Design Director

7+ years leading UX, product, and/or experience design work in complex systems. 3+ years leading with demonstrated organization-level strategic thinking and team development capacity. Experience with participatory design methods and cross-functional collaboration. Experience designing interfaces for environmental or spatial data products used in advocacy, civic engagement, or community decision-making. Experience creating accessible interfaces that serve diverse human abilities and contexts. Experience with client and partner relationships, including presenting design work to funders, community organizations, and non-design stakeholders. Experience managing external contractors and translating specialized content into interface design. Strong project management skills with ability to define scopes, timelines, budgets, and maintain stakeholder alignment. Healthy balance of curiosity and discernment in the use of new AI-connected tools, and a demonstrated capacity to experiment, explore, and provide recommendations on new workflows. Track record of navigating ambiguity and designing for long-term change in complex environments (preferred). Experience in game design, speculative futures, or narrative world-building (preferred). Experience bridging multiple disciplines and ways of knowing (preferred). Familiarity with living systems thinking or regenerative design principles (preferred).

Lead design work across projects, with primary focus on the Living Infrastructure Field Kit. Guide participatory design processes that center community knowledge and create space for collaborative intelligence. Design experiences that are intuitive, meaningful, and honor diverse perspectives and cultural contexts. Translate complex environmental and systems data into interfaces that make information visible and actionable. Maintain and evolve the UI kit and design system. Monitor and address design quality issues and visual inconsistencies. Lead collaborative design processes that build collective intelligence and ownership. Coordinate with specialist contractors. Pursue craft with intention, attending to both functional and evocative details. Lead the organization and synthesis of insights from community workshops and stakeholder sessions. Support participatory design processes that center community knowledge and lived experience. Document and synthesize user insights, experience opportunities, and interface needs. Test solutions to improve usability for different stakeholders. Engage stakeholders as collaborators. Present design strategy and progress to partners and community stakeholders. Guide project planning within real-world constraints and resource realities. Measure design impact to ensure solutions support human and ecological wellbeing. Define and track design success metrics. Anticipate potential direct and indirect effects of collective design decisions. Provide functional direction, management, and expertise for your team. Build a collaborative team culture aligned with studio values and regenerative design principles. Support team members' growth in strategic thinking and leadership capacity. Help shape and tend to studio culture through honest communication, engaged caring, and accountability. Balance workload and coordinate across functions. Manage hiring, staffing, and budgets for internal team and external contractors. Define project scopes and manage consultant partnerships. Lead design for the Living Infrastructure Field Kit as primary focus. Contribute to Spherical Lab initiatives. Bridge disciplinary perspectives across projects.