Brand Design Director

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Brand Design Director

Company: Shine

Location: Paris, Ile-de-France, France

Job Type: Full-Time

Category: Brand & Marketing Operations

Date Posted: May 20, 2026

Experience Level: 10+ Years

Remote Status: Hybrid (3 days in office)

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead and scale the Brand Design team within the Revenue organization, ensuring cohesive visual identity across six European markets.

• Set the creative bar for brand asset production, art direction, and visual storytelling to drive measurable business impact.

• Develop and implement frameworks for brand governance, portfolio architecture, and creative production across digital and physical channels.

• Act as a strategic partner to Growth, Product, and local marketing teams, aligning creative output with business objectives and performance metrics.

• Champion AI-assisted design workflows to accelerate creative processes and enhance team fluency in emerging technologies.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned within the Revenue organization, indicating a strong emphasis on how brand design directly contributes to commercial objectives and revenue generation, a common structure in high-growth tech and fintech companies. The integration with Growth and Product teams underscores the need for a data-driven and performance-oriented approach to brand strategy.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and grow a team of brand, marketing, and web designers, fostering a culture of creativity, experimentation, and high-quality production at scale.

• Define and maintain Shine's overall brand identity, ensuring design quality, coherence, and consistency across all brand portfolio touchpoints, including art direction, photoshoots, website design, paid and social creatives, video, motion, illustration, events, and print.

• Establish robust frameworks and governance structures to enable scalable brand production across diverse digital and physical channels, ensuring brand integrity.

• Serve as a proactive strategic partner in brand governance, portfolio architecture, campaign strategy development, and growth initiatives, influencing cross-functional decision-making.

• Collaborate closely with performance and growth teams to ensure creative strategies are aligned, integrated, and demonstrably tied to measurable business outcomes and KPIs.

• Embed measurement, creative testing methodologies, and compelling storytelling into team workflows to optimize campaign effectiveness and brand impact.

• Partner with the Product Design team to ensure seamless visual consistency between brand and product experiences, and to co-develop shared design principles.

• Champion the Brand Design team's visibility and impact across the broader organization, focusing on professional development, skill enhancement, and career pathing for team members.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a blend of strategic leadership, operational execution, and cross-functional collaboration. The emphasis on "scaling brand systems," "governance structures," and "measurable outcomes" points to a need for strong process orientation and a data-informed approach, characteristic of advanced operations roles within creative functions.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is mandated, a strong academic foundation in Design, Visual Communications, Marketing, or a related field is implied.

Experience:

• 10+ years of comprehensive experience in brand, marketing, or visual design.

Required Skills:

• Proven expertise in shaping art direction and developing scalable brand identity systems.

• Strong understanding of campaign storytelling, creative production workflows, and the direct impact of design on marketing performance and revenue generation.

• Demonstrated experience leading creative teams within fast-paced technology, fintech, or agency environments.

• Proficiency in modern creative and project management tools, facilitating efficient workflow and collaboration.

• Exceptional communication and influencing skills, with the ability to align stakeholders at senior leadership levels.

Preferred Skills:

• Active experimentation with and fluency in AI-assisted design workflows, viewing AI as a creative accelerator.

• Experience partnering effectively with external agencies, in-house teams, and diverse cross-functional stakeholders.

• Familiarity with performance marketing principles and how creative assets contribute to conversion rates and customer acquisition cost (CAC).

• Understanding of brand portfolio architecture and how to strategically manage multiple brand elements.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "10+ years of experience" and "3+ years managing teams" indicate a senior-level leadership role, requiring not just creative vision but also significant operational and people management capabilities. The emphasis on AI-assisted design and performance alignment suggests a forward-thinking approach to creative operations.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• A comprehensive portfolio showcasing a strong track record in brand identity development and art direction for established brands, particularly within tech or fintech.

• Demonstrable examples of successfully scaling brand systems and creative production across multiple markets or channels.

• Case studies that illustrate how your creative leadership and strategic direction have driven measurable business performance, such as increased brand recognition, lead generation, or conversion rates.

• Evidence of establishing and managing creative frameworks, governance structures, or operational processes that ensure brand consistency and efficiency.

Process Documentation:

• Examples of implemented creative production workflows that ensure scalability, efficiency, and quality control.

