Brand & Marketing Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Brand & Marketing Designer

Company: Guild.ai

Location: San Francisco, California, United States (Remote option available)

Job Type: FULL_TIME

Category: Marketing Operations / Brand & Design

Date Posted: May 14, 2026

Experience Level: Senior (8+ years)

Remote Status: Hybrid (Remote option for US-based candidates)

🚀 Role Summary

• This role is critical for defining and executing the visual identity and brand narrative for Guild.ai, a company building the control plane for AI agents.

• The Brand & Marketing Designer will own design across all marketing touchpoints, including website, product storytelling, campaigns, and lifecycle marketing.

• A key differentiator for this role is the expectation to leverage AI tools extensively within the core design workflow for ideation, iteration, content generation, and scaling creative output.

• The position requires a strong understanding of designing for technical or developer-focused products and the ability to translate complex concepts into clear, compelling visual narratives.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the title is "Brand & Marketing Designer," the responsibilities and required skills, particularly the emphasis on growth, conversion data, and lifecycle marketing, indicate a strong leaning towards a Growth Design or Product Marketing Design function within a B2B SaaS context. The "AI-first design role" aspect is a significant differentiator.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Own the design and ongoing evolution of the Guild.ai website, ensuring it effectively communicates product capabilities and drives conversions.

• Translate complex product features and technical concepts into clear, intuitive visual storytelling for landing pages, product flows, and interactive elements.

• Design high-impact visual assets for marketing campaigns, product launches, and announcements across various channels (e.g., LinkedIn, X, email).

• Create high-performing visuals for paid and organic growth experiments, rapidly prototyping and shipping creative for A/B testing.

• Design and optimize email and lifecycle marketing experiences (onboarding, activation, retention) to improve engagement and conversion rates.

• Develop and maintain scalable design templates and systems for CRM tools and marketing automation platforms.

• Utilize AI tools (image, video, copy, prototyping) to accelerate the design process, generate creative assets, and explore new design directions.

• Develop repeatable systems and workflows for generating and iterating on creative content at scale, pushing the boundaries of speed and quality in an AI-native marketing context.

• Evolve Guild's overall visual identity and brand guidelines, ensuring consistency across all digital and communication touchpoints.

• Build and maintain a flexible design system specifically for marketing and growth initiatives.

• Collaborate closely with product and engineering teams to align marketing experiences with product realities and contribute to the narrative of a new category (AI agent control plane).

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities clearly outline a broad scope, encompassing not just visual design but also strategic input into messaging, positioning, and the overall narrative for a new category in AI. The emphasis on "AI-first" workflow suggests a need for a candidate who is not only a skilled designer but also an early adopter and innovator in leveraging AI for creative output.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: No specific degree mentioned, but a strong portfolio demonstrating equivalent experience and expertise is paramount.

Experience: 8+ years of experience in marketing design, product marketing design, or growth design, with a focus on technical or developer-focused products.

Required Skills:

• Proven track record in web design and owning website evolution, with a focus on conversion optimization.

• Strong portfolio showcasing expertise in brand identity development, campaign design, and visual storytelling.

• Demonstrated ability to simplify complex technical concepts into clear, compelling visual narratives.

• Hands-on experience designing for technical products, developer tools, or infrastructure.

• Clear evidence of integrating and utilizing AI tools (e.g., Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, ChatGPT for copy ideation, AI-powered prototyping tools) within a design workflow.

• Proficiency with modern design tools, including Figma.

• Experience with web development/design platforms such as Webflow or Framer.

• Familiarity with CRM and lifecycle marketing tools (e.g., HubSpot, Salesforce, Customer.io) and designing for these platforms.

• High taste level, ability to work at high velocity, and meticulous attention to detail.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience in the AI, developer tools, or infrastructure product space.

• Proficiency in motion graphics, interaction design, or 3D design.

• Experience working with early-stage startups or in category-defining product environments.

• Familiarity with data analysis and using user behavior/conversion data to inform design decisions.

📝 Enhancement Note: The requirement for 8+ years of experience, combined with the broad scope and "AI-first" mandate, positions this as a senior-level individual contributor role with significant strategic influence. The emphasis on technical products and AI tools suggests a need for a designer who is comfortable in a fast-paced, technically sophisticated environment.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• A strong portfolio demonstrating a breadth of work across web design, brand identity, and campaign collateral.

• Specific case studies that highlight the candidate's ability to translate complex technical concepts into clear, engaging visual narratives for B2B audiences.

• Clear documentation of how AI tools were integrated into the design process for specific projects, detailing the impact on ideation, iteration, and output quality.

