Member of Creative Studio (Web Designer - Marketing & Landing Pages)

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Member of Creative Studio (Web Designer - Marketing & Landing Pages)

Company: Perplexity

Location: San Francisco, California, United States / New York City, New York, United States

Job Type: Full-Time

Category: Marketing Operations / Creative Design

Date Posted: 2026-06-03

Experience Level: Mid-Level (2-5 years)

Remote Status: On-site

🚀 Role Summary

• This role focuses on the strategic design and implementation of Perplexity's marketing and landing pages, directly impacting user acquisition and brand perception.

• The Web Designer will be instrumental in developing and owning a scalable CMS design system, enabling internal teams to create on-brand pages independently, thereby enhancing operational efficiency and GTM agility.

• Requires a strong blend of creative visual design expertise and an understanding of web development principles to ensure both aesthetic appeal and high conversion rates.

• This position involves close collaboration with Growth, Product Marketing, Brand, and Engineering teams to translate business objectives into compelling digital experiences that drive customer engagement and lead generation.

📝 Enhancement Note: While this role is listed under "Creative Design," its emphasis on owning a CMS design system, enabling self-serve page creation, and partnering with Growth and Product Marketing strongly aligns it with operational efficiency and Go-To-Market (GTM) enablement functions. Therefore, it's categorized under Marketing Operations/Creative Design. The focus on conversion rates and self-serve systems highlights the operational impact of design.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• End-to-End Design Ownership: Lead the complete design process for all marketing pages, landing pages, and growth-focused web surfaces, ensuring a high standard of visual craft and user experience.

• CMS Design System Development: Create, maintain, and evolve the design system for the Content Management System (CMS), including templates, reusable components, and design patterns, to empower non-designers to build compliant pages.

• Growth & Marketing Collaboration: Partner closely with Growth Marketing and Product Marketing teams to translate campaign objectives and business goals into effective, high-converting page designs that align with user acquisition strategies.

• Brand Consistency: Ensure all web touchpoints maintain visual consistency with Perplexity's brand guidelines, working in tandem with the Brand team.

• Engineering Partnership: Collaborate directly with front-end engineers on the implementation of web pages, ensuring rapid, high-quality delivery and contributing to the ongoing migration away from tools like Framer.

• Web Craftsmanship: Bring a strong point of view and expertise in layout, typography, motion design, and interaction design specifically for the web environment.

• Operational Enablement: Improve the self-serve page creation capabilities through thoughtful design of the CMS, allowing the core design team to focus on more complex, high-impact creative projects.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibility to "raise the floor on self-serve page creation" and "create and own the CMS design system" implies a significant operational component, focusing on scalability, efficiency, and empowering other departments. This goes beyond traditional design roles and touches on operations by creating repeatable, efficient processes for content deployment.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education:

Experience:

• 2-5 years of professional experience in web design, with a significant focus on marketing and landing pages.

Required Skills:

• Strong Portfolio: A robust portfolio showcasing exceptional web and marketing design work, specifically including landing pages, campaign pages, and product marketing sites, that highlights design-first thinking.

• Visual Design Excellence: Superior visual design capabilities with a keen eye for brand aesthetics, typography, color theory, and overall composition.

• CMS/Templating Systems: Hands-on experience designing within and for CMS platforms or similar templating systems, with an intuitive understanding of how to build scalable, user-friendly page systems.

• Brand & Growth Integration: Proven ability to balance brand integrity with conversion-focused design principles, understanding the interplay between aesthetics and performance marketing goals.

• Agile Collaboration: Comfort and proficiency in working at a fast pace and iterating in real-time alongside engineering teams.

• Technical Proficiency: Fluency in Figma for design creation and prototyping. Solid understanding of responsive design principles, web accessibility standards (WCAG), and web performance optimization best practices.

• Communication: Articulate a clear and compelling point of view on effective web page design, able to justify design decisions with data and strategic rationale.

Preferred Skills:

• Front-End Development: Foundational knowledge of HTML, CSS, and basic JavaScript, sufficient for prototyping, tweaking designs, and understanding implementation constraints.

