Design Director, Brand & Marketing at Perplexity AI · San…

ABOUT THE ROLE We're looking for a Design Director to lead Perplexity's Brand and Marketing design team. You'll manage a team of designers across brand, web, motion, and enterprise marketing — and be responsible for the quality, consistency, and creative ambition of everything the brand puts into the world. This person would focus mostly on operations, stakeholdership, and creative strategy alignment, while working alongside our Creative Director who will continue to own the visual centers and art direction of the day to day projects. You'll report to the Head of Design and work closely with Growth, Comms, Partnerships, and Product Marketing. WHAT YOU'LL DO - Lead and manage the Brand design team — currently ~8 people across brand, motion, web, enterprise marketing, and ambassadors - Own hiring, team development, and career growth for the Brand org - Own and define the long-term brand strategy, including the brand vision, narrative, and guidelines, ensuring design output aligns with overall company business objectives. - Partner with the Creative Director on maintaining visual quality and brand coherence across all touchpoints - Run the operating model for Brand's involvement in launches, campaigns, partnerships, and GTM moments - Build a production workflow that keeps up with Perplexity's speed without sacrificing craft - Be the point of contact for cross-functional partners — Comms, Product Marketing, Partnerships, Events — so requests are triaged, scoped, and delivered - Manage vendor relationships, contractors, and external agencies where needed - Help shape the brand's creative ambition as the company scales WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR - Experience leading a brand or marketing design team of 5+ people at a consumer tech company - Strong people management instincts — you know how to develop designers, give honest feedback, and build a team that's greater than the sum of its parts - Operational strength — you can build intake processes, manage capacity, and keep a fast-moving team organized without creating bureaucracy - Good creative taste and enough design fluency to earn the team's respect, even if you're not the one pushing pixels day-to-day - Experience partnering with comms, marketing, and GTM teams on launches and campaigns - Comfort working alongside a strong Creative Director — this role is about enabling great creative work, not competing with it