resourcing support, process optimization, and intentional decisions about how work is scoped and delivered.