
Senior Design Manager
Stellar Development Foundation
full-time
Posted on:
Location Type: Hybrid
Location: San Francisco • California • United States
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Salary
💰 $165,000 - $245,000 per year
Job Level
Tech Stack
About the role
- Take ownership of creative vision and execution across all channels — digital, social, brand campaigns, activations, and events — ensuring every touchpoint reflects the quality, consistency, and visual ambition of the Stellar brand.
- Establish and evolve SDF's visual identity and design system, developing brand guidelines and toolkits that enable consistent, on-brand execution across the entire marketing organization.
- Lead creative output for flagship programs including Meridian 2026 and the Stellar House series, spanning environmental design, event identity, collateral, signage, swag, and digital assets.
- Direct the design and production of integrated marketing creative — including paid digital, organic social, email, web, and campaign assets — ensuring cohesive brand storytelling across all formats.
- Manage and mentor a high-performing design team, providing clear creative direction, actionable feedback, and ongoing development support to elevate both their craft and their impact.
- Own external agency and production vendor relationships end-to-end: briefing, directing, and quality-controlling output across brand, creative, and production partners with minimal supervision.
- Partner with the Sr. Director of Experiential Marketing and cross-functional stakeholders — including communications, developer relations, partnerships, and product marketing — to deliver integrated creative strategies that serve the full funnel.
- Pitch and present creative concepts to leadership with clarity and conviction; translate business objectives into compelling, executable creative strategies.
- Proactively identify and resolve creative bottlenecks; continuously improve team workflows, briefing processes, and production timelines to increase output quality and velocity.
- Bring a broad view of creative excellence — across media, beyond blockchain and fintech — introducing new visual ideas that keep Stellar's brand fresh and ahead of the curve.
- Roll up your sleeves and produce polished, on-brand design work yourself — from concept through final deliverable — across digital, campaign, and experiential contexts. This is a making role as much as a leading one.
Requirements
- 7+ years of design experience, including at least 2 years leading or managing a design team or multi-disciplinary creative function.
- A hands-on design practice you are proud of — you are still producing high-quality work yourself, not only directing and managing others. Your portfolio reflects both your craft and your leadership.
- A portfolio demonstrating excellence across brand identity, digital, campaign, and experiential design — with clear evidence of company-wide creative leadership and high-quality output at scale.
- Deep expertise in building and stewarding brand identity systems — developing guidelines, extending them across channels, and maintaining consistency across a large organization.
- Experience directing creative output across multiple channels simultaneously — digital, social, campaign, environmental, and event — with a strong command of what great looks like in each.
- A track record of owning external agency and vendor relationships end-to-end, from brief through delivery, with high standards for quality and an ability to get the best out of creative partners.
- Expert-level, active proficiency in Figma and Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign) — you use these tools daily, not just in oversight. Comfortable directing motion, video, and production partners.
- Experience driving cross-functional creative work with minimal oversight, including developing creative strategy, presenting to senior leadership, and influencing decisions across the org.
- The ability to write clear, well-structured creative briefs that align stakeholders and get agencies and production partners to the right output efficiently.
- Strong organizational instincts — you can manage multiple workstreams, anticipate risks, and maintain a high creative bar under deadline pressure.
- Genuine curiosity about and working knowledge of the blockchain, fintech, or Web3 space — you understand the audience, the culture, and the opportunity.
Benefits
- Competitive health, dental & vision coverage with most plans covered at 100% for the employee + any dependents
- Flexible time off + 15 company holidays, including a company-wide holiday break
- Up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave for both non-birthing and birthing parents, as well as up to 14 weeks of paid pregnancy leave for birthing parents
- Gym reimbursement ($80 per month)
- Life & ADD (up to $50K)
- Short & Long-term disability
- 401K with 4% match
- Health & Dependent Care FSA Accounts
- Commuter benefits with $250/month employer contribution
- Health Savings Account (HSA) with monthly employer contribution
- Family building benefits through Kindbody
- Wellbeing benefits (One Medical, Rightway, Headspace)
- L&D budget of $1,500/year
- Daily lunch and snacks in the office
- Company retreats
Applicant Tracking System Keywords
Tip: use these terms in your resume and cover letter to boost ATS matches.
Hard Skills & Tools
design experiencebrand identity systemscreative strategycreative directionhigh-quality outputcreative briefsmulti-disciplinary creative functionenvironmental designdigital designcampaign design
Soft Skills
leadershipmentoringorganizational instinctscommunicationproblem-solvingcollaborationcreativitypresentation skillsfeedbackworkflow improvement