Senior Graphic Designer, Performance Marketing, Homes.com

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Graphic Designer, Performance Marketing

Company: CoStar Group (Homes.com)

Location: Irvine, California, United States

Job Type: FULL_TIME

Category: Marketing Operations / Creative Operations

Date Posted: 2025-11-26

Experience Level: 5+ Years

Remote Status: On-site

🚀 Role Summary

• This role is pivotal in driving the visual strategy for Homes.com's performance marketing initiatives, focusing on creating highly effective, conversion-oriented creative assets.

• Candidates will directly support the SEM/SEO Performance Marketing team, translating data-driven insights into compelling visual designs for paid search, paid social, display advertising, and email campaigns.

• The position demands a blend of strong artistic talent and a keen understanding of performance metrics, rapid experimentation, and data-informed creative optimization.

• Success in this role hinges on the ability to rapidly iterate on creative, scale successful campaigns, and contribute to Homes.com's mission of reimagining the home search experience through impactful design.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the title is "Senior Graphic Designer," the emphasis on "Performance Marketing," "SEM/SEO," "paid social," "A/B experimentation," and "conversion-focused creative" strongly indicates a role deeply integrated with marketing operations and revenue generation. This role requires not just aesthetic skills but a strategic, data-driven approach to design that directly impacts campaign performance. The "Operations Category" has been broadened to include Marketing Operations and Creative Operations to reflect this.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Concept, design, and deliver a high volume of creative assets for performance marketing channels including paid search, paid social, native, programmatic display ads, CRM/email campaigns, and direct-response creative.

• Develop creative variations and robust testing frameworks to support rapid A/B experimentation, leveraging performance data and insights to inform design iterations.

• Produce engaging motion assets, such as short-form video and GIFs, for social media and programmatic advertising placements to enhance engagement and click-through rates.

• Build and maintain a library of creative templates and platform-specific specification guidelines to facilitate rapid iteration and ensure brand consistency across all digital touchpoints.

• Ensure all designed assets adhere to technical requirements of various advertising platforms, maintain brand standards, and meet accessibility fundamentals, including legible typography and appropriate alt text for small ad units.

• Collaborate closely with the creative lead, marketing stakeholders, and channel specialists to deliver visually appealing, functional, and conversion-focused creative that aligns with campaign objectives.

• Clearly present creative concepts, final executions, and the underlying rationale, demonstrating a data-informed approach to design decisions that support campaign performance.

• Execute final production, variation builds, and necessary resizing of creative assets across multiple advertising vendors like Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Taboola, optimizing ad delivery through innovative creative units.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a need for efficiency, rapid iteration, and data-driven decision-making, which are core tenets of operations roles. The emphasis on "optimization," "testing frameworks," "platform technical specs," and "vendor collaboration" points to a process-oriented approach to creative production.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: Bachelor’s degree from an accredited, not-for-profit, in-person University or College.

Experience: 5+ years of experience designing performance marketing, growth, or direct response advertising, gained either in-house or at an agency.

Required Skills:

• Strong visual design fundamentals, including expert knowledge of typography, composition, and visual hierarchy.

• Demonstrated ability to translate Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) or performance insights into new, creative executions that drive measurable results.

• Hands-on experience building assets that meet the technical specifications of major platforms such as Google Ads, Meta (Facebook/Instagram), DV360, programmatic ad platforms, and email marketing platforms.

• Proficiency in industry-standard design software, including Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator), Figma, and After Effects.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to clearly present and rationalize creative decisions, grounding them in performance outcomes and data.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience working with generative AI creative workflows to ethically scale variations and increase production efficiency.

• Familiarity with SEO-driven visual content, such as infographics and link-building assets, understanding how design supports organic search strategies.

• Basic understanding of HTML/CSS to inform performance-oriented visual executions and ensure technical feasibility for web-based assets.

