Merlin International Inc

Role Description Merlin is seeking a Director, Creative and Brand to lead the evolution of our brand across all touchpoints—visual, digital, and experiential. This leader will own the creative vision and execution, ensuring a cohesive, differentiated brand that resonates with our audience and supports business growth. This role requires a rare blend of hands-on creative expertise and strategic leadership—someone who can set direction, inspire teams, and execute at a high level across design, digital, and brand systems. Primary Duties & Responsibilities - Brand & Creative Leadership - Define, evolve, and operationalize Merlin’s brand strategy, identity, and visual systems across all touchpoints. - Translate business, product, and marketing objectives into clear, differentiated, and high-impact creative. - Establish and uphold brand standards to ensure consistency and coherence across web, product, campaigns, and content. - Shape how Merlin communicates complex concepts into accessible, compelling narratives that build trust with key audiences. - Design Execution & Oversight - Lead end-to-end creative direction across brand, digital, campaigns, and product marketing initiatives. - Partner cross-functionally with marketing, product, and leadership to concept and deliver effective design solutions. - Set and maintain a high bar for craft, storytelling, and innovation across all outputs. - Provide hands-on creative direction and feedback, ensuring alignment from concept through execution. - Be up-to-date on design trends and the cyber market, including cybersecurity brand design trends. - Experience using AI platforms for design generation and execution at scale (IE, Claude, ChatGPT, etc). - Team Leadership & Management - Build, mentor, and scale a high-performing in-house creative team as the company grows and scales. - Manage and direct external agencies, freelancers, and production partners. - Develop scalable processes, systems, and workflows to support efficient, high-quality creative output. - Foster a culture of collaboration, critique, and continuous improvement. - Build and manage a robust content system of record for design work, digital and marketing assets, and other content deliverables. - Web & Digital Experience - Own the vision, design, and continuous visual optimization of Merlin’s website and digital ecosystem. - Drive conversion-focused design informed by user behavior, analytics, and experimentation. - Ensure digital brand experiences can be effectively consumed and interacted with across a variety of audience channels and touchpoints. - Strategic Impact - Act as a key partner to executive leadership on brand strategy and positioning. - Use insights and performance data to continuously refine creative direction. - Champion the role of design as a core driver of business value. Qualifications - Required - 10–12+ years in brand, creative, or design roles (with leadership experience). - Deep experience in graphic design, visual design, and brand systems. - Strong portfolio demonstrating high-quality, modern, and scalable design work. - Hands-on senior design skills across a variety of content formats and channels. - Proven experience managing both internal creative teams and external partners/contractors. - Track record of mentoring creatives and elevating team performance. - Ability to balance hands-on work with strategic oversight. - Strong experience leading web design and digital experiences. - Fluency in UX/UI principles and modern web best practices. - Experience collaborating with product and engineering teams. - Ability to connect brand and design decisions to business outcomes. - Strong communication and stakeholder management skills. - Comfortable operating in fast-paced, high-growth environments. - Preferred - Experience in Cybersecurity, B2B, SaaS, or tech environments. - Background in designing brand identity systems and B2B content development. - Experience scaling a brand through periods of rapid growth and transformational change. Benefits - Dynamic, collegial, and fun work environment. - Multiple places to work unconstrained by typical office barriers. - Access to an on-site gym. - Medical, dental, and vision insurance along with options for FSA and EAP. - 401(k) with employer match. - Unlimited PTO. - Culture respectful of personal life realities.