• Examples of website redesigns or landing page optimizations that show a data-driven approach, including evidence of improved conversion rates or user engagement metrics.

Process Documentation:

• Examples of workflow design and optimization for creative production, particularly how AI has been used to streamline these processes.

• Documentation of how design decisions were informed by user behavior, A/B testing results, or conversion data.

• Evidence of building and maintaining scalable templates or systems within CRM or marketing automation platforms.

• Case studies that illustrate rapid prototyping and iteration cycles for marketing experiments.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a role emphasizing "AI-first" workflows and high velocity, the portfolio must not only showcase aesthetic quality but also strategic thinking, process efficiency, and measurable impact. Demonstrating the practical application of AI in design and an understanding of conversion-focused design principles will be crucial.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Given the senior experience level (8+ years), location (San Francisco/Bay Area), and the specialized nature of AI and technical product design, a competitive salary range is expected. For a Brand & Marketing Designer in San Francisco with this experience, the estimated range could be between $140,000 - $190,000 annually.

Benefits:

• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance.

• Stock options or equity, common for early-stage startups.

• Flexible work arrangements, including remote options for US-based employees.

• Opportunities for professional development and learning, especially in emerging AI design tools and methodologies.

• Generous paid time off (PTO) and holiday schedule.

• Potential for contributions to home office setup or co-working space.

Working Hours: While a standard 40-hour work week is typical, the fast-paced startup environment may require flexibility. The emphasis on high velocity and rapid iteration suggests a culture where efficient work is valued, potentially allowing for focused work blocks.

📝 Enhancement Note: Salary estimation is based on industry benchmarks for senior-level design roles in the San Francisco Bay Area tech market, considering the company's early-stage startup status and the specialized demand for AI-savvy designers. Benefits are typical for competitive tech startups.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Artificial Intelligence (AI), specifically AI Agent Infrastructure and Control Planes. Guild.ai is operating at the forefront of the AI revolution, building foundational technology for AI agents.

Company Size: Early-stage startup (specific size not provided, but implied to be small and fast-growing). This means a high degree of ownership, direct impact, and close collaboration with founders.

Founded: Guild.ai is a relatively new company, likely founded within the last few years, focusing on a rapidly evolving technological landscape.

Team Structure:

• The Brand & Marketing Designer will be embedded within the marketing team but will work cross-functionally with founders, product managers, and engineers.

• This role is a key individual contributor position, expected to drive significant aspects of the company's external presentation and growth strategy.

Methodology:

• Guild.ai's approach is likely data-informed and iterative, especially given the emphasis on conversion data and rapid experimentation in marketing design.

• The "AI-first" approach suggests a culture that embraces new technologies and seeks to integrate them into core operational workflows.

• Expect a focus on building for scale and safety, as the company is providing infrastructure for AI agents.

Company Website: https://guild.ai

📝 Enhancement Note: Guild.ai is operating in a cutting-edge and rapidly evolving field. The company culture is likely to be fast-paced, highly innovative, and focused on building foundational technology. The designer will play a crucial role in shaping the perception of this new and complex category.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is positioned as a Senior Individual Contributor, likely a lead or principal designer within the marketing function for an early-stage company. It offers significant autonomy and the opportunity to shape a core function from its early stages.

Reporting Structure: The designer will likely report to a Head of Marketing or a Marketing Lead, working very closely with the founding team.

Operations Impact: The designer's work will have a direct and measurable impact on Guild.ai's ability to acquire customers, build brand awareness, and establish itself as a leader in the AI agent control plane space. Their visual communication will be instrumental in explaining a complex new category to the market.

Growth Opportunities:

• Category Definition: Opportunity to be at the forefront of defining the visual language and brand narrative for a new category of AI technology.

• AI Design Innovation: Become a leader in applying AI tools to creative workflows, potentially setting industry standards for AI-native marketing teams.

• Strategic Influence: Direct collaboration with founders provides a unique opportunity for strategic input into product marketing and company positioning.

• Leadership Potential: As the company grows, this role could evolve into leading a design team or expanding into broader product marketing responsibilities.

• Technical Depth: Deepen understanding of AI, developer tools, and infrastructure, highly valuable skills in the current tech landscape.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role offers a rare opportunity for a designer to make a significant impact on a company building foundational AI infrastructure. The growth potential lies not only in traditional design career paths but also in becoming a pioneer in AI-driven creative processes and category-defining brand building.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: The role is listed as "San Francisco / Remote," indicating a hybrid model is preferred, with flexibility for remote work within the United States. This suggests Guild.ai may have a physical office in San Francisco, but also embraces distributed work.

Office Location(s): San Francisco, California, United States.

