Lead Designer (AI)

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Lead Designer (AI)

Company: Nextiva

Location: Scottsdale, Arizona, United States

Job Type: Full-Time

Category: Creative & Media / Marketing Operations / Design Leadership

Date Posted: April 15, 2026

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

Remote Status: On-site

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead innovative, AI-first creative production for marketing campaigns and brand storytelling.

• Drive the strategic application of AI tools like Cursor and Claude to automate creative workflows and scale output.

• Manage and mentor a team of designers and videographers, fostering an AI-native creative culture.

• Steward the company's new brand identity, ensuring consistency and thoughtful expansion across all touchpoints.

• Collaborate cross-functionally to connect creative execution with business objectives and performance metrics.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned as a "Lead Designer (AI)" with a strong emphasis on operationalizing AI within creative production. The core function involves not just design execution but also process innovation and team leadership, making it a hybrid role blending creative direction with GTM operations strategy. The requirement for fluency in Cursor and Claude, and the emphasis on building functional prototypes, indicates a direct impact on marketing operations efficiency and campaign velocity.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Spearhead the design and production of high-quality creative assets across all marketing channels, including landing pages, campaign creative, digital ads, email, video, and brand moments, ensuring alignment with brand guidelines and business objectives.

• Redesign and implement AI-first creative workflows from ideation to delivery, leveraging AI for concepting, copywriting, asset generation, and prototype development to automate repetitive production tasks.

• Manage the day-to-day operations of the creative team, including work assignment, unblocking team members, project tracking, and onboarding them to AI-native tools and processes.

• Define and document best practices, prompts, and patterns for AI-assisted creative production to establish a high standard of output and facilitate knowledge sharing across the marketing organization.

• Act as a brand steward, maintaining consistency of the new brand identity across all surfaces and thoughtfully expanding the brand system with new templates, asset types, and channel-specific adaptations.

• Partner with growth, demand generation, and product marketing teams to ensure creative initiatives drive awareness, engagement, and pipeline, utilizing performance data to inform creative direction and iteration.

• Develop and implement repeatable, AI-driven processes for producing high-volume, brand-consistent creative, aiming to multiply team output without increasing headcount through standardized review criteria, asset templates, and production workflows.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a significant operational component, focusing on process building, automation, and scaling creative output. This goes beyond traditional design leadership to encompass GTM operations optimization through AI. The emphasis on "automating the mundane creative tasks" and "scaling creative output without scaling the team" directly points to improving marketing operations efficiency and ROI.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is mandated, a Bachelor's degree in Graphic Design, Visual Communications, Marketing, or a related field is typically expected for a leadership role of this nature. Equivalent practical experience and a strong portfolio will also be considered.

Experience: Proven creative leadership experience in a marketing, brand, or agency environment, with a minimum of 5-10 years of experience, including direct experience managing teams and staying hands-on with creative production.

Required Skills:

• Creative Leadership: Demonstrated ability to lead creative teams, set vision, and drive execution for impactful marketing campaigns.

• AI Tool Fluency: Daily, hands-on proficiency with AI creative tools, specifically Cursor and Claude, for concepting, copywriting, building, and shipping functional creative assets.

• Visual Design Judgment: Exceptional taste and strong visual judgment, with a keen eye for detail and the ability to push creative output to a high standard.

• Marketing Creative Production: Extensive experience producing a range of marketing creative, including landing pages, digital ads, campaign assets, brand design, and video.

• Coding Comfort: Ability to build and ship working web pages using code (e.g., via Cursor) without requiring deep engineering expertise.

• Process Improvement Mindset: A builder mentality focused on improving systems and processes for creative production, not just individual deliverables.

• Communication & Collaboration: Clear communication skills, ability to take creative direction from senior leadership, and translate it into effective team execution.

• Agility & Iteration: Comfort moving fast, iterating in the open, and embracing feedback as a tool for improvement.

Preferred Skills:

• Brand System Management: Experience working within and extending established brand systems, understanding the balance between consistency and thoughtful evolution.