• Documentation or case studies detailing the establishment of brand governance structures and their impact on brand consistency and operational efficiency.

• Methodologies for embedding creative testing, data analysis, and performance measurement into creative team workflows.

• Frameworks for collaborating with Product Design to ensure visual consistency between brand and product experiences.

📝 Enhancement Note: For this senior role, the portfolio is crucial for demonstrating not just creative output but also strategic thinking, leadership, and operational impact. It needs to showcase the ability to build and scale creative operations, aligning them with business goals and leveraging new technologies like AI.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: For a Brand Design Director in Paris with 10+ years of experience in the tech/fintech sector, the estimated annual gross salary range is typically between €90,000 and €130,000. This range is an estimate and can vary based on the candidate's specific experience, negotiation skills, and the company's compensation philosophy.

Benefits:

• Impact: Opportunity to be foundational in ensuring multiple aspects of Shine’s business operate at the highest market standard through strong brand design.

• Ownership: Join a team at its inception and actively shape its mission and strategic direction, with robust support from experienced leaders.

• Innovation: Work within a dynamic, ambitious environment that encourages experimentation and the adoption of new ideas and approaches, including AI-assisted design.

• Mission-driven: Contribute to a meaningful mission focused on helping entrepreneurs succeed by providing superior banking and administrative tools.

• Hybrid Work Model: Flexibility with two remote working days per week, allowing for a balanced work-life integration.

• Professional Development: Opportunities for skill enhancement, career pathing, and leadership growth within a growing organization.

• Equal Opportunity Employer: Commitment to fair and equitable treatment for all job applicants.

Working Hours: The role is full-time, likely adhering to standard European business hours (approximately 40 hours per week), with the flexibility of hybrid work.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary estimate is based on industry benchmarks for senior creative leadership roles in major European tech hubs like Paris, considering the specified experience level and the fintech industry context. Benefits are drawn directly from the provided "What we offer" section, interpreted for their value to operations and creative professionals.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Fintech (specifically serving freelancers and small business owners with banking, invoicing, and accounting tools). Shine is part of a larger group formed by the integration of leading European fintechs.

Company Size: Over 400 people, indicating a mid-to-large size organization with established processes but still retaining agility and growth potential.

Founded: The company description implies a recent consolidation and growth phase, with a focus on providing a unified platform. The exact founding date of "Shine" as an independent entity or its predecessor is not specified, but the consolidation suggests a dynamic, evolving company.

Team Structure:

• The Brand Design team is part of the larger Brand team, which itself is integrated within the Revenue organization. This placement underscores the direct connection between brand strategy and commercial outcomes.

• The Brand Design team is responsible for defining, developing, and maintaining Shine's brand identity across markets, overseeing global brand asset production.

Methodology:

• Data-Driven Brand Strategy: Emphasizing the connection between creative output and measurable business impact, including performance metrics and creative testing.

• Scalable Systems & Governance: Focus on building frameworks and structures that enable efficient and consistent brand production across diverse channels and markets.

• Creative Acceleration: Proactive experimentation with AI-assisted design workflows to enhance efficiency and creative output.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Integrated approach working hand-in-hand with Product, Growth, and Marketing to ensure alignment and shared objectives.

Company Website: https://careers.shine.co

📝 Enhancement Note: The integration within the Revenue organization is a key indicator of how Shine views brand as a growth engine, not just a creative function. This implies that operations and process efficiency within the brand team are critical for achieving business goals.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This is a senior leadership role (Director level) within the Brand Design function, operating at a strategic level. It requires not only deep expertise in design but also strong managerial, operational, and stakeholder management skills. The role is pivotal in shaping the company's visual narrative and its impact on business performance.

Reporting Structure: The Brand Design Director reports to the VP Brand, indicating a direct line to senior brand leadership. The role also involves close collaboration with leaders in Growth, Product, and local marketing teams.

Operations Impact: The Brand Design Director has a significant impact on revenue by:

• Ensuring a strong, consistent, and compelling brand identity that attracts and retains customers.

• Driving performance through creative assets that are aligned with growth strategies and demonstrably impact key metrics like conversion rates and customer acquisition.

