Retail Experience Design Director Jobs (NOW HIRING)

We are the connected marketing agency, a full-service agency with modern creative & media, data, and technology services all under one roof.

We are connected in the way we think and the way we work. At the heart of our company are great people that we call Unicorns. Our Unicorns are open, bold, and curious and love to solve complex problems for clients in unique ways.

Our AI team sits at the cutting edge of digital transformation, powering new solutions with data and technology, and our AI design team execute great work in the smartest way possible. We are passionate about transforming ideas into results as we constantly negotiate, organize, and understand the ever-changing landscape of digital marketing and technology.

This role focuses on building, scaling, and governing a cohesive design system for our suite of AI-powered tools, primarily used across internal platforms but also packaged as client-facing products. You’ll define the foundational patterns, components, guidelines, and governance that ensure these tools are consistent, usable, accessible, and trustworthy as they grow.

You’ll be part of a team of experience designers across UX, visual design, content, and copy; setting direction, elevating quality, and ensuring system thinking is embedded across all work.

The role is rooted in platform and systems design: establishing shared rules and conventions so AI capabilities behave in predictable, understandable ways across workflows, teams, and use cases. While the primary focus is internal, there will be select opportunities to contribute to client-facing work.

• Help define and evolve system-level patterns, components, and guidelines for AI interactions and behaviors
• Apply and extend standards that support consistency and scalability across tools and teams
• Partner with design and product leads to support system governance and ongoing iteration
• Contribute to documentation, usage guidance, and system adoption across the organization

• Play a central role within a multidisciplinary design team across UX and Visual Design
• Support and mentor designers through system thinking, best practices, and hands‑on collaboration
• Help set direction and shared expectations for system‑led design work in a fast‑changing AI landscape
• Contribute to maintaining high craft, cohesion, and quality across design outputs

• Develop shared interaction models for generative and assistive capabilities
• Ensure AI features integrate cleanly into existing tools and workflows
• Design human‑in‑the‑loop patterns as a core system principle

• Integrate ethical safeguards, transparency, and accessibility into system standards
• Design guardrails that reduce bias, misuse, and over‑automation
• Improve clarity, comprehension, and cognitive ease across AI experiences

• Collaborate closely with product, engineering, and leadership
• Align system decisions with technical constraints and business goals
• Champion system consistency over one‑off solutions

• 8+ years of experience as a product or experience designer (hybrid UX/UI)
• Strong experience contributing to platforms, products, or design systems at scale
• Experience collaborating within multidisciplinary teams across UX, visual, and content
• Experience designing complex systems, components, and tools

• Hands‑on experience designing AI‑powered products, features, or capabilities
• Comfort treating AI as a system‑level capability, not a feature
• Understanding of human‑in‑the‑loop design

• Experience embedding ethics and accessibility into design thinking and execution
• Strong design judgment in ambiguous, fast‑moving environments
• Clear communicator who can influence cross‑functional partners

Our Publicis Groupe motto “Viva La Différence” means we’re better together, and we believe that our differences make us stronger. It means we honor and celebrate all identities, across all facets of intersectionality, and it underpins all that we do as an organization. We are focused on fostering belonging and creating equitable & inclusive experiences for all talent.

Publicis Groupe provides robust and inclusive benefit programs and policies to support the evolving and diverse needs of our talent and enable every person to grow and thrive. Our benefits package includes medical coverage, dental, vision, disability, 401K, as well as parental and family care leave, family forming assistance, tuition reimbursement, and flexible time off.

If you require accommodation or assistance with the application or onboarding process specifically, please contact USMSTACompliance@publicis.com.

Compensation Range to reflect each location - Chicago: $106,780- $153,405; Boston: $106,780 - $163,632; New York: $106,780 - $170,937 annually. This is the pay range the Company believes it will pay for this position at the time of this posting. Consistent with applicable law, compensation will be determined based on the skills, qualifications, and experience of the applicant along with the requirements of the position, and the Company reserves the right to modify this pay range at any time. Temporary roles may be eligible to participate in our freelancer/temporary employee medical plan through a third‑party benefits administration system once certain criteria have been met. Temporary roles may also qualify for participation in our 401(k) plan after eligibility criteria have been met. For regular roles, the Company will offer medical coverage, dental, vision, disability, 401k, and paid time off.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.