📝 Enhancement Note: The required skills emphasize not just design talent but also technical proficiency with specific platforms and software, a data-informed mindset ("translate a KPI... into a new creative execution"), and project management capabilities ("highly organized," "manage competing priorities," "ship fast"). These are all critical for operations roles focused on execution and optimization.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• A comprehensive portfolio showcasing a strong track record in performance marketing and direct response creative, demonstrating a clear understanding of conversion-driven design principles.

• Specific examples of designed assets for digital advertising platforms (e.g., Google Ads, Meta Ads, programmatic display) that highlight adaptability to platform specifications and best practices.

• Case studies or examples demonstrating the ability to translate performance data, A/B test results, or campaign insights into design iterations and optimizations.

• Work samples that illustrate proficiency in creating motion graphics (GIFs, short videos) for digital ad placements, showcasing dynamic content creation.

Process Documentation:

• The portfolio should implicitly or explicitly demonstrate an understanding of agile creative workflows, rapid iteration cycles, and a systematic approach to A/B testing creative variations.

• Examples should reflect an ability to build and maintain creative templates and adhere to platform-specific spec guidelines, indicating a process-driven approach to asset production and scaling.

• Visuals or explanations that hint at how design decisions were informed by performance metrics, user feedback, or campaign goals, showcasing a data-informed design process.

📝 Enhancement Note: The explicit requirement for a portfolio, coupled with the emphasis on performance data, A/B testing, and platform specifications, underscores the process-oriented nature of this role. Applicants are expected to demonstrate not just creative output but the underlying methodology and iterative processes used to achieve performance goals.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: $81,000 - $109,000 annually.

Benefits:

• Comprehensive healthcare coverage: Medical, Vision, Dental, and Prescription Drug plans.

• Life, Legal, and Supplementary insurance options.

• Virtual and in-person mental health counseling services for individuals and families.

• Commuter and parking benefits to support on-site work.

• 401(K) retirement plan with matching contributions, facilitating long-term financial planning.

• Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) for ownership opportunities within CoStar Group.

• Generous Paid Time Off (PTO) to support work-life balance.

• Tuition reimbursement program to support continued education and professional development.

• On-site fitness center (location dependent) or reimbursed fitness center membership costs, including yoga, Peloton, and group classes.

• Access to CoStar Group’s Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Employee Resource Groups, fostering a sense of community and belonging.

• Complimentary gourmet coffee, tea, hot chocolate, fresh fruit, and other healthy snacks available on-site.

Working Hours: Standard 40-hour work week, Monday through Friday. This is an on-site position.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range provided is typical for a Senior Graphic Designer role with specialized digital performance marketing experience in a high-cost-of-living area like Irvine, CA. The benefits package is comprehensive and aligns with that of a large, established corporation like CoStar Group. The "40-hour work week" and "on-site" designation are standard operational parameters.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Commercial and residential real estate information, analytics, and online marketplaces. CoStar Group is a significant player in the proptech and data analytics space, with Homes.com representing a key consumer-facing digital marketplace.

Company Size: CoStar Group is a large, publicly traded company (NASDAQ: CSGP), indicated by its S&P 500 and NASDAQ 100 listings. This suggests a structured environment with established processes and significant resources.

Founded: CoStar Group has over 35 years of experience, highlighting a long-standing presence and deep industry expertise. Homes.com, as a CoStar Group company, benefits from this established foundation while aiming for innovation in the digital real estate space.

Team Structure:

• The role reports to the Homes.com VP of SEO/SEM, indicating a direct line to leadership within the performance marketing function.

• The Senior Graphic Designer will work closely with a "creative lead," "marketing stakeholders," and "channel specialists," suggesting a collaborative, cross-functional team environment typical in marketing operations.

Methodology:

• The team employs a data-informed approach to creative development, utilizing performance metrics and A/B testing to optimize campaign effectiveness.

• Workflow processes are designed for rapid iteration and scaling, with an emphasis on producing high-quality creative assets under tight timelines.

• Collaboration with advertising vendors is a key operational aspect, requiring the designer to understand and adapt to platform-specific requirements and opportunities.