• Consumer Tech Background: Prior experience in brand or marketing design within a fast-paced consumer technology company.

• SEO Fundamentals: Familiarity with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) principles and how design choices can impact organic discoverability.

• Motion Design: Skills in motion design for creating engaging web interactions, animations, and micro-interactions.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on a "strong portfolio of web and marketing design work" and "hands-on experience designing within and for CMS / templating systems" suggests that candidates will be evaluated on their ability to demonstrate not just aesthetic skills but also practical application in creating repeatable design solutions that support operational workflows.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Case Studies: Showcase 3-5 detailed case studies of marketing or landing page projects, highlighting the problem, your design process, key decisions, and measurable outcomes (e.g., conversion rate improvements, engagement metrics).

• CMS Design System Examples: Include examples of components, templates, or patterns designed for a CMS or similar scalable system, demonstrating an understanding of reusability and self-service enablement.

• Visual Design Proficiency: Demonstrate a strong command of layout, typography, color, and visual hierarchy across various devices and screen sizes.

• Brand Alignment: Provide examples of how you've successfully applied brand guidelines to web design projects, ensuring consistency and coherence.

• Iterative Design: Showcase examples of design iterations based on feedback, A/B testing results, or performance data.

Process Documentation:

• Workflow Design: Be prepared to discuss your process for designing and iterating on landing pages, from initial brief to final handoff, including how you incorporate user feedback and performance data.

• System Design Approach: Explain your methodology for designing scalable design systems or templating solutions, focusing on ease of use for non-designers and maintenance efficiency.

• Collaboration Workflows: Describe how you typically collaborate with Growth, Marketing, and Engineering teams on web projects, emphasizing clear communication and efficient handoffs.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a role focused on owning a CMS design system and enabling self-serve capabilities, the portfolio should strongly emphasize the process of creating and implementing such systems, not just the final visual output. Demonstrating how design contributes to operational efficiency and scalability is key.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range:

Benefits:

• Equity: Opportunity to own a piece of a rapidly growing AI company.

• Health Insurance: Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance plans.

• Retirement Plan: 401(k) or equivalent retirement savings plan.

• Wellness & Commuter Accounts: Fitness account and commuter benefits to support employee well-being and daily commute.

• Dependent Care Account: Support for childcare or other dependent care expenses.

Working Hours:

• Standard full-time work hours, typically around 40 hours per week, with flexibility expected to meet project deadlines and collaborate effectively across time zones and teams.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is derived from the provided data ($180,000 - $210,000 USD) and is consistent with mid-level designer roles in major US tech hubs like San Francisco and New York City. Benefits listed are commonly offered by tech companies and are included for completeness.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Search Technology / Consumer Tech. Perplexity is at the forefront of AI-powered information discovery, disrupting traditional search paradigms.

Company Size: Perplexity is a rapidly growing startup, likely between 50-200 employees based on typical Series B/C funding stages for companies of this profile. This size implies a dynamic, fast-paced environment where individual contributions have a significant impact.

Founded: Perplexity was founded in 2022. Its recent founding signifies a culture of innovation, agility, and a drive to build cutting-edge technology from the ground up.

Team Structure:

• Creative Studio: This role sits within the Brand/Creative Studio team, suggesting a centralized function responsible for maintaining brand consistency and high-quality creative output across the organization.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: The role requires extensive collaboration with Growth, Product Marketing, Brand, and Front-End Engineering teams, indicating a matrixed or project-based work structure where designers are embedded or closely aligned with specific business units.

• Reporting: You will report into the Brand/Creative Studio team lead, with direct day-to-day interaction with stakeholders from Growth and Product Marketing.

Methodology:

• Data-Driven Design: The emphasis on "high-converting page designs" and partnering with Growth suggests a data-informed approach to design, where performance metrics and A/B testing results influence creative decisions.

• Agile Development: Collaboration with engineers and the mention of working "fast and iterating in real time" points to agile methodologies being employed in web development and design.

• Scalability & Efficiency: The core objective of creating a self-serve CMS design system highlights a focus on operational efficiency and empowering internal teams.

