Forward Deployed Creative Designer, Email

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Forward Deployed Creative Designer, Email

Company: Hightouch

Location: Remote, United States

Job Type: Full-Time

Category: Marketing Operations / Creative Operations / GTM Enablement

Date Posted: 2026-09-16

Experience Level: Mid-Senior Level (5-10 years)

Remote Status: Fully Remote

🚀 Role Summary

• Spearhead creative strategy and execution for enterprise-level email marketing campaigns, leveraging AI and agentic workflows to ensure brand consistency and impact.

• Serve as the primary creative liaison for high-profile enterprise clients, translating complex brand guidelines into actionable, on-brand AI-driven email systems.

• Drive measurable performance improvements in email engagement and conversion rates through data-informed design, A/B testing, and iterative optimization.

• Directly influence product development by providing expert creative feedback and insights to engineering and product teams, shaping the future of AI in marketing.

• Develop and document best practices for AI-assisted email creative, building a scalable knowledge base for customer onboarding and team enablement.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role bridges the gap between creative design, AI capabilities, and enterprise client success within a cutting-edge marketing technology platform. It requires a unique blend of artistic vision, technical understanding of AI and email development, and strong client-facing skills. The "Forward Deployed" aspect implies a client-facing, hands-on role focused on driving adoption and immediate value.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Lead creative direction and execution for enterprise customer engagements, ensuring all AI-generated email content and designs adhere strictly to client brand identity and marketing objectives.

• Develop and refine agentic workflows, including prompt engineering and reference library creation, to consistently produce high-quality, on-brand email creative for diverse lifecycle programs.

• Collaborate closely with Solutions Engineering and Sales teams during enterprise client calls to demonstrate the platform's capabilities and build conviction through compelling creative examples.

• Design and implement A/B tests for email subject lines, body content, and creative assets, analyzing performance data to derive actionable insights for optimization and future campaign development.

• Translate customer feedback, performance data, and emerging AI trends into concrete product enhancement recommendations for the engineering and product teams.

• Create and maintain comprehensive documentation of successful creative patterns, workflows, and best practices for AI-driven email marketing to enable scalable customer onboarding and internal knowledge sharing.

• Proactively identify opportunities to push the boundaries of AI in email design, showcasing novel approaches and techniques to clients and the internal team.

• Ensure all email creative outputs meet high standards for visual hierarchy, layout, responsiveness across various email clients and devices, and accessibility.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a proactive, client-facing role focused on demonstrating value and driving adoption through creative excellence and technical execution. The emphasis on "agentic workflows" and "prompt engineering" points to a need for hands-on experience with AI content generation tools and methodologies.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: Bachelor's degree in Graphic Design, Marketing, Communications, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

Experience: 5-10 years of progressive experience in email design, lifecycle marketing, and creative strategy, with a significant portion involving enterprise clients or high-volume campaign execution.

Required Skills:

• Exceptional Portfolio: A robust portfolio showcasing a history of successful lifecycle email campaigns, product launches, and demonstrated expertise in email design and creative direction. Applications without a portfolio link will not be considered.

• Deep Email Design Expertise: Proven ability to design hundreds of emails across various lifecycle stages (onboarding, nurture, retention, win-back) with a keen understanding of layout, hierarchy, and cross-client rendering.

• Advanced AI Fluency: Demonstrated experience with generative AI models (image and text), node-based UI tools, and the ability to push AI beyond default outputs to achieve specific aesthetic and functional goals.

• Enterprise Client Management: Experience working directly with sophisticated marketing teams, agencies, or consultancies, with a strong understanding of brand review processes, legal compliance, and stakeholder management.

• Lifecycle Marketing Acumen: Thorough understanding of marketing funnel stages, customer journey mapping, and the ability to balance aesthetic quality with engagement and revenue-driving objectives.

• Strong Aesthetic Sensibility ("Taste"): A well-defined visual style and the ability to articulate the rationale behind design choices and their impact on brand perception and performance.

• Proficiency in Design Tools: Expertise in industry-standard design software (e.g., Figma, Adobe Creative Suite).

• Understanding of HTML/CSS for Email: While not strictly required, comfort with coding and building emails is a significant plus for direct manipulation and optimization.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience with prompt engineering for AI content generation.

• Familiarity with Composable CDP concepts and their application in marketing.

• Experience with A/B testing platforms and data analysis tools.

• Knowledge of accessibility standards in digital design.

