Design Director, Metalab
CA$180-220k
More information about location
Product & interface design studio
Open for applications
Product & interface design studio
201-500 employees
Open for applications
CA$180-220k
More information about location
201-500 employees
Company mission
To help everyone from tiny early-stage startups to Fortune 500 companies build products that are simple, beautiful, and easy to use.
Role
Who you are
- You thrive in ambiguity, bring strategic thinking to complex challenges, and elevate the work through deep expertise in product design, brand, and storytelling
- UX Design: You define UX quality standards, push teams toward innovation, and drive best practices across research, strategy, and execution
- Visual Design: You champion high-quality visual execution, identifying trends and emerging technologies like 3D, spatial design, and new tooling
- Product Strategy: You ensure design work aligns with overarching product roadmaps, release strategies, and market positioning
- Critique & Collaboration: You guide teams in fostering a culture of constructive critique, both internally and with clients
- Research: You leverage qualitative and quantitative data to inform and validate design decisions
- Content Design: You advocate for clear, compelling communication that aligns with brand strategy and user experience
- Selling Design: You craft compelling narratives that help clients understand and buy into design decisions
- Vision: You lead teams in developing experience concepts, balancing business goals, user needs, and innovation
- Creative Direction: You ensure the strategic and creative impact of all projects, guiding teams through execution and client presentations
- Systems Design: You define scalable design systems, ensuring usability, adoption, and long-term maintainability
- Brand Strategy: You confidently lead brand workshops and strategy sessions, guiding clients toward compelling creative directions
- Proven experience managing and mentoring design teams through complex challenges while maintaining high-quality output
- Strong communication and presentation skills, with the ability to align and influence diverse stakeholders
- Experience collaborating with cross-functional teams to drive business priorities and deliver tangible value
- Active engagement in the design community, sharing insights through articles, panels, and thought leadership
- A passion for inclusive design practices and fostering a collaborative team environment
- Knowledge of change management and service design principles
- Strategic thinking, with the ability to contribute to business development and client relationship-building
What the job involves
- As a Design Director, you’ll play a pivotal role in shaping the quality of our work and nurturing the talent of our design team
- You will lead with vision, balancing execution with mentorship to ensure teams deliver outstanding, high-impact design solutions
- You’ll collaborate closely with cross-functional partners, driving both business and user value while setting a clear standard for design excellence
- As a leader, you’ll advocate for high-quality, user-centered design and ensure Metalab continues to be at the forefront of digital innovation
- Balance leadership with hands-on design execution, working alongside teams to create and ship exceptional work
- Apply deep expertise in product design, design systems, product strategy, and human-centered design to guide and refine work
- Actively contribute to raising the bar for design excellence, providing clear and actionable feedback to project teams
- Partner with Account Directors to align design strategies with client business priorities, ensuring impactful results
- Act as a trusted design advisor, leading clients through the design process and helping them navigate challenges
- Present work effectively to stakeholders, securing buy-in and managing feedback from diverse groups
- Apply service design and change management principles to refine Metalab’s design recommendations
- Work with the Partnerships team to scope design work and provide strategic insights on business development opportunities
- Build strong client relationships, developing a distinct Metalab point of view on design direction and execution
- Foster a collaborative, inclusive, and high-performance design culture
- Partner with Metalab leadership to drive engagement and maintain a strong company culture
- Hire, mentor, and develop Design Leads, ensuring a strong pipeline of leadership within the design team
- Represent Metalab in the design community, attracting top talent and new business opportunities
Our take
MetaLab, founded in 2006, has established itself as one of the most respected design studios in the industry. Since its inception, the company has designed products for some of the biggest names in tech and entertainment, including Apple, Google, Disney, Uber, TED, Tinder, Slack, and Headspace.
The company's story is especially remarkable considering its founder, Andrew Wilkinson, was just 20 years old when he launched MetaLab.Since then, Wilkinson has gone on to achieve significant success with Flow, a task management SaaS company and Tiny Capital, a tech-focused holding group.
MetaLab's continued success is a testament to its ability to adapt to a constantly evolving design landscape. Recent projects, including work for sports media startup The Athletic and meditation app Waking Up, showcase Metalab's ongoing growth in the design industry.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
1% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Company benefits
- Remote & IRL: We've been doing remote work since '06 and wouldn't have it any other way — and make space for quality time in-person to stay connected
- 4.5 day weeks We take half-day Fridays because there's life outside of work
- Unlimited time off: Unlimited PTO (really). We want everyone to be healthy and get time to give back
- Zero timesheets: We are focused on the results and quality of our work — not on counting hours
- Learning & Growth: Custom opportunities to invest in your career growth
- Flex hours & locations: For a schedule that's one-size-fits-you
- Equity program: Make an impact on the world's leading products and sometimes have a stake in them, too
- Health & wellness coverage: Both mental and physical benefits so you can be your best on and off the screen
- Parental leave: We give 16 weeks of paid and protected leave for primary caregivers
Company HQ
Downtown, Victoria, BC
Leadership
Luke Des Cotes
(CEO)Initially joined Metalab in 2015 as a Client Partner, since then, they have worked in a number of roles, becoming CEO in 2023. Previously they worked as an Account Executive at TBA Digital and as a Busines Development Manager at Red Label Communications.
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