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Design Director Jobs in Renton, WA (NOW HIRING)

As Senior Director of Datacenter Design, you will lead a global team responsible for all data hall design for OCI. This role is responsible for leading the team consisting of design engineers ...

Sr. Director, Product Design

Seattle, WA ยท On-site

$216K - $297K/yr

Our design operations folks remove barriers, enable us to all do our best work, and build connections within and without the team. Together, we are a team that designs together, one that empowers and ...

Sr. Director, Product Design

Seattle, WA ยท On-site

$216K - $297K/yr

Our design operations folks remove barriers, enable us to all do our best work, and build connections within and without the team. Together, we are a team that designs together, one that empowers and ...

Our design operations folks remove barriers, enable us to all do our best work, and build connections within and without the team. Together, we are a team that designs together, one that empowers and ...

Apply Early

Director of Design Quality is a hands-on hardware quality leader who believes that quality must be designed in, not inspected out. You will build and lead the Design Quality function from the ground ...

Director of Design Quality is a hands-on hardware quality leader who believes that quality must be designed in, not inspected out. You will build and lead the Design Quality function from the ground ...

Director of Turbomachinery

Seattle, WA ยท On-site

$225K - $275K/yr

By leveraging modular design, manufacturing scale, efficient drilling, and latent cooling on the ... As Director of Turbomachinery, you will set the technical direction for turbine and pump ...

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Design Director information

See Renton, WA salary details

$41.8K

$153.3K

$274.4K

How much do design director jobs pay per year?

As of Jun 30, 2026, the average yearly pay for design director in Renton, WA is $153,332.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $123,700.00 and $184,100.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is the highest paying job in design?

The highest paying roles in design often include Creative Directors, UX Directors, and Design Executives, with salaries exceeding six figures, especially in large corporations or tech companies. These positions typically require extensive experience, leadership skills, and proficiency with design tools and strategic planning.

How much is the salary of a creative director?

The salary of a creative director typically ranges from $85,000 to $180,000 annually, depending on experience, industry, and location. Senior creative directors or those in large companies may earn higher compensation, often including bonuses and benefits.

What jobs can DT get you?

A Design Director can qualify you for senior creative leadership roles such as Creative Director, Art Director, or Brand Director. These positions typically involve overseeing design teams, developing visual strategies, and managing large-scale projects, often requiring strong skills in design software and project management. Experience in branding, user experience, and a portfolio demonstrating leadership are also important for advancement.

How does a Design Director typically collaborate with cross-functional teams to drive project success?

As a Design Director, you will regularly work with product managers, engineers, marketing teams, and other stakeholders to ensure that design solutions align with business goals and user needs. This role often involves leading design reviews, facilitating brainstorming sessions, and providing clear feedback to your team. Effective communication and the ability to advocate for design principles are essential, as you'll need to balance creative vision with practical constraints. Being proactive in building relationships across departments helps streamline workflows and fosters a collaborative environment that leads to successful project outcomes.

What is the difference between Design Director vs Art Director?

AspectDesign DirectorArt Director
ResponsibilitiesOversees overall design strategy, manages multiple projects, and leads design teamsFocuses on visual style, aesthetics, and execution of specific projects or campaigns
Required SkillsLeadership, strategic planning, broad design expertiseVisual creativity, technical skills, attention to detail
Work EnvironmentTypically in corporate, agency, or large studio settingsOften in advertising, media, or entertainment industries
Common UsageUsed when referring to senior design leadership rolesUsed for roles focused on visual and artistic direction

The main difference between a Design Director and an Art Director lies in scope and focus. A Design Director oversees overall design strategy and manages teams across multiple projects, while an Art Director concentrates on the visual style and execution of specific projects. Both roles require strong design skills, but the Design Director's responsibilities are broader and more strategic.

What does a Design Director do?

A Design Director oversees the creative vision and direction of design projects within an organization, leading design teams and collaborating with other departments. They are responsible for setting design standards, ensuring quality, and aligning visual strategies with business goals, often using tools like Adobe Creative Suite or Sketch. Strong leadership, communication skills, and experience in design are essential for this role.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a Design Director, and why are they important?