• Building scalable systems that allow for efficient and effective creative production, reducing costs and time-to-market.

Growth Opportunities:

• Leadership Development: Opportunity to build and scale a critical creative function within a growing fintech organization, honing leadership and strategic planning skills.

• Strategic Influence: Direct involvement in shaping brand strategy and its integration with revenue and product initiatives, offering significant influence on business direction.

• Innovation & Technology Adoption: Leading the integration of AI-assisted design workflows, positioning the candidate at the forefront of creative technology advancements.

• Cross-Functional Expertise: Deepening understanding and collaboration with Growth, Product, and Marketing, broadening business acumen and strategic partnership capabilities.

• International Exposure: Managing brand across six European markets provides valuable experience in global brand strategy and localization.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Operations Impact" section is crucial for candidates to understand how this role contributes beyond aesthetics, directly linking creative leadership to business results. The growth opportunities highlight the strategic value and developmental potential of this position.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: The role is based in Paris with a hybrid work arrangement, allowing for two remote working days per week. This suggests a modern office environment designed for collaboration, creativity, and focused work.

Office Location(s): Paris, France. Specific details about the office amenities or accessibility are not provided but can be inferred to be in a professional business district.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Environment: The role requires close collaboration with the Brand Design team, the broader Brand team, and cross-functional partners (Growth, Product, local marketing). The office space likely supports team meetings, brainstorming sessions, and shared creative work.

• Operations Tools & Technology: Access to modern creative software, project management tools, and potentially advanced hardware for design production is expected. The emphasis on AI-assisted design suggests a commitment to leveraging cutting-edge technology.

• Team Interaction: Opportunities for direct interaction with a multicultural team of over 400 people across different European markets, fostering a diverse and dynamic work atmosphere.

Work Schedule: Full-time, with a hybrid model offering flexibility. The standard working hours (approx. 40 hours/week) will be balanced with the ability to work remotely for two days, allowing for focused individual work or specific personal needs while maintaining team cohesion.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid model is a key aspect for work-life balance and operational efficiency, allowing for focused remote work and collaborative in-office sessions. This needs to be considered when assessing workflow management and team communication strategies.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

1. Intro Call with Talent: An initial screening call with the Talent Acquisition team to assess general fit, motivation, and basic qualifications.

• Preparation: Be ready to articulate your career journey, key leadership experiences, and interest in Shine's mission.

1. Hiring Manager Interview with our VP Brand: A deeper dive into your strategic thinking, leadership philosophy, and experience in brand building and team management.

• Preparation: Prepare specific examples of how you've led creative teams, shaped brand identities, and driven business performance through design. Be ready to discuss your approach to art direction and brand governance.

1. Portfolio Review & Business Case Presentation with the Brand Leadership Team: This is a critical stage where you will present your portfolio and potentially a prepared business case.

• Preparation: Curate your portfolio to highlight relevant work, focusing on scalability, impact, and AI integration. Prepare to present a case study demonstrating how you would approach a specific brand challenge for Shine, focusing on strategic alignment, operational execution, and measurable outcomes.

1. Team Introduction & Soft Skills Interview: An opportunity to meet potential team members and a final interview, possibly involving personality assessments, to evaluate cultural fit and how Shine can support your growth.

• Preparation: Be prepared to discuss your collaboration style, how you support team development, and your approach to problem-solving and innovation. Show genuine interest in Shine's culture and mission.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Focus on Impact: Showcase projects where your creative leadership directly contributed to business growth, brand recognition, or customer engagement. Quantify results whenever possible.

• Demonstrate Scalability: Include examples of how you've built or scaled brand systems, creative production workflows, or design governance structures.

• Highlight AI Integration: Showcase any experience or experimental work with AI-assisted design tools, explaining how they were used to enhance creativity or efficiency.

• Strategic Storytelling: Structure your portfolio presentations as narratives, explaining the challenge, your strategic approach, the execution, and the measurable outcomes.

• Cross-Functional Alignment: Provide examples of successful collaboration with Product, Marketing, and Growth teams, demonstrating your ability to integrate brand with broader business objectives.

Challenge Preparation:

• Business Case: Anticipate a business case that requires you to analyze a hypothetical brand challenge for Shine and propose a strategic, operational, and creative solution. Focus on how your proposed solution aligns with Shine's mission and revenue goals.

