Lead Designer (AI)

About Nextiva

Nextiva is an AI-first company delivering one connected experience from first click to daily use. We serve over 100,000 businesses, and the brand is how most of them meet us. We recently launched a full rebrand — new identity, new visual system, new voice — and we're still in the early stages of rolling it out across every surface and channel.

We're building a marketing team that works differently. AI isn't an experiment for us. It's the default.

About the Role

You'll run day-to-day creative production for Nextiva's marketing department — and fundamentally change how it gets done.

This is a hands-on leadership role. You execute on landing pages, campaign assets, ad creative, video, and brand storytelling — working within the creative direction set by the Creative Director and CMO. But the real job is applying your taste, creativity, and judgment to AI so that the output exceeds what either could produce alone. AI on its own produces average work. You make it exceptional — and in doing so, you automate the mundane creative tasks that used to require headcount, so we can scale campaigns and marketing efforts without growing the team.

Your work starts in AI. Ideas get explored in Claude or Cursor before they ever touch a design application. You use Cursor or Claude to build landing pages, prototype workflows, and ship creative prototypes in code. 

You'll manage a small team of designers and videographers, mentor them on AI-native workflows, and keep the Creative Director and CMO aligned on progress, priorities, and output quality.

We're looking for someone whose taste and creative instincts are what make AI work above average — someone who can take direction, bring real creative thinking to AI-driven workflows, elevate the output, and keep the team moving every day.

What You'll Do

• Design and produce high-quality creative across marketing. Execute on landing pages, campaign creative, digital ads, email, video, and brand moments. Stay close to the work. Concept it, review it, and push it until it meets the bar..
• Build AI-first creative workflows. Redesign how creative gets produced — from ideation through final delivery. Use AI for concepting, copywriting, and creative exploration. Use AI to build and ship pages, assets, and tools. Automate the repetitive production work — ad variations, asset resizing, template-based builds — so the team spends its time on creative decisions, not mechanical ones.
• Manage and develop the creative team. Run the team day-to-day with a strong player-coach approach. Manage and assign work, unblock people, and keep projects on track. Onboard the team to AI-native tools and processes. Set the expectation that AI-generated work is the starting point, not the finish line and show them what it looks like to refine it to a high standard.
• Define what great AI-assisted creative looks like. Document workflows, prompts, and patterns that produce consistently strong results. Share them across the team and the broader marketing org. Raise the bar for everyone, not just your direct reports.
• Steward and expand the brand. We've recently launched a new brand identity. You'll be responsible for maintaining it, enforcing consistency as it rolls out across more surfaces, and expanding the system with considered, tasteful additions as needs arise. New templates, new asset types, new channels — all should feel like they belong to the same brand.
• Connect creative output to business results. Partner with growth, demand gen, and product marketing to ensure creative work drives awareness, engagement, and pipeline. Use performance data to refine direction. Balance speed and experimentation with intentional quality.
• Scale creative output without scaling the team. Create repeatable, AI-driven processes for producing brand-consistent creative at volume. The goal is to multiply what a small team can deliver — more campaigns, more channels, more variations — without adding headcount. Define review standards, asset templates, and production workflows that make this possible.

What You Need

• Proven creative leadership in a marketing, brand, or agency environment — you've led teams and stayed hands-on in the work
• Strong design taste and visual judgment — you know what great looks like and you push until you get there
• Fluency in Cursor and Claude as primary creative tools — you use them daily to build, not just brainstorm
• Experience producing marketing creative: landing pages, digital ads, campaign assets, brand design, video
• A portfolio of functioning projects you've built with AI tools — not static mockups or visual comps. We want to see working landing pages, live tools, shipped creative, or interactive prototypes. Show us what you've made that actually runs.
• Comfort working in code — you don't need to be an engineer, but you can build and ship a working page in Cursor without one
• A builder mindset — you improve systems and processes, not just individual deliverables
• Clear communication and the ability to take creative direction from senior leadership and translate it into team execution
• Comfort moving fast, iterating in the open, and treating feedback as fuel

Nice to Have

• Experience working within an established brand system — maintaining consistency, extending it thoughtfully, and knowing when to push boundaries vs. hold the line
• Familiarity with design systems, tokens, or component libraries
• Background in B2B SaaS, tech, or high-growth environments
• Experience evaluating and adopting new creative technology for a team
• Interest in motion design, video production, or interactive storytelling

Why This Role

Most companies are still debating whether to use AI in creative. You'll be building the playbook. You'll have direct access to senior leadership, a clear mandate to rethink how things are done, and a team ready to move. The work you produce will be visible — every landing page, every campaign, every brand moment.

This is a role for someone who wants to define what AI-native creative looks like at a company that's already committed to it.

Nextiva DNA (Core Competencies)

Nextiva’s most successful team members share common traits and behaviors:

• Drives Results: Action-oriented problem solvers who quickly bring clarity and simplicity to ambiguity, challenge the status quo, and lead meaningful change; celebrating wins to fuel momentum. They act swiftly and pragmatically, learning and improving as they go.
• Critical Thinker: Data-driven, forward-thinking individuals who identify key drivers, anticipate risks, and deliver clear recommendations. They confidently leverage AI and automation to reduce friction, improve decision-making, and focus on higher-value work.
• Right Attitude: Collaborative, competitive, and resilient team players who jump in to solve tough problems, learn from setbacks, and foster a culture of service, respect, and care for customers and teammates.

Our Total Rewards offerings are designed to allow Nexties to take care of themselves and their families so they can be their best, in and out of the office. 

Our compensation packages are tailored to each role and candidate's qualifications. We consider a wide range of factors, including skills, experience, training, and certifications, when determining compensation. We aim to offer competitive salaries or wages that reflect the value you bring to our team. Depending on the position, compensation may include base salary and/or hourly wages, incentives, or bonuses. 

• 🍏 Health: Multiple health plan options to suit your needs, including medical, dental, vision, and telemedicine coverage 
• 💼 Insurance: Life, disability, and supplemental indemnity plans 
• ⚖️ Work-Life Balance: Flexible Time Off for salaried employees, PTO for hourly employees, Paid Sick Time, Paid Parental Bonding Leave, and holiday pay
• 💰 Financial Security: 401(k) with company match, Health Savings Accounts with company contributions, Dependent Care FSA 
• 🤸‍ Wellness: Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and comprehensive wellness initiatives 
• 🌱 Growth: Access to ongoing learning and development opportunities and career advancement 

At Nextiva, we're committed to supporting our employees' health, well-being, and professional growth. Join us and build a rewarding career!  

Nextiva is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. Nextiva participates in the E-Verify Program where and as required by law. For additional information about E-Verify visit USCIS. 

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