• Experience mentoring junior designers or leading creative initiatives.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on a "portfolio that does the talking" and "deep AI fluency" are critical requirements. The "taste" attribute, while subjective, signals a need for a candidate with a highly developed sense of design quality and brand integrity. The distinction between required and preferred skills acknowledges the cutting-edge nature of the role, valuing proven design craft alongside emerging AI capabilities.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Lifecycle Program Case Studies: Detailed examples of end-to-end lifecycle marketing programs you've designed or directed, illustrating strategy, execution, and results.

• AI-Integrated Creative Examples: Showcase instances where AI was leveraged in the creative process, highlighting your role in prompt engineering, workflow design, and achieving specific on-brand outputs.

• Email Design Showcase: A diverse collection of email designs demonstrating expertise in layout, hierarchy, responsiveness, and visual appeal across various campaign types.

• Brand Guideline Adherence: Examples that clearly demonstrate your ability to interpret and apply complex brand guidelines to digital creative, particularly email.

• Performance Metrics & ROI: Quantifiable results tied to your creative work, such as improvements in open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, or revenue generated.

Process Documentation:

• Workflow Design & Optimization: Evidence of designing and refining creative workflows, particularly those involving AI tools or complex multi-step processes.

• AI Prompting & Iteration: Documentation or explanation of your process for developing effective AI prompts and iterating on AI-generated content to meet specific creative briefs.

• A/B Testing & Performance Analysis: Examples of how you've structured and analyzed A/B tests to inform creative decisions and improve campaign performance.

• Brand Governance in AI: Showcase your approach to ensuring brand consistency and guardrails are maintained when using AI for creative generation.

📝 Enhancement Note: The portfolio requirements are heavily focused on demonstrating practical application of skills in real-world scenarios, with a strong emphasis on AI integration and measurable results. Candidates must be prepared to articulate their processes for creative development, AI utilization, and performance analysis.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: $140,000 - $180,000 USD per year.

• Note: This range is location-independent, reflecting the fully remote nature of the role. The upper end of the band is reserved for candidates demonstrating exceptional enterprise creative leadership and a portfolio that sets industry benchmarks.

Benefits:

• Meaningful Equity: Incentive Stock Options (ISO) with early exercise capabilities and a 10-year post-termination exercise window, offering significant long-term value potential.

• Remote Work Flexibility: Fully remote position allowing for work from anywhere within the United States.

• Comprehensive Health Benefits: (Implied, as standard for tech companies, though not explicitly listed in provided text).

• Professional Development: Opportunities to shape a new category and work with leading brands.

• Impactful Work: Direct influence on product development and customer success in a rapidly growing field.

Working Hours: Standard full-time hours (approximately 40 hours per week), with flexibility inherent in a remote work arrangement. However, client-facing responsibilities may require occasional availability outside of standard hours for critical engagements or global client needs.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is competitive for a senior-level creative role with AI specialization in the US tech market. The equity offering is substantial, underscoring Hightouch's growth trajectory and commitment to employee ownership. The "location-independent" aspect is a key differentiator for remote talent.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Marketing Technology (MarTech), specifically focused on Customer Data Platforms (CDP) and AI-driven Marketing Automation. Hightouch is recognized as a Leader in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Customer Data Platforms.

Company Size: The description implies a growing, well-funded startup that has achieved significant market recognition (Gartner Leader) and works with large enterprises. Likely in the range of 100-500 employees, but growing rapidly.

Founded: 2019. Hightouch is a relatively young company, indicating a fast-paced, innovative, and agile culture.

Team Structure:

• Cross-functional Collaboration: The role explicitly requires close partnership with Solutions Engineering, Sales, Product, and Engineering teams, indicating a highly collaborative and integrated GTM and product development structure.

• Impact-Driven: The company culture is described as ambitious, impact-driven, and efficient, with a strong emphasis on raising the bar.

• Values-Centric: Humility, kindness, and compassion are highlighted as essential values, suggesting a supportive and people-oriented work environment despite the high-performance expectations.

Methodology:

• Agentic Marketing: The core of Hightouch's platform is "Agentic Marketing," which implies AI agents performing tasks autonomously or semi-autonomously based on defined workflows and brand guidelines.

• Data-Driven & AI-Powered: The company's mission is centered on leveraging data and AI to help customers grow, suggesting a strong analytical and technological foundation in all operations.

• Velocity & Craftsmanship: The team values both speed of execution ("velocity") and high-quality output ("craft").