Company Website: https://www.costar.com/ and https://www.homes.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: The context of CoStar Group as a large, established entity with a strong focus on data and analytics, combined with Homes.com's mission to "reimagine the home search experience," points to an operations culture that balances proven methodologies with a drive for innovation and digital transformation. The "methodology" section infers standard operations best practices for marketing creative production.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This is a "Senior" Graphic Designer role, signifying a level of expertise beyond entry-level. It requires at least 5 years of specialized experience, indicating a need for demonstrated success in performance marketing creative and a strong portfolio. The role involves strategic input on creative variations and testing frameworks, moving beyond pure execution to influencing campaign strategy through design.

Reporting Structure: The designer reports to the VP of SEO/SEM, placing them directly within a critical performance marketing leadership team. This provides high visibility and direct impact on core business objectives. Collaboration will extend to a creative lead and various marketing channel specialists, fostering cross-functional operational alignment.

Operations Impact: The primary impact of this role is directly tied to campaign performance metrics such as click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, and return on ad spend (ROAS). By designing high-performing creative, the role contributes directly to customer acquisition and revenue generation for Homes.com's performance marketing efforts. The ability to rapidly iterate and scale successful creative is a direct operational lever for maximizing marketing efficiency and spend.

Growth Opportunities:

• Specialization & Leadership: Potential to grow into a Creative Lead role within performance marketing, managing a small team or specific creative streams, or to specialize further in areas like motion graphics or advanced A/B testing creative strategies.

• Cross-Functional Expertise: Opportunity to deepen understanding of SEO/SEM strategies, analytics, and other marketing operations functions through close collaboration, potentially leading to broader marketing operations roles.

• Industry Impact: Contributing to a major digital marketplace like Homes.com offers significant career visibility and the chance to shape the visual language of a re-imagined real estate search experience. Advanced training and tuition reimbursement support formal skill development.

📝 Enhancement Note: The career path is clearly defined within performance marketing creative, with opportunities for increased scope, leadership, and specialized skill development. The direct reporting line to a VP and the emphasis on measurable impact align with typical growth trajectories in operations-focused roles.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: The position is explicitly "in office" Monday through Friday, indicating a traditional, collaborative workspace rather than a remote or hybrid setup.

Office Location(s): Irvine, California. This location is known for its vibrant business community and access to talent in creative and technology sectors.

Workspace Context:

• The environment is described as "collaborative and innovative," suggesting an open or team-oriented workspace that encourages interaction.

• As part of CoStar Group, the designer will likely have access to modern design tools and technology, including Adobe Creative Suite, Figma, and After Effects, essential for high-quality creative production.

• Opportunities for interaction with marketing stakeholders, channel specialists, and a creative lead will be frequent, fostering a dynamic and communicative work atmosphere.

Work Schedule: A standard 40-hour work week, Monday through Friday, is expected. While the role emphasizes "shipping fast" and meeting "tight timelines," indicating a need for efficiency, the described schedule is generally predictable.

📝 Enhancement Note: The on-site nature of the role suggests a structured work environment where in-person collaboration, direct feedback, and team synergy are prioritized, which is common for creative and marketing operations teams.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: Likely involves a review of the resume and a preliminary assessment of portfolio relevance to performance marketing.

• Portfolio Presentation & Technical Interview: Candidates will be expected to present their portfolio, highlighting specific projects that demonstrate their skills in performance marketing design, A/B testing, platform technical specs, and data-informed creative. This stage will assess their understanding of KPIs and their ability to translate them into design.

• Creative/Stakeholder Interviews: Interviews with the creative lead, VP of SEO/SEM, and potentially other marketing stakeholders to assess creative thinking, collaboration style, communication skills, and cultural fit within the fast-paced, experiment-driven team.