• Design Systems: Familiarity with design systems, tokens, or component libraries for scalable design solutions.

• B2B SaaS/Tech Environment: Background in B2B SaaS, technology, or high-growth environments, understanding their unique marketing dynamics.

• Creative Technology Adoption: Experience evaluating and adopting new creative technologies for a team.

• Motion Design/Video: Interest or experience in motion design, video production, or interactive storytelling.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "fluency in Cursor and Claude as primary creative tools" and the portfolio requirement for "functioning projects you've built with AI tools" are critical differentiators. This isn't just about using AI as a suggestion tool; it's about integrating it fundamentally into the production pipeline, impacting the speed and efficiency of GTM operations. The "comfort working in code" further solidifies the hands-on, operational nature of this design role.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• AI-Built Functionality: A portfolio showcasing functioning projects directly built with AI tools (Cursor, Claude), demonstrating practical application beyond static mockups. This includes live landing pages, functional tools, shipped creative assets, or interactive prototypes.

• Workflow Automation Examples: Specific projects that illustrate how AI was leveraged to automate repetitive production tasks, such as ad variations, asset resizing, or template-based builds, highlighting efficiency gains.

• Process Improvement Case Studies: Demonstrations of how you have improved creative production systems and processes, showcasing a builder mindset and quantifiable impact on output or efficiency.

• Brand System Stewardship: Examples of maintaining brand consistency and thoughtfully expanding a brand system, illustrating adherence to guidelines and considered additions to brand assets.

Process Documentation:

• AI Workflow Documentation: Evidence of creating and documenting AI-native workflows, including prompts, patterns, and best practices that lead to consistently strong results and can be shared across teams.

• Scalable Production Methods: Documentation or examples of repeatable, AI-driven processes designed for producing high-volume, brand-consistent creative, detailing the systems put in place to multiply team output.

• Performance-Driven Iteration: Examples of how performance data was used to refine creative direction and iterate on campaign assets or landing pages, demonstrating a data-informed approach to creative optimization.

📝 Enhancement Note: The portfolio requirements are highly specific and geared towards demonstrating operational proficiency with AI in creative production. The emphasis on "functioning projects" and "automation examples" directly relates to the role's mandate to improve GTM operational efficiency through AI-driven creative.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Based on industry benchmarks for a Lead Designer role with AI specialization and 5-10 years of experience in Scottsdale, Arizona, the estimated annual salary range is $120,000 - $160,000. This range accounts for the specialized AI skills, leadership responsibilities, and the high cost of living in the Scottsdale area.

Benefits:

• Health & Wellness: Multiple health plan options (medical, dental, vision), telemedicine coverage, Health Savings Accounts (HSA) with company contributions, and an Employee Assistance Program (EAP).

• Insurance: Comprehensive life insurance, disability insurance, and supplemental indemnity plans.

• Work-Life Balance: Flexible Time Off for salaried employees, Paid Sick Time, Paid Parental Bonding Leave, and paid holidays, promoting a healthy work-life integration.

• Financial Security: 401(k) with a company match and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account (FSA).

• Professional Growth: Access to ongoing learning and development opportunities, including training, certifications, and career advancement programs.

Working Hours: This is a full-time position, typically requiring approximately 40 hours per week. While on-site, the company culture may offer some flexibility in daily scheduling, provided that project deadlines and team collaboration needs are met.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is an estimate based on the role's seniority, specialized AI skills, leadership component, and location. Compensation details are often variable and should be confirmed with the hiring team. The provided benefits are comprehensive and align with industry standards for established tech companies.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Nextiva operates within the B2B SaaS sector, specifically focusing on unified communications, customer experience (CX), and team collaboration platforms, increasingly powered by AI. The market is competitive, emphasizing innovation, reliability, and seamless user experiences.

Company Size: Nextiva serves over 100,000 businesses and 1M+ users globally, indicating a significant scale. The company has teams across the globe, suggesting a robust operational infrastructure and a multi-faceted approach to market. For operations professionals, this size implies opportunities for impact on a large scale, involvement in complex GTM strategies, and potential for process refinement across a broad user base.