Company Website: https://www.hightouch.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: Hightouch positions itself as a leader in a rapidly evolving MarTech space, emphasizing innovation, customer success, and a strong cultural foundation. The "Agentic Marketing Platform" is a key differentiator. The culture appears to balance high performance with strong interpersonal values.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is positioned as a senior individual contributor, a "Creative Center of Gravity" for AI-driven email marketing. It’s a critical role that bridges creative, technical, and client-facing responsibilities. It’s not a traditional "operations" role in terms of process management, but rather a "GTM Enablement" and "Creative Operations" role that requires operational rigor in execution and strategy.

Reporting Structure: While not explicitly stated, this role likely reports into a Head of Creative, Head of Solutions Engineering, or a senior Marketing/GTM leadership position. The close collaboration with Solutions Engineering suggests a strong integration with the pre-sales and post-sales technical teams.

Operations Impact: The impact of this role is direct and significant:

• Customer Adoption & Success: By proving the platform's capabilities with on-brand creative, this role directly accelerates customer adoption and ensures their success with Hightouch.

• Revenue Generation: Successful email campaigns driven by this role contribute directly to customer revenue growth, which in turn drives Hightouch's growth.

• Product Evolution: Insights from this role are crucial for shaping the product roadmap, ensuring Hightouch remains at the forefront of AI marketing technology.

• Category Definition: The work done here helps define how recognizable brands build email with AI, establishing Hightouch as a thought leader.

Growth Opportunities:

• Creative Leadership: Opportunity to become a leading voice in AI-driven creative strategy and execution within the MarTech industry.

• Product Influence: Direct impact on product development, potentially leading to opportunities in product management or strategy roles focused on creative AI.

• Client Relationship Management: Deepen expertise in managing high-profile enterprise client relationships and driving strategic initiatives.

• Team Building & Mentorship: As the team scales, opportunities to mentor junior creatives and build out the creative function.

• Specialization: Deepen expertise in AI, prompt engineering, and specific lifecycle marketing channels.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role offers a unique blend of creative mastery and forward-thinking technology application. Growth paths are likely tied to becoming a subject matter expert, influencing product direction, and potentially leading future creative teams or initiatives within Hightouch. It's a role for someone who wants to be at the forefront of a new wave of marketing technology.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Fully Remote. This means the work environment is primarily digital, relying on collaboration tools and virtual communication.

Office Location(s): Remote, United States. This allows candidates from across the US to apply, offering flexibility in personal location.

Workspace Context:

• Digital Collaboration Hub: The primary workspace will be online, utilizing platforms like Slack, Zoom, Google Workspace, and Hightouch's own platform.

• High-Paced Innovation: Expect a dynamic environment where new AI capabilities are constantly emerging, requiring continuous learning and adaptation.

• Client-Facing Interaction: Significant portion of the work involves direct interaction with enterprise clients, demanding professionalism, strong communication skills, and the ability to present complex ideas clearly.

• Creative Freedom & Constraints: While there's ample room for creative expression and innovation, this must be balanced with strict adherence to client brand guidelines and performance objectives.

• Access to Cutting-Edge Technology: Employees will have direct access to and influence over a leading AI-powered marketing platform.

Work Schedule: While the role is full-time (approx. 40 hours/week), the remote nature and client-facing responsibilities may necessitate flexibility. There will be a strong emphasis on asynchronous communication and efficient workflow management to accommodate different time zones and client needs.

📝 Enhancement Note: The remote work environment demands self-discipline, excellent communication skills, and proficiency with digital collaboration tools. The focus on "Agentic Marketing" suggests a forward-thinking, technologically advanced workspace.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

1. Application Review: Initial screening focusing on resume and, critically, the provided portfolio link. A strong portfolio demonstrating relevant skills and aesthetic sensibility is paramount.

2. Hiring Manager/Recruiter Screen: A preliminary conversation to assess cultural fit, overall experience, motivation for the role, and initial understanding of AI and email design concepts.

3. Creative/Solutions Engineering Interview: A deeper dive into your portfolio with a focus on specific projects, your creative process, AI application, and how you've handled enterprise client challenges. This may involve a portfolio presentation.

4. Skills Assessment / Case Study: Candidates may be asked to complete a take-home assignment or a live exercise. This could involve:

• Developing prompts and a conceptual workflow for a given brand scenario.
• Critiquing existing email creative and proposing AI-driven improvements.
• Designing a sample email based on provided brand guidelines and a brief.
• Presenting a strategy for a specific lifecycle marketing challenge.

1. Cross-Functional Interview: Meeting with team members from Product, Engineering, or Sales to assess collaboration style, technical understanding, and ability to contribute to product discussions.