• Skills Assessment/Challenge: A practical design challenge may be given, focusing on creating ad variations or optimizing existing creative based on a hypothetical performance brief. This tests their ability to apply skills under pressure and within specific constraints.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate for Performance: Select projects that explicitly show a direct impact on campaign performance (e.g., increased CTR, conversion rates). Quantify results with data whenever possible.

• Showcase Process: Include examples demonstrating your A/B testing approach, how you iterated on creative based on performance data, and how you adapted designs for different platforms and specifications.

• Highlight Technical Proficiency: Ensure your portfolio includes examples of assets built to specific technical requirements for platforms like Google Ads, Meta, or programmatic display.

• Demonstrate Versatility: Include a range of creative types (display ads, social ads, GIFs/short videos, email assets) to show breadth of skill.

• Tell a Story: For each project, briefly explain the objective, your role, the creative process, the challenges, and the quantifiable results achieved.

Challenge Preparation:

• Familiarize yourself with current trends in digital advertising creative, especially within the real estate or e-commerce sectors.

• Practice designing multiple ad variations quickly, focusing on clear calls-to-action and visual hierarchy.

• Be prepared to articulate your design rationale, linking your choices to potential performance outcomes and audience targeting.

• Understand how to incorporate brand guidelines while still optimizing for performance.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on a portfolio review, performance data, A/B testing, and platform specifications strongly indicates an operations-focused interview process where practical application and measurable results are key evaluation criteria.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Design Tools:

• Adobe Creative Suite: Essential for graphic design and motion graphics. Proficiency in Photoshop, Illustrator, and After Effects is explicitly required.

• Figma: Required for collaborative design, prototyping, and potentially building responsive landing page experiences or design systems.

• Generative AI Tools (Preferred): Experience with AI-powered creative workflows for scaling variations, indicating an openness to leveraging technology for efficiency.

Advertising Platforms & Specifications:

• Google Ads: Deep understanding of ad formats, specifications, and best practices for search and display.

• Meta (Facebook/Instagram) Ads: Familiarity with creative requirements for social media campaigns.

• DV360 (Display & Video 360) / Programmatic Platforms: Knowledge of creative asset specifications for programmatic display and video advertising.

• Email/CRM Platforms: Ability to design assets optimized for email campaigns and customer relationship management systems.

Web & Development Fundamentals:

• Responsive Design Principles: Ability to design for various screen sizes and devices.

• Basic HTML/CSS Understanding (Preferred): Useful for ensuring technical feasibility and optimizing visual executions for web interfaces.

Collaboration & Project Management:

• While not explicitly listed, tools for project management, asset management, and team collaboration (e.g., Asana, Trello, Slack) are likely utilized within a large organization like CoStar Group.

📝 Enhancement Note: The explicit mention of Adobe Creative Suite, Figma, and After Effects, along with familiarity with advertising platforms, highlights the technical toolkit required for this role. The inclusion of AI and basic HTML/CSS points to an operations environment that values efficiency and technical understanding.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Performance-Driven: A strong emphasis on measurable results, KPIs, and conversion optimization is central to the team's ethos. Design decisions are expected to be data-informed and performance-oriented.

• Agility & Speed: The environment is "fast-moving" and requires the ability to "ship fast" and iterate rapidly, reflecting an operational focus on efficient execution and quick turnaround times.

• Collaboration: Close partnership with creative leads, marketing stakeholders, and channel specialists is essential, indicating a culture that values teamwork and cross-functional communication.

• Innovation & Experimentation: The team thrives on "rapid experimentation," suggesting a culture that encourages trying new approaches and learning from outcomes, aligned with growth marketing operations.

• Quality & Brand Consistency: Despite the speed, maintaining "high creative standards" and adhering to "brand standards" is crucial, balancing efficiency with brand integrity.

Collaboration Style:

• The team operates with a high degree of cross-functional integration, with the designer working directly with VPs, creative leads, and channel specialists.

• Communication is expected to be clear and rationale-driven, especially when presenting creative concepts and justifying design choices based on performance data.

• A culture of feedback exchange is implied, as creative variations are developed and tested based on performance insights and stakeholder input.