Founded: Founded in 2008, Nextiva has a history of growth and evolution, positioning itself as a leader in its field. This tenure suggests a stable yet innovative company culture, with established processes that are now being disrupted by AI advancements.

Team Structure:

• Creative Team: The role directly manages a small team of designers and videographers, acting as a player-coach. This structure suggests a hands-on leadership approach where the lead is actively involved in production while guiding and mentoring subordinates.

• Marketing Department: The designer will work within the broader marketing department, reporting to a Creative Director and CMO. This implies a hierarchical structure with clear lines of communication and decision-making.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Close partnerships are expected with growth, demand generation, and product marketing teams. This necessitates strong communication and collaboration skills to ensure creative output aligns with broader GTM objectives.

Methodology:

• AI-Native Workflows: The core methodology is "AI-first," meaning AI tools like Claude and Cursor are the default starting point for ideation, concepting, and production, not an afterthought.

• Data-Driven Iteration: Creative output is expected to be connected to business results, with performance data used to refine direction and optimize campaigns.

• Process Optimization: A significant focus is placed on defining, documenting, and improving systems and processes for creative production to achieve scale and efficiency.

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

📝 Enhancement Note: Nextiva's positioning as an "AI-first company" is central to its culture and operations. For an operations professional, this means an environment that embraces technological disruption and seeks to integrate AI for efficiency and competitive advantage. The emphasis on "conversation centric platform" and "customer experience" suggests that operational efficiency is geared towards enhancing user interactions.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is a senior-level position, representing a significant step up from individual contributor designer roles. It blends advanced design skills with leadership, strategic thinking, and operational process management. The "Lead" title signifies responsibility for a team and a direct impact on how creative operations are conducted within the marketing department.

Reporting Structure: The Lead Designer (AI) will report to the Creative Director and CMO, indicating a direct line to senior leadership within the marketing function. This provides visibility and direct access for strategic alignment and decision-making.

Operations Impact: The role's primary impact is on marketing operations efficiency and GTM velocity. By leveraging AI to automate creative production and scale output, the Lead Designer directly contributes to the marketing team's ability to run more campaigns, test more variations, and reach more channels without proportional increases in headcount. This translates to improved ROI on creative investments and faster time-to-market for campaigns.

Growth Opportunities:

• AI Creative Leadership: Opportunity to become a recognized expert and thought leader in AI-native creative production, shaping industry best practices.

• Strategic Influence: Direct access to CMO and Creative Director provides a platform to influence marketing strategy and operational frameworks.

• Team Development: Experience in managing, mentoring, and developing a creative team, fostering skills in emerging AI technologies and workflows.

• Brand System Expansion: Opportunity to play a key role in evolving and expanding a recently launched brand identity, contributing significantly to the company's visual narrative.

• Cross-Functional Leadership: Potential to collaborate on and influence GTM strategies across growth, demand gen, and product marketing, broadening operational understanding.

📝 Enhancement Note: The growth trajectory here is unique, focusing on leadership within the emerging field of AI-driven creative operations. It offers a path to specialize in a high-demand skillset that is transforming marketing and GTM functions.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: The role is designated as "On-site" in Scottsdale, Arizona. This suggests a traditional office environment where in-person collaboration, team brainstorming, and direct mentorship are prioritized.

Office Location(s): Scottsdale, Arizona, a well-known hub for business and technology in the Phoenix metropolitan area. This location offers a professional setting with access to a talent pool and amenities.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Environment: The on-site requirement points to a culture that values face-to-face interaction, spontaneous discussions, and team synergy for creative problem-solving.

• AI Tools & Technology: The workspace will be equipped with the necessary technology to support AI-native workflows, including access to advanced AI platforms (Cursor, Claude) and standard design software.

• Team Interaction: Regular interaction with direct reports (designers, videographers) and cross-functional marketing teams is expected, fostering a dynamic and communicative work atmosphere.