• Operational Efficiency: Be ready to discuss how you would structure the Brand Design team for maximum efficiency, implement scalable processes, and leverage technology (including AI) to optimize production.

• Stakeholder Management: Prepare to discuss how you would manage relationships with senior leadership, cross-functional teams, and external agencies to ensure brand consistency and strategic alignment.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process emphasizes strategic thinking, operational capability, and the ability to demonstrate impact. The portfolio review and business case are key opportunities to showcase not just creative talent but also leadership and business acumen.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Creative Suites: Proficiency in Adobe Creative Cloud (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, After Effects, Premiere Pro) is standard.

• Design & Prototyping: Figma or Sketch for UI/UX design and collaborative workflows, especially for web design.

• Project Management: Tools like Asana, Trello, Jira, or Monday.com for managing creative projects, workflows, and team tasks efficiently.

• Brand Asset Management (DAM): Experience with or understanding of Digital Asset Management systems for organizing and distributing brand assets.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Web Analytics: Google Analytics or similar for understanding website traffic, user behavior, and the performance of web design elements.

• Marketing Analytics Platforms: Tools like Google Ads, Meta Ads Manager, or specialized marketing analytics dashboards to track the performance of paid creatives and campaigns.

• Data Visualization: Tableau, Power BI, or Looker for creating dashboards and reports that communicate brand performance and impact to stakeholders.

CRM & Automation:

• While not directly managing a CRM, understanding how brand assets are used in CRM-driven campaigns (e.g., email marketing) is beneficial.

• Familiarity with marketing automation platforms (e.g., HubSpot, Marketo) to understand how brand creatives are deployed in automated workflows.

• AI-Assisted Design Tools: Actively experimenting with AI tools such as Midjourney, DALL-E, Stable Diffusion, or AI-powered editing plugins to enhance creative workflows and accelerate production.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on AI-assisted design tools is a specific and important requirement that candidates should highlight if they have experience. Proficiency in project management and analytics tools is key for demonstrating operational capability and a data-driven approach.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Impact-Driven: A core value is ensuring that the work of the Brand Design team has a tangible positive impact on Shine's business objectives, particularly revenue and customer acquisition.

• Ownership & Accountability: Team members are expected to take ownership of their projects, drive them to completion, and be accountable for their results. This aligns with the "Ownership" benefit offered.

• Innovation & Experimentation: Shine encourages trying new ideas and approaches, especially in leveraging technologies like AI to push creative boundaries and improve efficiency.

• Mission-Focused: A strong belief in Shine's mission to support entrepreneurs, which should resonate with team members and guide their creative output towards serving this purpose.

• Collaboration & Transparency: Working hand-in-hand with other teams and fostering open communication is essential for success.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Integration: The Brand Design team is positioned as a strategic partner, requiring seamless collaboration with Growth, Product, and local marketing teams. This involves proactive communication, shared goal-setting, and integrated planning.

• Process Excellence: A culture that values well-defined workflows, clear governance, and continuous improvement in how creative work is produced and delivered.

• Knowledge Sharing: Encouraging team members to share learnings, best practices, and insights, particularly regarding new technologies like AI and performance analysis.

• Feedback Exchange: An open environment for constructive feedback, both within the design team and with cross-functional partners, to ensure creative quality and strategic alignment.

📝 Enhancement Note: The culture emphasizes results, innovation, and strong collaboration. Candidates should be prepared to discuss how they embody these values, particularly in leading a team and working across departments to achieve common goals.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Scaling Creative Production: Balancing the need for high-quality, on-brand creative assets with the demands of rapid growth across multiple markets.

• Maintaining Brand Consistency: Ensuring a cohesive brand experience across diverse touchpoints and markets while empowering local teams.

• Integrating AI Effectively: Successfully adopting and integrating AI into creative workflows, managing team adoption, and ensuring it enhances rather than detracts from creative quality and originality.

• Measuring Creative Impact: Developing robust methods to quantify and communicate the business impact of brand design initiatives to senior leadership.

• Cross-Functional Alignment: Navigating the priorities and needs of various departments (Growth, Product, Marketing) to ensure brand strategy effectively supports all objectives.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• AI in Design Leadership: Becoming a leader in the application of AI for creative strategy and production within the fintech sector.

