Design Director (UI)

Job Description:

ROLE:

DESIGN DIRECTOR (UI) CRAFT LEAD

LOCATION:

BANGALORE/PUNE

ABOUT MERKLE

At Merkle, we empower the world's leading brands to create distinctly better experiences.

We are a team of dreamers, doers, and deliverers. We create exciting and meaningful customer-centric digital experiences for our clients.

Merkle is a leading Digital Transformation partner, specialising in the delivery of unique, personalised customer experiences across platforms and devices.

To us CX means choreographing customer interactions, from clicks and swipes into moments of value. It means fusing art and science to design, build, and continuously shape these moments into memorable experiences and personal, meaningful relationships.

We are champions for meaningful progress, and we strive to be a force for good—for our people, for our clients, for the industry and for our society. We keep our people at the centre, creating space for growth, understanding, and learning so they can thrive.

We embed diversity, in our mindset, in our solutions and in our teams to empower an inclusive, equitable and culturally fluent environment. Building this culture within our teams makes us better collaborators with each other and with our clients, driving better outcomes for all.

POSITION OVERVIEW

Design Directors at Merkle are craft leaders. They are focused on building experience visions, growing talent, and supporting teams capable of serving the needs of Merkle and our clients and their customers. 

As a Design Director, you will be part of the overall design leadership team and help define, design, and implement our overall design team strategy. You will build upon insights, working with cross-functional teams and clients to create experiences that establish and strengthen relationships and deliver incredible experiences. 

The Design Director brings out the best in the individuals and teams they lead. They understand the motivations and needs of their team members as well as business opportunities and align them for the greatest positive impact. You will spend most of your time leading large-scale design projects, while also focusing on mentoring the growth of your direct reports and growth of your client work. 

They support the Experience Design Lead of the India Studios, in applicable management areas, are accountable for overall performance of their key accounts, including active involvement in performance management and improving the craft satisfaction and engagement scores – all helping to influence the Merkle direction, produce world class work and deliver highly effective, best practice experiences, platforms, and products. 
As the leader of our India UI craft, you will create and enforce a structured approach to visual design, design systems, and emerging practices such as motion design, AI-driven interfaces, and rapid prototyping. You’ll collaborate closely with UX, Product, and Engineering teams worldwide to deliver seamless, world-class experiences that combine craft excellence with innovation.

ABOUT THE WORK

The team is a highly skilled and cross-functional practitioners of their crafts who are passionate about pushing boundaries, evolving best practices and delivering exceptional experiences.

We are looking for someone who loves working with designers, analysts, strategists, developers and directly with clients to help them to bring amazing ideas to life. You'll also be constantly learning about new techniques and approaches that we can bring to our clients.

ABOUT YOU

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Lead the delivery of world-class work and bring excellent experiences to life

Responsibilities

• Centre of Excellence Leadership
  • Establish the UI studio as a hub for visual craft, design systems, and innovation.
  • Define standards and governance for UI consistency across products and platforms.
  • Champion new practices including AI-driven design, generative workflows, and motion design as part of the craft toolkit.
  • Mentor and grow a team of UI designers, elevating capabilities across visual and interactive design.

• Project & Delivery Leadership
  • Partner with UX, Product, and Engineering to translate insights into visually compelling, functional interfaces.
  • Drive the creation and maintenance of scalable design systems and component libraries.
  • Oversee the delivery of high-quality UI artefacts: style guides, prototypes, animation specs, and motion principles.
  • Embed accessibility, responsiveness, and emerging best practices into every design.

• Collaboration & Communication
  • Facilitate rapid prototyping and design experiments to quickly validate ideas.
  • Collaborate with global teams to align on visual direction and ensure consistent implementation across markets.
  • Present design rationale and visual concepts persuasively to stakeholders and clients.

DESIRED SKILLS & EXPERIENCE

• 10+ years in UI/Visual Design or related fields, with at least 2+ years in a leadership role.
• Strong portfolio showcasing visual design excellence, motion/interaction design, and systems thinking, with pixel-perfect craft and a vision of where Ai will intersect.
• Experience delivering large-scale, multi-platform digital products in agency or consultancy contexts
• Strong track record delivering outstanding, high-value work  
• Experience in managing portfolios of work across clients/teams/projects 
• Demonstratable capability in broad experience or visual design concepts  
• Demonstrated storytelling and presentation skills 
• Experience working directly with clients and managing relationships  
• Experience in balancing the delivery and day-to-day direction of various projects across clients/teams/projects  
• Strong business acumen and significant skill explaining the value of various design outcomes and approaches  
• Ability to identify opportunities for client growth and build client relationships Stakeholder management and consulting skills to engender an understanding of the design process with clients.  
• Minimum three years working in an agency, consultancy or applicable industry environment 

Leadership

• Track record of operating in and contributing to the growth of high performing teams and mentoring design talent within large teams  
• Ability to create a culture of craft excellence, experimentation, and innovation.
• Comfortable managing stakeholders across geographies and time zones.
• Strong ability to coach and mentor, growing and managing craft team members  
• Experience

INTERESTED?

We love meeting passionate designers!

If this role sounds exciting, we’d love you to consider even if you don’t feel you meet 100% of the description or qualifications.

Just send us your CV, portfolio and anything else that you think we would find interesting – and if we think we would like working together then we will give you a call.

“At Dentsu, a diverse and inclusive culture enables our employees to bring their whole selves to work, and be proud of doing so. For us, this is the foundation for great innovation which, in turn, generates better outcomes for our people, partners and communities. This is why we encourage applications from people with disabilities, and of all ages, nationalities, backgrounds and cultures”

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