Design Lead

Department: Creative Marketing

Employment Type: Permanent - Full Time

Location: Head Office, New York

Compensation: $125,000 - $135,000 / year

ELEMIS are looking for a Design Lead who will translate the Global Creative vision into the North America market. Sitting with our Marketing department and reporting to the Director of Omnichannel Marketing, this role line manages one direct report who is a Designer, as well as other freelance design support. You'll also work alongside a Marketing Operations Project Manager who is a valuable support to ensure optimal planning and delivery.

The purpose of the role is to translate the brand and commercial strategy into consistent creative assets across DTC, Amazon, CRM, paid media, retail, Spa and Salon, and sales and education channels. The Design Lead will leverage Global Brand Guidelines, assets and toolkits to lead local projects from brief through execution, direct the work of the Designer and creative partners, and maintain consistent and compelling brand storytelling.

The ideal candidate combines strong conceptual thinking with exceptional design judgment and a practical understanding of how creative must flex across brand-building and performance environments. This person is comfortable representing the global brand vision, making decisions, presenting work and rolling up their sleeves to design.

• Lead the adaptation of global brand campaigns into the US, inclusive of hero franchises, brand initiatives, seasonal moments and always-on marketing.
• Own design direction for local tentpole moments from initial idea through final delivery across design, photography, video, retouching and digital content.
• Translate tentpole briefs, consumer insights, product claims and channel objectives into clear creative concepts, key visuals and scalable design systems.
• Collaborate with Global Creative Team (based in London) to inform and execute global brand vision, supporting a test-and-learn culture across the Design ecosystem.
• Deliver design output for priority work and establish the standard for how ideas are executed across touchpoints.
• Coach and mentor your Designer, provide specific and actionable feedback, support their development.
• Partner with Copy to build cohesive visual and verbal storytelling and ensure that every execution ladders to one clear campaign idea.
• Collaborate with the Creative and Marketing Operations Manager on scoping, resourcing, scheduling, workflow and use of freelance or agency support.
• Lead creative preparation and direction for GWP and promotional shoots; oversee selects, retouching, editing and final asset quality.
• Adapt global creative for the US market and develop original local assets that are fit for purpose in the US market.
• Present concepts and creative recommendations to senior and cross-functional stakeholders with a clear rationale grounded in strategy.
• Maintain brand standards while evolving the work to remain culturally current, channel appropriate and distinctive within prestige skincare.
• Apply performance insights, testing results and platform best practices to strengthen creative effectiveness over time.
• Stay current on design, beauty, retail, digital, social, motion and emerging production tools, including responsible use of AI-enabled workflows.

• Portfolio demonstrating integrated campaign designs across digital, e-commerce, social, CRM, paid media, retail and photography or video.
• Strong command of typography
  , composition, color, image-making, motion principles and visual systems.
• Expert on the tools
  :
  Adobe Creative Suite, Figma, After Effects and/or Premier; experience with Jira a plus.
• Experience engaging with photographers, stylists, retouchers, editors, freelancers or agencies.
• People leader who is comfortable to mentoring team members, building capability and supporting development.
• Receptive of feedback and supports the decision making process by presenting creative choices and navigate stakeholder feedback.
• Prioritises workload by managing multiple work streams and balance creative ambition with timing, budget and channel constraints.
• Luxury brand sensitivity, advocates for elevated brand experiences and promotes refinement in deliverables.
• In-house creative team experience within an omnichannel organization.
• Understanding of beauty claims
  , product storytelling and the balance between scientific credibility and emotional expression.
• Use of performance data and creative testing across acquisition and…