Design Director

Job SummaryBGSTR is seeking a Design Director to lead and elevate the graphic design practice within our studio. This is a senior creative role for a designer who is, first and foremost, an exceptional graphic designer—one who brings deep expertise in visual identity, typography, composition, and design systems, and who understands how those disciplines come to life in motion.The Design Director sets the visual standard for our work — defining the design language, typography, and graphic logic that underlie everything BGSTR produces. The right candidate thinks in systems andexpresses them with precision, wit, and craft. They are a designer who has developed a genuine fluency in motion as a medium, understanding how graphic principles translate across time and interaction without losing their integrity.Typography is a particular strength. The Design Director has a sophisticated command of type — its history, its rules, and when and how to break them. They approach type not as decoration but as architecture: the structural backbone of any great piece of visual communication.This is a full-time staff position with benefits. The role is primarily on-site in our NYC studio Monday through Thursday, with the option to work remotely on Fridays.Responsibilities• Define and lead the graphic design direction across multiple simultaneous projects — establishingvisual language, typography systems, color, composition, and overall design logic from conceptthrough final delivery.• Set and uphold the design standard at BGSTR, ensuring every project reflects a high level of craft,intentionality, and visual intelligence.• Work closely with Creative Directors, Art Directors, and Motion Designers to ensure graphic designprinciples are faithfully and compellingly expressed in motion — informing how design systemsbehave, move, and communicate across time.• Lead and develop the design team: provide clear, substantive creative direction; mentor designersat all levels; and build a culture of rigor, curiosity, and craft.• Drive concepting and pitch development — shaping the visual strategy and design rationalepresented to clients, and leading or co-leading creative presentations.• Develop comprehensive design systems and brand language that are robust enough to scale andflexible enough to breathe across a wide range of applications and deliverables.• Bring a typographer’s eye to every project — making decisive, considered choices about type thatelevate and define the work, not just support it.• Collaborate with producers to manage design timelines and ensure quality is maintained acrossmultiple active projects without sacrificing depth or intention.BGSTR Motion Design & Production | 547 West 27th Street, New York, NY 10001 | 212.563.3939 | bgstr.com• Stay current with the evolving landscape of design, type, and emerging tools — includingAI-assisted workflows — and bring an informed perspective on how new technologies can pushthe craft forward at BGSTR.• Represent and articulate a strong design point of view in every room — with clients, collaborators,and the team.Requirements• 8+ years of experience in graphic design, with a portfolio that demonstrates mastery of visualidentity, brand systems, typography, and design direction at a high level.• A background rooted in graphic design — not motion — with a clear, developed point of view onwhat makes design work at its best.• Exceptional typography skills: a deep, working knowledge of type history, type selection,typographic systems, and the expressive power of letterforms in both static and motion contexts.• Demonstrated experience designing for motion contexts — understanding how graphic systemstranslate across time, interaction, and screen-based media, and how to brief and collaborateeffectively with motion designers and animators.• Proven ability to lead and develop design teams, providing the kind of creative feedback thatmakes work better and people grow.• Strong conceptual thinking — the ability to move from a strategic or editorial brief to a distinctvisual point of view, and to articulate that vision compellingly.• Experience managing and directing multiple projects simultaneously, maintaining quality andcreative energy across a full slate of work.• Excellent communication and presentation skills: able to clearly articulate design decisions anddefend creative thinking to clients and internal stakeholders at all levels.• Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign); working knowledge of AfterEffects and motion design workflows strongly preferred.• Awareness of and genuine curiosity about emerging tools and technologies — includingAI-assisted creative workflows — and a clear point of view on how they can enhance, rather thanreplace, the quality of the work.• Experience in broadcast, entertainment, or motion-adjacent design is a significant plus.Benefits & Perks• Competitive salary commensurate with experience• Health, dental, and vision insurance coverage• Retirement plan with 3% Company Match• Flexible vacation and paid time off• Reimbursement for continuing education• Health & wellness perks• Holiday pay