Work Schedule: Standard full-time hours (approximately 40 per week) are expected. The on-site nature suggests adherence to typical business hours, though flexibility might be available for specific project needs or personal circumstances, as long as operational demands are met.

📝 Enhancement Note: The on-site requirement is a key differentiator in the current job market. It suggests a company that values in-person collaboration and potentially a more structured, traditional work environment, which can be appealing for operations roles requiring close team coordination.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A review of your resume and, critically, your portfolio to assess relevant experience and AI proficiency.

• Creative/Technical Interview: Discussions focused on your design taste, AI tool fluency (Cursor, Claude), experience with AI-native workflows, and your approach to creative automation. Expect to walk through specific projects from your portfolio.

• Team/Leadership Interview: Assessment of your team management style, ability to mentor, and experience in operationalizing processes. This may involve meeting with the Creative Director and potentially other marketing leaders.

• Challenge/Case Study: A potential assignment or in-depth discussion about how you would approach a specific creative challenge using AI, focusing on process, execution, and desired outcomes.

• Final Interview: Likely with senior leadership (CMO) to discuss overall strategic fit, cultural alignment, and impact on business objectives.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Show, Don't Just Tell: Prioritize demonstrating actual, functional output created with AI tools. Highlight the "how" and "why" behind your AI-driven process.

• Quantify Impact: For each project, articulate the problem, your AI-driven solution, and the results achieved (e.g., efficiency gains, faster turnaround, increased engagement). Use metrics where possible.

• Highlight Workflow Innovation: Showcase examples of how you've automated tasks or improved creative production systems.

• Code Snippets/Live Demos: Be prepared to share or demonstrate code snippets for web pages built in Cursor or provide live links to functional prototypes.

• Brand Stewardship Examples: Include specific instances where you maintained brand consistency or thoughtfully evolved a brand system.

Challenge Preparation:

• AI Workflow Design: Be ready to outline a hypothetical AI-native workflow for a given marketing objective (e.g., launching a new campaign, creating ad variations).

• Prompt Engineering: Consider how you would prompt AI tools to achieve specific creative outcomes, demonstrating an understanding of prompt engineering for design.

• Process Scalability: Think about how to scale AI-generated creative for different channels and audiences while maintaining quality and brand integrity.

• Team Onboarding: Prepare to discuss how you would train and onboard a team to adopt new AI tools and workflows.

📝 Enhancement Note: The portfolio review is paramount, with a strong emphasis on demonstrating tangible, AI-built work and operational efficiency. This indicates that the hiring team is looking for a practical, results-oriented candidate who can immediately implement and optimize AI-driven creative processes.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• AI Creative Platforms: Mandatory fluency in Cursor and Claude for daily creative build, concepting, copywriting, and workflow prototyping.

• Design & Prototyping: Proficiency in industry-standard design tools such as Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign), Figma, Sketch, or similar for refining AI outputs and complex design tasks.

• Coding: Comfort and ability to build and ship functional web pages using code, likely HTML, CSS, and potentially JavaScript, within environments like Cursor.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Performance Tracking: Familiarity with analytics platforms (e.g., Google Analytics) to measure the performance of creative assets and landing pages.

• Data Interpretation: Ability to interpret performance data to inform creative iteration and strategy refinement.

CRM & Automation:

• Marketing Automation Platforms: Understanding of how creative assets integrate with marketing automation tools (e.g., HubSpot, Marketo) for campaign execution.

• Content Management Systems (CMS): Experience with CMS platforms for deploying and managing web content, such as landing pages.

📝 Enhancement Note: The explicit mention of Cursor and Claude as primary tools signifies a significant shift in the expected technology stack for this role. This is not just about using AI; it's about building the operational infrastructure around these specific AI tools for creative production.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Drives Results: A strong bias for action, problem-solving, and delivering tangible outcomes. This translates to a focus on efficiency, speed, and measurable impact in creative production.

• Critical Thinker: Data-driven, forward-thinking approach to identifying key drivers, anticipating risks, and leveraging AI/automation to reduce friction and improve decision-making.