Workspace Context:

• For those in the Bay Area, there may be opportunities for in-person collaboration at a physical office, fostering team cohesion and spontaneous idea exchange.

• For remote team members, a robust digital collaboration environment and asynchronous communication tools will be essential.

• The workspace will likely be equipped with modern design tools and technologies, with an expectation to leverage cloud-based platforms for seamless collaboration.

• The environment will be fast-paced and dynamic, common in early-stage tech startups, requiring adaptability and proactive problem-solving.

Work Schedule: While a standard 40-hour work week is implied, the startup environment often demands flexibility. The focus on high velocity and iterative design suggests an emphasis on output and impact over strict adherence to hours. This could translate to flexible working hours as long as project deadlines and team needs are met.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid/remote nature of the role caters to a modern workforce while still offering the benefits of potential in-person collaboration in a key tech hub. The emphasis on "AI-first" workflow implies a tech-forward and adaptable work environment.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A review of your resume and portfolio to assess alignment with the core requirements, especially experience with technical products and AI tools.

• Portfolio Deep Dive: A session with hiring managers or design leads to walk through your portfolio. Be prepared to discuss specific projects, your design process, the challenges you faced, and the impact of your work, with a particular focus on how you've used AI.

• Skills Assessment/Challenge: This might involve a design exercise or a take-home project focusing on translating a complex technical concept into marketing collateral, or demonstrating your AI-powered design workflow.

• Cross-functional Interviews: Discussions with founders, product managers, and engineers to assess collaboration skills, strategic thinking, and understanding of the AI space.

• Cultural Fit & Vision: Conversations to gauge your alignment with Guild.ai's innovative and fast-paced culture, and your vision for the brand.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Highlight AI Integration: Clearly showcase projects where you've leveraged AI tools. Detail the specific tools used, your prompts or methodologies, and the tangible benefits (speed, quality, scale, new creative directions).

• Focus on Impact: For each project, articulate the problem you were solving, your design process, and the measurable results (e.g., conversion rate improvements, engagement metrics, brand perception shifts). Quantify whenever possible.

• Technical Product Acumen: Include examples of designing for complex or technical products. Explain how you simplified concepts and tailored the message to a developer or technically-minded audience.

• Brand Evolution/Systems: Showcase your ability to evolve a brand identity and build scalable design systems for marketing.

• Storytelling: Frame your portfolio as a narrative, explaining the context, your role, your thought process, and the outcomes for each project.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand Guild.ai: Research Guild.ai's mission, product (control plane for AI agents), target audience (developers, AI engineers), and current market positioning.

• AI Design Thinking: Be ready to articulate your approach to using AI in design, including ethical considerations, prompt engineering basics, and workflow integration strategies.

• Simplify Complexity: Practice distilling complex technical jargon into clear, concise, and visually compelling marketing messages.

• Demonstrate Velocity: If given a timed challenge, focus on delivering a well-reasoned, high-quality output that demonstrates your ability to work efficiently under pressure.

📝 Enhancement Note: Given the emphasis on AI and technical products, the interview process will likely heavily scrutinize the candidate's ability to integrate AI into their workflow and communicate complex technical subjects visually. A strong portfolio demonstrating this is key.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: Essential for UI/UX design, prototyping, and collaboration. Expect advanced usage for component creation and design system management.

• Webflow/Framer: Crucial for building and iterating on modern, interactive websites and landing pages, often with direct CMS integration.

• AI Design Tools: A broad category including AI image generators (e.g., Midjourney, Stable Diffusion), AI copywriting assistants (e.g., Jasper, Copy.ai, ChatGPT), AI video tools, and potentially AI-powered prototyping or ideation software. Proficiency and a willingness to experiment with new AI tools are expected.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Familiarity with web analytics platforms (e.g., Google Analytics) to understand user behavior and conversion data.

CRM & Automation:

• Experience designing assets and templates for CRM systems like HubSpot and Salesforce.

• Familiarity with lifecycle marketing platforms such as Customer.io for email and campaign design.

📝 Enhancement Note: The technology stack emphasizes modern web design tools and a strong focus on AI. The successful candidate will be expected to be proficient in Figma and at least one modern web builder, while also being an early adopter and expert in leveraging AI for creative tasks.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Innovation & Experimentation: A strong emphasis on pushing boundaries, particularly with AI tools, and a willingness to experiment with new approaches to design and marketing.

• Clarity & Simplicity: The ability to distill complex technical concepts into clear, understandable, and compelling visual narratives is paramount.

• Data-Driven Decision Making: Using user behavior, conversion data, and A/B testing results to inform design choices and optimize marketing efforts.

• High Velocity & Impact: A culture that values rapid iteration, efficient execution, and delivering tangible results that drive business growth.