To thrive as a Design Director, you need deep expertise in design principles, visual communication, and leadership, often supported by a degree in design or a related field and significant industry experience. Mastery of design software such as Adobe Creative Suite, Figma, and project management tools is essential, along with experience in overseeing brand and creative strategy. Exceptional communication, creative vision, and team leadership skills distinguish top performers in this role. These capabilities are crucial for delivering cohesive design solutions, inspiring creative teams, and ensuring alignment with business objectives.
What are the most commonly searched types of Design jobs in Renton, WA? The most popular types of Design jobs in Renton, WA are:
What job categories do people searching Design Director jobs in Renton, WA look for? The top searched job categories for Design Director jobs in Renton, WA are:
What cities near Renton, WA are hiring for Design Director jobs? Cities near Renton, WA with the most Design Director job openings:
Infographic showing various Design Director job openings in Renton, WA as of June 2026, with employment types broken down into 77% Full Time, 20% Part Time, and 3% Contract. Highlights an 85% Physical, 5% Hybrid, and 10% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $153,332 per year, or $73.7 per hour.
Director of Design Technology

Director of Design Technology

The Trade Desk

Bellevue, WA โ€ข On-site

Other

Posted 5 days ago


Job description

ย 
Who We Are Looking For
ย 
The Trade Desk is seeking an innovative Director of Design Technology to lead theย technical design practice within our global UX Design organization. This is a seniorย leadership role responsible for shaping the tools, systems, AI capabilities, andย engineering workflows that power how our design team creates and scales world-classย product experiences.
The Trade Desk is transforming the way advertising is bought, sold, and consumed as aย global leader in the programmatic industry. As this industry continues to evolve, you andย your team will play a critical role in bridging the worlds of design and engineering -ย ensuring our platform remains not only powerful, but intuitive, elegant, and highlyย effective for advertisers and agency partners. Our industry is complicated, but we don'tย believe our platform should be.
As Director of Design Technology, you will play a critical role in shaping our designย system - contributing deep technical expertise to its evolution while partnering closelyย with the team that owns it. You will also lead our prototyping infrastructure and AIย tooling strategy, enabling our designers to move faster and ship with greater confidence.ย You will bring a rare combination of design sensibility, engineering rigor, and a genuineย passion for emerging AI technologies - from generative UI and LLM-assisted workflowsย to intelligent automation across the design lifecycle.ย You will serve as a strategic partner to Product, Engineering, and UX Leadership - not
only advocating for design craft but building the technical foundation that makesย excellence possible at scale. This role reports directly to the Vice President of UX Designย and is a key member of the UX leadership team at The Trade Desk.
ย 
What You Will Be Doing

As Director of Design Technology at The Trade Desk, you will:
Shape & Advance the Design System
Play a critical role in shaping the evolution of The Trade Desk's UX design system,ย bringing deep technical expertise and a strong point of view on scalability,ย consistency, and adoption
Collaborate closely with the design system's owners to influence tokenย architecture, component governance, and versioning strategy
Champion design-to-code pipelines that reduce friction between design and front-ย end development teams
Contribute to and help maintain the shared component library, ensuring itย reflects the highest standard of craft across all product surfacesย Lead AI Capabilities, Innovation & Tooling
Serve as the UX Design team's primary strategist and practitioner for AI-assistedย design workflows, setting direction across tooling, automation, and generativeย capabilities
Evaluate, pilot, and implement AI tools across the design lifecycle - from ideationย and wireframing to UI generation, copy assistance, and automated design QA
Build and maintain an AI tooling roadmap that keeps the design team ahead ofย the curve on LLM-powered prototyping, layout generation, and intelligent designย systems
Partner with engineering and data science teams to explore how AI capabilitiesย within The Trade Desk platform can be surfaced through smarter, more intuitiveย UX patterns
Develop internal frameworks and playbooks for responsible, effective AI use inย design - balancing innovation with quality, consistency, and accessibility
Identify opportunities to automate repetitive design and documentation tasks,ย freeing the team to focus on high-value creative and strategic work
Stay current with the rapidly evolving AI tooling landscape - including Figma AI,ย Cursor, v0, and generative image and video tools - and make timely, evidence-based recommendations to leadershipย Drive Cross-Functional Influence
Act as the primary liaison between Design, Engineering, and Product to ensureย technical feasibility and design integrity across all initiatives
Lead and mentor a team of design technologists, prototypers, and front-end-fluentย designers
Partner with engineering leadership to align on shared APIs, componentย standards, and documentation practices
Evaluate the broader design tool ecosystem and make strategic recommendationsย on tooling investment and migration
Build deep trust with senior leaders and serve as a thought partner on designย technology strategyย Ensure Design Excellence at Scale
Set and uphold the technical quality bar for design deliverables, prototypes, andย production hand-offs
Develop best practices for high-fidelity and functional prototyping, including data-ย connected and AI-powered prototype experiences
Drive workflow improvements that measurably increase design team velocity andย output quality
Champion accessibility, responsive design, and multi-platform implementationย standards across all design work
Conduct design technology reviews and provide high-level strategic guidance onย implementation approachย Operational Leadership
Establish and optimize design technology processes that scale across teams andย geographies
Lead through rapid growth, evolving product demands, and cross-teamย dependencies
Measure and communicate the impact of design tooling and AI adoption throughย meaningful productivity and quality metrics
Represent the UX Design team's technology perspective in planning cycles andย roadmap discussionsย Industry Presence & Thought Leadership
Represent The Trade Desk at industry events and design technology conferences
Position TTD as a company at the forefront of AI-enabled design practice
Contribute to broader UX and design technology community conversations, open-source tooling, and innovation
ย 
What You Bring to the Table