• Right Attitude: Collaborative, competitive, and resilient team player who fosters a culture of service, respect, and care for both customers and teammates. This implies a supportive team environment focused on shared goals.

Collaboration Style:

• AI-Native Integration: Collaboration will heavily involve working with and through AI tools, emphasizing efficiency and shared understanding of AI-generated outputs.

• Cross-Functional Partnership: Extensive collaboration with growth, demand gen, and product marketing teams, requiring clear communication and a shared understanding of GTM objectives.

• Iterative Feedback: An open culture for receiving and giving feedback, treating it as fuel for improvement and iteration, especially in the fast-paced AI development environment.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Nextiva DNA" values strongly emphasize efficiency, data-driven decision-making, and leveraging AI/automation. This directly informs how operations and creative work should be approached within the company.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Defining AI Creative Standards: Establishing and maintaining high creative quality and brand consistency while relying heavily on AI tools, which can sometimes produce average or inconsistent output.

• Team Adoption & Training: Onboarding and upskilling a design and video team on new AI-native workflows and tools, managing potential resistance or learning curves.

• Balancing Speed and Quality: Scaling creative output rapidly with AI while ensuring that the work meets a high bar for taste, strategy, and brand integrity.

• Evolving AI Landscape: Staying ahead of rapid advancements in AI creative technology and integrating new tools or techniques effectively into existing workflows.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• AI Specialization: Deepening expertise in cutting-edge AI creative tools and methodologies, becoming a leader in this niche.

• Leadership Development: Enhancing skills in team management, process optimization, and strategic operational planning.

• Cross-Functional Exposure: Gaining broader insights into GTM strategies by collaborating closely with growth, demand gen, and product marketing.

• Industry Trends: Staying abreast of AI advancements and their impact on marketing and design through conferences, workshops, and continuous learning.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is at the forefront of AI adoption in creative operations, presenting both significant challenges and unparalleled growth opportunities for those looking to shape the future of creative production.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "How would you establish and enforce brand consistency across AI-generated marketing assets for a new product launch?" (Focus on process, checkpoints, and AI prompt strategies).

• "Describe a time you used AI tools like Cursor or Claude to significantly improve the efficiency of a creative production workflow. What was the impact?" (Prepare a specific, quantified case study).

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What excites you most about Nextiva's 'AI-first' approach to customer experience and marketing?" (Show genuine interest in the company's mission and tech stack).

• "How would you foster a culture of AI adoption and continuous learning within a creative team?" (Discuss leadership style, training approaches, and overcoming potential resistance).

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• AI Workflow Walkthrough: For each key portfolio piece, clearly articulate the problem, the AI tools and prompts used, your human intervention/refinement, and the quantifiable results.

• Focus on Functionality: Emphasize the "built with AI" aspect – show live examples, explain the coding aspects if applicable, and highlight automation achievements.

• Brand System Integration: For brand-related projects, clearly explain how you maintained consistency and where you made thoughtful additions or expansions.

• Prepare for Technical Q&A: Be ready to discuss specific features of Cursor, Claude, or other AI tools you've used, and how you leverage them operationally.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview preparation should heavily emphasize the practical application of AI in operationalizing creative workflows. Candidates need to demonstrate not just design skill but also a strategic understanding of how AI can drive efficiency and scale within a GTM context.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Lead Designer (AI) position:

• Submit your application through the Nextiva careers portal via the provided link.

• Curate Your AI-Centric Portfolio: Ensure your portfolio prominently features projects built with AI tools like Cursor and Claude, highlighting functional outputs, workflow automation, and quantifiable results.

• Tailor Your Resume: Optimize your resume to showcase leadership experience, AI tool fluency, process improvement initiatives, and specific achievements in creative production and team management.

• Prepare Your Presentation: Practice walking through your portfolio projects, clearly explaining your AI-driven processes, challenges overcome, and the impact achieved. Be ready to discuss your approach to managing a creative team and fostering an AI-native culture.

• Research Nextiva's AI Strategy: Understand Nextiva's broader "AI-first" mission and how this role contributes to their GTM and customer experience objectives.

⚠️ 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.

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