2. Final Interview: Likely with a senior leader to discuss overall vision, strategic thinking, and final alignment on role expectations and company culture.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate Strategically: Select 3-5 of your strongest, most relevant projects that best showcase your email design, lifecycle marketing, and AI integration capabilities.

• Tell a Story: For each project, clearly articulate the problem, your role, the process (especially AI usage), the solution, and the measurable results. Use visuals effectively.

• Highlight AI Integration: If AI was part of the workflow, explicitly detail how you used it, what tools, what prompts, and how it enhanced the outcome compared to traditional methods.

• Demonstrate Brand Acumen: Show examples where you successfully navigated and applied complex brand guidelines.

• Quantify Impact: Whenever possible, provide data and metrics that demonstrate the performance and ROI of your work.

• Be Prepared to Discuss: Know your portfolio inside and out. Be ready to answer detailed questions about your design choices, technical challenges, and strategic thinking.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand Hightouch's Platform: Familiarize yourself with Hightouch's Agentic Marketing Platform, its capabilities, and how it differs from traditional marketing tools.

• Research Client Brands: If a specific client is mentioned, research their brand, current marketing efforts, and potential areas for AI-driven email optimization.

• Practice Prompt Engineering: Be ready to discuss your approach to crafting effective prompts for various AI models (text, image).

• Email Rendering: Brush up on best practices for email rendering across different clients and devices.

• Lifecycle Marketing Strategy: Be prepared to discuss common lifecycle stages and strategies for each.

• Articulate "Taste": Practice articulating why certain designs work, connecting aesthetics to brand strategy and performance goals.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process is designed to rigorously assess creative talent, technical aptitude with AI, client-facing skills, and strategic thinking. The portfolio is the absolute cornerstone of the application. Candidates must be prepared to demonstrate practical application of skills through case studies and potential assignments.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Hightouch Agentic Marketing Platform: This will be the core tool. Deep understanding and ability to configure workflows, prompts, and libraries within it will be essential.

• AI Generative Models (Text & Image): Proficiency with leading AI tools for content creation (e.g., OpenAI's GPT models, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, or similar).

• Design Software: Figma (highly probable for modern tech companies), Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator).

• Email Development Tools: Potentially MJML, Litmus, Email on Acid for testing and development, or direct HTML/CSS coding.

• Node-Based UIs: Familiarity with tools that allow for visual workflow construction (e.g., Zapier, Make, or more specialized AI workflow builders).

Analytics & Reporting:

• Customer Data Platform (CDP): Understanding of how CDPs like Hightouch integrate and leverage customer data for personalization.

• A/B Testing Platforms: Experience with tools for setting up and analyzing email A/B tests.

• Web Analytics: Familiarity with tools like Google Analytics to understand downstream conversion impacts.

• Internal Reporting Dashboards: Likely to use internal BI tools for performance tracking.

CRM & Automation:

• CRM Systems: Understanding of how CRM data (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot) feeds into marketing platforms.

• Marketing Automation Platforms: Familiarity with broader marketing automation concepts and platforms is beneficial.

• Integration Tools: Awareness of how different marketing technologies connect.

📝 Enhancement Note: The technology stack is heavily focused on AI and MarTech. The candidate must be comfortable with cutting-edge AI tools, design software, and ideally have some exposure to CDP concepts and email development/testing tools. Proficiency within Hightouch's proprietary platform will be a key learning curve.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Craftsmanship: A relentless pursuit of high-quality creative output, ensuring brand integrity and aesthetic excellence even when leveraging AI.

• Impact-Driven: Focus on delivering tangible business results for customers through data-informed and AI-powered marketing strategies.

• Efficiency & Velocity: Embracing speed and agility in execution, leveraging AI and optimized workflows to deliver value rapidly.

• Humility & Kindness: A collaborative and supportive team environment where individuals treat each other with respect and compassion, fostering psychological safety.

• Curiosity & Innovation: A drive to explore new technologies, experiment with AI capabilities, and push the boundaries of what's possible in marketing.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Partnership: Expect seamless collaboration with Solutions Engineering, Sales, Product, and Engineering. This involves active listening, clear communication, and a shared sense of ownership for customer success.

• Feedback-Driven: An open culture for giving and receiving constructive feedback, particularly around creative work and AI workflows, to drive continuous improvement.

• Knowledge Sharing: A commitment to documenting learnings, sharing best practices, and building collective expertise around AI in marketing.

• Customer-Centricity: All efforts are ultimately aimed at empowering customers to achieve their business goals through Hightouch's platform.