• Strategic Brand Building: Deepening expertise in building and scaling brand systems for a growing international company.

• Revenue-Driven Creativity: Enhancing skills in directly linking creative output to commercial objectives and performance metrics.

• Team Leadership & Development: Growing as a manager by mentoring and developing a high-performing creative team.

• Fintech Industry Acumen: Gaining deeper insights into the fintech landscape and the specific needs of freelancers and small businesses.

📝 Enhancement Note: Recognizing these challenges and growth areas will allow candidates to tailor their interview responses to demonstrate foresight, problem-solving skills, and a proactive approach to professional development.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "How would you approach setting the creative direction for Shine's brand identity across six European markets, ensuring both global coherence and local relevance?"

  • Preparation: Discuss your framework for brand strategy development, including market research, competitor analysis, and stakeholder input. Emphasize how you would establish clear brand guidelines and governance.

• "Describe a time you led a creative team to achieve a significant business outcome. What was your role, what challenges did you face, and how did you measure success?"

  • Preparation: Prepare a STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) answer focusing on a project where your leadership directly impacted revenue, customer acquisition, or brand engagement. Quantify results and highlight operational aspects of team management.

• "How do you see AI transforming brand design operations, and how would you integrate AI tools into our team's workflow to accelerate creative production and enhance output?"

  • Preparation: Be ready to discuss specific AI tools, your experience using them, and a strategic plan for introducing them to a team. Focus on how AI can augment human creativity and improve efficiency, not replace it.

Company & Culture Questions:

• "Shine's mission is to help freelancers and small business owners. How would you ensure our brand identity and creative output effectively resonate with this target audience?"

  • Preparation: Research Shine's current target audience and brand positioning. Discuss how your creative strategy would align with their needs and aspirations.

• "This role requires close collaboration with Growth, Product, and local marketing teams. How do you foster strong relationships and ensure alignment with cross-functional partners?"

  • Preparation: Discuss your approach to stakeholder management, communication, and collaborative problem-solving. Provide examples of successful cross-functional partnerships.

• "How do you measure the effectiveness and ROI of brand design initiatives within a company, and how would you report on this to senior leadership?"

  • Preparation: Outline your preferred metrics and reporting methods for brand performance, linking them to business objectives. Discuss how you would build a case for the value of design.

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Narrative Arc: Structure your portfolio presentation around a clear story for each project: the challenge, your strategic approach, the execution (highlighting your leadership and operational decisions), and the impactful results.

• Focus on Leadership & Operations: While showcasing creative excellence, emphasize your role in managing teams, defining processes, scaling systems, and driving business outcomes.

• AI Integration Showcase: If possible, include a project or section that specifically addresses your use of AI in design, explaining the benefits and your strategic thinking behind its application.

• Data & Metrics: Be prepared to discuss the data and metrics that informed your creative decisions and demonstrate the impact of your work.

• Conciseness & Clarity: Respect the time of the leadership team. Be clear, concise, and focused on delivering key messages.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview preparation emphasizes demonstrating strategic thinking, operational leadership, and a data-driven approach, aligning with the demands of a senior role within a revenue-focused organization.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Brand Design Director position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on the Shine careers website.

• Tailor Your Resume: Highlight your 10+ years of design experience and 3+ years of team management, emphasizing achievements in brand identity, art direction, scaling creative systems, and driving business impact. Use keywords like "Brand Governance," "Art Direction," "Creative Production," "Team Leadership," and "AI-assisted Design."

• Curate Your Portfolio: Select projects that best demonstrate your leadership capabilities, strategic thinking, operational approach to scaling creative, and measurable impact. Ensure it includes examples of cross-functional collaboration and, if possible, AI integration. Prepare a presentation that tells a compelling story about your work.

• Prepare Your Business Case: Anticipate a presentation or discussion where you'll outline your strategic approach to leading Shine's brand design efforts, focusing on operational efficiency, team development, and aligning creative with revenue goals.

• Research Shine: Understand Shine's mission, target audience, product offerings, and recent company news. Prepare to articulate how your vision for brand design aligns with the company's overall strategy and values.

⚠️ 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.