Design Director Jobs in Kansas (NOW HIRING)

Job Location: Salina, Kansas

About Us

Pure Imagination Studios started in 2012 as a diversified entertainment company built by a team of creators who shared a true passion for storytelling. We thrive on imagination, and everything we do is set to bring a tangible experience to anything our clients, partners and even ourselves, are able to imagine. We believe that pure imagination should be the fuel to our reality.

Pure Imagination Labs designs immersive, interactive experiences that make complex training and simulation intuitive, purposeful, and fun. Our projects blend real-time systems, tactile interfaces, and narrative framing to support education, decision-making, teamwork, and user engagement in high-stakes scenarios. We take the best of game design and apply it to real-world learning environments that demand more than just entertainment. The environments are dynamic, the challenges are varied, and the work is as rewarding as it is technically ambitious.

Overview

Pure Imagination Labs' Experience Design Director maintains the creative vision across experiences, translating stakeholder intent and instructional goals into structured guest journeys, tone guides, and interaction maps. Collaborates with cross-functional teams to ensure narrative clarity, emotional pacing, and decision-making flow are preserved from concept to execution. Evaluates scripts, content, and guest-facing media for creative and instructional accuracy. Supports install validation to ensure on-site delivery matches intended experience design.

Responsibilities

• Interpret and maintain the creative vision of project stakeholders, ensuring clarity and consistency across narrative, tone, emotional pacing, and guest flow—particularly in enterprise contexts where engagement, learning, or behavioral outcomes are key.
• Support the translation of instructional goals and scenario content into guest journeys, interaction flows, and experience maps that guide execution across physical and digital modalities.
• Collaborate with technical teams to align creative goals with implementation realities across hardware, software, and physical environments.
• Work closely with writers, instructional designers, designers, and media teams to ensure all guest-facing elements reflect the intended vision and contribute to a clear, goal-driven experience.
• Review scripts, treatments, and environment content for alignment with both creative tone and instructional accuracy, providing feedback grounded in guest comprehension and engagement.
• Create and maintain experience documentation such as scenario maps, guest flow diagrams, tone guides, and interaction breakdowns that clearly communicate intent to technical and production teams.
• Participate in reviews and walkthroughs to assess guest comprehension, emotional pacing, and the clarity of decision-making or learning outcomes; provide actionable, insight-driven feedback.
• Identify opportunities to refine or extend guest-facing content while preserving the intent of the established creative and instructional framework.
• Support production in balancing creative fidelity and content accuracy during implementation, especially in cross-disciplinary or high-complexity builds.
• Attend on-site installs and rehearsals to validate creative execution and experiential clarity in simulated or instructional environments.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Basic Qualifications

• Associate’s degree or equivalent from two-year college/technical school required.
• Bachelor’s degree from a four-year college or university is preferred or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Minimum 7 to 10 years of experience designing and/or creatively executing immersive experiences for public or professional audiences, including location-based entertainment, enterprise training, or simulation-based environments.
• Experience with upholding a defined creative and instructional vision through all stages of development, with sensitivity to stakeholders, SME, and institutional priorities.
• Solid expertise in evaluating scenario-based content for clarity, emotional pacing, and guest comprehension in training and entertainment settings.
• Strong collaboration and communication skills; able to align creative, technical, production, and SME teams in service of a unified experience.
• Proficient in tools such as Miro, Figma, Adobe Creative Suite, or similar for experience design and documentation.

Additional Qualifications

• Proven ability to convert creative direction and learning goals into structured experience documentation, such as flow diagrams, tone guides, and interaction models, that drive cross-functional implementation.
• Experience with hybrid digital-physical environments and the production realities of simulation, instructional, or experiential media.
• Experience contributing to content across multiple modalities—physical environments, screen-based interactions, and interactive simulations.
• Experience working with linear media workflows (e.g., narrative video, motion graphics, media encoding, or editorial review).
• Flexibility to travel for live staging, install support, and on-site experience validation.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to interact effectively with internal teams, external vendors, and other stakeholders.
• Ability to handle sensitive information with confidentiality and professionalism.

o Hybrid: This position has been designated as hybrid, generally contributing from the office a minimum of four days per week.

o Required Residence: This candidate must live or reside in the state of Kansas; or relocate within six (6) months of offered employment.

o Required Travel: This candidate is required to travel up to 15% for specific project installations.

The base pay actually offered will take into account internal equity and also may vary depending on the candidate’s geographic region, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience among other factors. This position is eligible for company sponsored benefits, including medical, dental and vision insurance, 401(k), medical leave, and a variety of other perks. A bonus and incentive plan may be provided as part of the compensation package, dependent on the level and position offered.

Learn more about the opportunities offered by Pure Imagination by visiting the Careers page of the company website.

Annual Salary: $140,000 (bonus eligible)

Pure Imagination Studios is an equal opportunity employer (EOE).