📝 Enhancement Note: The culture emphasizes high performance and innovation ("velocity," "raising the bar") alongside strong interpersonal values ("humility, kindness, compassion"). The collaborative style is key to success in this cross-functional role.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Bridging AI Output with Brand Standards: Ensuring AI-generated creative consistently meets the high aesthetic and brand integrity demands of sophisticated enterprise clients.

• Pace of AI Evolution: Staying ahead of the rapid advancements in AI technology and continuously adapting workflows and strategies.

• Educating Enterprise Clients: Guiding clients through the adoption of AI-driven marketing and demonstrating its value beyond novelty.

• Balancing Creativity and Performance: Achieving both visually stunning creative and measurable engagement/conversion metrics.

• Defining a New Category: Being at the forefront of a nascent field means charting new territory and establishing best practices as you go.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Deep AI Expertise: Become a recognized expert in applying generative AI to creative marketing challenges.

• Industry Leadership: Contribute to defining the future of AI in lifecycle marketing, potentially through thought leadership or speaking engagements.

• Product Strategy Influence: Directly impact the roadmap of a leading MarTech platform.

• Enterprise Client Engagement: Develop advanced skills in consulting for major global brands.

• Mentorship: Opportunity to mentor emerging talent in creative AI and email marketing.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges are inherent to working at the cutting edge of AI and marketing technology. Growth opportunities are significant for individuals who thrive in dynamic, innovative environments and are eager to shape the future of the industry.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you had to translate complex brand guidelines into a creative deliverable. What was your process, and what were the key challenges?" (Focus on process, problem-solving, and brand adherence.)

• "How would you approach using AI to generate an onboarding email sequence for a new SaaS product, ensuring it's on-brand and drives user activation?" (Assess AI application, lifecycle understanding, and strategic thinking.)

• "Imagine a client is unhappy with the 'AI look' of their generated emails. How would you address their concerns and guide them toward on-brand, high-performing creative?" (Tests client management, creative problem-solving, and ability to manage expectations.)

• "Walk us through your process for A/B testing email creative. What metrics do you prioritize, and how do you use the results to inform future design?" (Evaluates data-driven approach and performance focus.) Company & Culture Questions:

• "What excites you most about Hightouch's mission and the Agentic Marketing Platform?" (Assesses alignment with company vision and product.)

• "How do you stay current with the rapidly evolving AI landscape and generative models?" (Probes for continuous learning and proactive engagement with technology.)

• "Describe your ideal collaborative environment. How do you work with engineering and product teams?" (Gauges fit with Hightouch's cross-functional culture.)

• "What does 'taste' mean to you in the context of email design, and how do you ensure it's maintained with AI tools?" (Explores subjective design philosophy and ability to articulate it.) Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure Your Narrative: For each portfolio piece, clearly outline: Problem -> Your Role/Process (emphasizing AI use) -> Solution -> Results (quantified).

• Highlight AI's Role: Explicitly point out where and how AI was used, what prompts you crafted, and how it contributed to the outcome. If AI was not used but could have been, discuss that potential.

• Showcase Brand Adherence: Be ready to discuss how you ensured brand consistency and why your creative choices aligned with the brand's identity.

• Focus on Impact: Emphasize the measurable results and business impact of your work. Use charts or clear data points.

• Be Prepared for Deep Dives: Expect questions about specific design choices, technical challenges, and alternative approaches you considered.

• Conciseness: Respect the interviewer's time. Practice delivering your presentations efficiently and engagingly.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview preparation should heavily emphasize the portfolio, AI fluency, and client-facing capabilities. Candidates must be ready to articulate their creative process, demonstrate strategic thinking, and showcase measurable results, all through the lens of AI-driven marketing.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Forward Deployed Creative Designer, Email position:

• Submit your application through the Hightouch careers portal, ensuring you include a direct link to your online portfolio.

• Portfolio Customization: Tailor your portfolio to highlight your strongest examples of email design, lifecycle marketing campaigns, and any experience integrating AI into creative workflows. Prioritize projects that demonstrate brand adherence and measurable results.

• Resume Optimization: Ensure your resume clearly articulates your experience with email design, AI tools, client management, and performance metrics. Use keywords from the job description naturally.

• Prepare Your Narrative: Practice articulating your creative process, your understanding of AI's role in marketing, and how you've driven successful campaigns. Be ready to discuss specific projects from your portfolio in detail.

• Company Research: Thoroughly research Hightouch, its Agentic Marketing Platform, its clients, and its company values. Understand their position in the MarTech landscape and the unique challenges and opportunities in AI-driven marketing.

⚠️ 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.