• Ownership & Autonomy: Expectation for individuals to take ownership of their areas, drive initiatives forward, and operate with a high degree of independence.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Integration: Seamless collaboration with product and engineering teams is essential to ensure marketing aligns with product capabilities and to contribute to the overall company narrative.

• Founder Collaboration: Close working relationship with founders on core strategy, brand vision, and narrative development.

• Open Feedback: A culture that encourages constructive feedback, both giving and receiving, to foster continuous improvement.

• Knowledge Sharing: Encouragement to share learnings, new tools, and best practices, especially concerning AI in design.

📝 Enhancement Note: The culture at Guild.ai likely values individuals who are proactive, adaptable, and eager to contribute to a fast-evolving technological space. The emphasis on AI suggests a forward-thinking and experimental mindset.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Defining a New Category: The primary challenge will be establishing a clear and compelling visual identity and narrative for a new and complex category: the control plane for AI agents.

• AI Integration Mastery: Continuously evolving and mastering the use of AI tools in the design workflow to maintain speed and quality, while also educating others.

• Balancing Technicality and Accessibility: Communicating highly technical product capabilities to a diverse audience, from AI experts to potential business users, without oversimplifying or alienating.

• Startup Pace & Ambiguity: Navigating the fast-paced, often ambiguous environment of an early-stage startup, requiring adaptability and resilience.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• AI Design Leadership: Opportunity to become a thought leader in AI-driven design and marketing workflows.

• Category Creation: Gaining deep experience in branding and marketing for category-defining products.

• Technical Acumen: Developing a sophisticated understanding of AI agent technology and infrastructure.

• Strategic Impact: Direct involvement in shaping company strategy and narrative alongside founders.

• Skill Expansion: Potential to expand into product marketing, growth strategy, or creative leadership roles as the company scales.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role presents significant challenges but also offers unparalleled opportunities for professional growth at the cutting edge of AI technology and marketing innovation.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "How would you approach designing the website for a company that is defining a new category like 'AI agent control planes'?" (Focus on narrative, clarity, and conversion.)

• "Describe a time you used AI tools to significantly accelerate your design process or achieve a creative outcome that wouldn't have been possible otherwise. What was your process, and what were the results?" (Be specific about tools, prompts, and impact.)

• "How do you balance the need for technical accuracy with the need for clear, accessible marketing messaging for a developer-focused product?" (Discuss simplification strategies, visual hierarchy, and audience segmentation.)

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What excites you about Guild.ai's mission and the problem we're solving?" (Show genuine interest and understanding of AI agents and infrastructure.)

• "How do you see AI changing the role of a brand and marketing designer in the next 3-5 years?" (Demonstrate forward-thinking and adaptability.)

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure Your Narrative: For each project, clearly state the brief, your role, the challenges, your process (especially AI integration), the solution, and the measurable outcomes.

• Quantify Impact: Use numbers to demonstrate success whenever possible (e.g., "Increased conversion rate by X%," "Reduced design iteration time by Y hours using AI").

• Show Your AI Workflow: Be prepared to demonstrate or explain your AI prompt engineering, iteration process, and how you integrated AI outputs into polished final assets.

• Focus on Strategic Thinking: Go beyond just showing pretty pictures; explain why you made certain design choices and how they align with business goals and user needs.

• Tailor to Guild.ai: If possible, create a small piece or concept that shows how you'd approach Guild.ai's brand, perhaps a concept for a new landing page section or a social media campaign.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview preparation should heavily emphasize the candidate's ability to integrate AI into their design process and their capacity to communicate complex technical concepts. A strong, well-articulated portfolio that showcases these skills will be critical.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Brand & Marketing Designer position:

• Submit your application through the provided Ashby link.

• Portfolio Customization: Ensure your portfolio prominently features projects showcasing your experience with technical products, brand identity development, and campaign design. Critically, highlight specific examples of how you have leveraged AI tools in your design workflow, detailing the process and impact.

• Resume Optimization: Tailor your resume to emphasize your 8+ years of experience in marketing, product marketing, or growth design, with a focus on technical products and AI. Use keywords from the job description such as "AI Design Tools," "Webflow," "Figma," "Growth Design," and "Visual Storytelling."

• Prepare Your Narrative: Practice articulating your design process, your experience with AI tools, and your approach to simplifying complex technical concepts. Be ready to discuss how your work has driven measurable results.

• Research Guild.ai: Thoroughly understand Guild.ai's mission, product (control plane for AI agents), target audience, and the competitive landscape. Prepare questions that demonstrate your engagement and strategic thinking about the company's brand and marketing challenges.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.