📝 Enhancement Note: The values highlight a blend of creative excellence and operational rigor. The emphasis on data, speed, and collaboration is characteristic of modern marketing operations teams focused on driving measurable business outcomes.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Balancing Creativity with Performance: The primary challenge is consistently producing visually compelling creative that also meets stringent performance metrics and conversion goals in a highly competitive digital advertising landscape.

• Rapid Iteration Under Pressure: Managing a high volume of creative requests and iterations while maintaining high quality and meeting tight deadlines requires strong time management and efficient workflows.

• Platform Complexity: Staying current with the ever-evolving technical specifications and best practices across multiple advertising platforms (Google, Meta, programmatic, etc.) is an ongoing challenge.

• Data Interpretation: Effectively translating complex performance data and A/B test results into actionable design improvements requires analytical and critical thinking skills.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Advanced Performance Creative: Deepen expertise in designing for specific channels and understanding advanced conversion optimization techniques.

• Motion Graphics & Video: Enhance skills in producing short-form video and animated GIFs, a growing demand in digital advertising.

• Generative AI for Creative: Explore and implement AI tools to scale creative production ethically and efficiently.

• Marketing Analytics & Strategy: Gain deeper insights into SEO/SEM strategies, campaign management, and broader marketing operations by working closely with the VP and channel specialists.

• Industry Conferences & Training: Potential for professional development through industry events, workshops, and CoStar Group's tuition reimbursement program.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges and growth opportunities are framed around the unique demands of performance marketing creative and how they align with operations' focus on efficiency, data, and continuous improvement.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you used performance data or A/B test results to inform a significant change to a creative asset. What was the outcome?" (Assesses data-driven decision-making and impact.)

• "How do you approach designing creative variations for rapid A/B testing across multiple platforms like Google Ads and Meta?" (Evaluates process, understanding of platform specs, and efficiency.)

• "Walk us through your process for creating a set of display ad assets for a new campaign, from brief to final delivery." (Tests workflow, organization, and understanding of the full creative lifecycle.)

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What excites you about Homes.com and CoStar Group's mission to digitize real estate?" (Gauges interest and alignment with company vision.)

• "How do you handle tight deadlines and a high volume of creative requests in a fast-paced marketing environment?" (Assesses ability to thrive in an operations-centric, high-pressure setting.)

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Quantify Everything: For each relevant project, highlight the specific KPIs you influenced (e.g., "Increased CTR by 15%," "Contributed to a 10% lift in conversions").

• Showcase Iteration: Present examples where you A/B tested creative and how you evolved designs based on performance data. This demonstrates your iterative, operations-minded approach.

• Detail Platform Specificity: For ad examples, briefly mention how you adhered to platform technical specs and best practices.

• Explain Your 'Why': Clearly articulate the strategic thinking behind your design choices, linking them back to campaign objectives and performance goals.

• Be Ready for Live Challenges: Practice designing a few ad variations quickly, focusing on clear messaging, strong CTAs, and visual hierarchy.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview preparation advice focuses on demonstrating operational competencies such as data-driven decision-making, process efficiency, platform knowledge, and measurable impact, which are crucial for success in this type of role.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Senior Graphic Designer position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on the CoStar careers portal.

• Curate Your Portfolio: Carefully select and organize projects that specifically highlight your experience in performance marketing, A/B testing, and designing for digital advertising platforms. Quantify results with metrics where possible.

• Tailor Your Resume: Ensure your resume clearly emphasizes your 5+ years of experience in performance marketing or direct response advertising, and prominently lists your proficiency in required tools like Adobe Creative Suite, Figma, and After Effects.

• Prepare Your Presentation: Be ready to articulate your design rationale, process, and the performance impact of your work during the portfolio review. Practice explaining how you translate data into creative solutions.

• Research Homes.com: Understand their current marketing efforts, brand aesthetic, and target audience to better tailor your responses and demonstrate alignment with their goals.

⚠️ 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.