You are an experienced design technology leader with a proven track record of buildingย the systems, tools, and AI-powered workflows that enable great design teams to do theirย best work. You possess a strong technical foundation, a genuine design sensibility, andย the strategic thinking to connect tooling investment to real business and user outcomes.
You are driven by craft, energized by emerging technology, and skilled at leadingย through influence in complex, cross-functional organizations.
Bachelor's degree in Design, Computer Science, Interaction Design, or a relatedย field (Master's preferred)
10+ years of experience in design technology, design engineering, or a closelyย related discipline
5+ years in a leadership or management role overseeing design technology orย design systems teams
Deep expertise in Figma - including variables, advanced components, Dev Mode,ย and Figma AI features
Strong proficiency in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript - able to read, write, andย critique front-end code with confidence
Proven track record building and scaling design systems across large, complexย enterprise or platform-based products
Demonstrated hands-on experience with AI tools in a design context - includingย generative UI, LLM-assisted workflows, and AI-powered prototyping
Strong executive presence with experience presenting to VP-level and seniorย leadership
Exceptional communication and storytelling skills with the ability to translateย technical concepts for design audiences and design thinking for engineeringย teams
Experience leading multi-disciplinary teams across design technology,ย prototyping, and front-end design
Deep understanding of systems thinking and scalable design infrastructure
Ability to navigate ambiguity and drive clarity in complex, fast-movingย environments
Working knowledge of machine learning concepts as they apply to UX -ย including intelligent defaults, predictive UI, and model-assisted design decisionsย (preferred)
Experience in adtech, martech, or enterprise SaaS with complex data-denseย interfaces (preferred)
Contributions to open-source design tooling or published design systemย documentation (preferred)
Portfolio demonstrating design system leadership, AI tooling strategy, andย measurable impact on team productivity and product quality
ย 
Why This Role Matters

At The Trade Desk, each opportunity to engage a consumer is unique. Our platformย provides advertisers and agencies with extraordinary power to describe and reach theirย target audiences. As that power grows, so does the responsibility to make it usable,ย intuitive, and elegant.ย  Design technology is not just infrastructure - it is the foundation on which great designย is built, scaled, and delivered. And AI is rapidly changing what that foundation can do.ย  As Director of Design Technology, you will shape the future of how our UX team works,ย influence the direction of our platform, and build a design technology practice that setsย the standard for the industry. If you are energized by the intersection of design craft,ย engineering excellence, and the transformative potential of AI - this is your role.

The Trade Desk does not accept unsolicited resumes from search firm recruiters. Fees will not be paid in the event a candidate submitted by a recruiter without an agreement in place is hired; such resumes will be deemed the sole property of The Trade Desk. The Trade Desk is an equal opportunity employer. All aspects of employment will be based on merit, competence, performance, and business needs. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, marital status, age, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic information, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other status protected under federal, state, or local law.

[LA JOBS ONLY] The Trade Desk will consider qualified applicants with criminal histories for employment in a manner consistent with the requirements of the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring, Ordinance No. 184652.

[SF JOBS ONLY] Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.