Company Website: https://www.perplexity.ai/

📝 Enhancement Note: As a rapidly evolving AI company, Perplexity likely fosters a culture that values innovation, speed, and a strong product sense. For a designer, this means being comfortable with ambiguity, quick iteration, and a direct impact on the company's public-facing digital assets.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: Mid-Level Designer. This role is beyond an entry-level position, requiring independent contribution and ownership of significant design areas like the CMS design system. It offers the opportunity to shape the company's web presence and operational design processes.

Reporting Structure: Reporting to the Brand/Creative Studio team, with strong dotted-line reporting or close collaboration with Growth and Product Marketing leadership. This structure allows for both creative guidance and business objective alignment.

Operations Impact: The Web Designer's work directly impacts Perplexity's ability to acquire users through effective marketing and landing pages. By creating a scalable CMS design system, the role enhances operational efficiency, reduces reliance on designers for routine page creation, and speeds up Go-To-Market (GTM) execution for marketing campaigns. This role is critical for translating marketing strategies into tangible, high-performing web assets.

Growth Opportunities:

• Specialization: Deepen expertise in designing for AI products, conversion optimization, and building scalable design systems.

• Leadership: Potential to grow into a lead design role for web experiences or CMS systems as the company scales.

• Cross-Functional Skill Development: Gain deeper insights into Growth Marketing, Product Marketing, and front-end engineering best practices through close collaboration.

• Impactful Projects: Contribute to the visual identity and user acquisition strategies of a high-growth AI company, with direct visibility into business outcomes.

📝 Enhancement Note: The role offers a unique opportunity to bridge the gap between creative design and operational efficiency by owning a core component of the GTM infrastructure (the CMS design system). This blend of skills is highly valuable for career progression in operations-adjacent design roles.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: On-site. This role requires physical presence in either the San Francisco or New York City office, facilitating in-person collaboration and team integration.

Office Location(s): San Francisco, California, and New York City, New York. These are major tech hubs offering vibrant working environments and access to talent.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Hub: The office environment is expected to foster collaboration, with opportunities for brainstorming sessions, design critiques, and direct interaction with cross-functional teams.

• Technology-Rich: Access to industry-standard design tools (Figma) and likely other collaborative software. Close proximity to engineers will facilitate rapid prototyping and iteration.

• Team Integration: Being on-site allows for seamless integration with the Brand/Creative Studio team and provides direct access to stakeholders from Growth and Product Marketing for efficient project execution.

Work Schedule:

• A standard 40-hour work week is typical, but the fast-paced nature of a startup means flexibility may be required to meet project deadlines, especially during campaign launches or critical development phases. This flexibility is key for managing design processes that support ongoing marketing and product updates.

📝 Enhancement Note: The on-site requirement suggests Perplexity values in-person collaboration, team synergy, and the benefits of spontaneous interaction that drives innovation and efficient problem-solving, particularly crucial for design and engineering teams working closely together.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A review of your resume and portfolio to assess foundational skills and relevant experience.

• Portfolio Presentation & Discussion: A deep dive into your portfolio, focusing on case studies that demonstrate your web design expertise, understanding of conversion, and experience with CMS or templating systems. Expect to articulate your design process and strategic thinking.

• Skills Assessment/Design Challenge: Potentially a practical design exercise or a discussion around a hypothetical problem. This might involve designing a landing page concept or critiquing an existing one, focusing on your ability to apply Perplexity's brand and achieve conversion goals.

• Cross-Functional Interviews: Meetings with key collaborators from Growth, Product Marketing, and Engineering to assess your ability to work effectively in a team environment and understand your technical and strategic alignment.

• Hiring Manager/Team Lead Interview: Final discussion focusing on cultural fit, career aspirations, and overall alignment with the team's vision.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate for Relevance: Prioritize projects that showcase marketing pages, landing pages, and experience with systems that enable self-service or scalability.

• Tell a Story: For each case study, clearly articulate the business problem, your role, the design process, key decisions, and quantifiable results (e.g., conversion rate uplift, engagement metrics).

• Highlight System Thinking: If you have experience with CMS, design systems, or component-based design, explicitly showcase this. Explain how your designs facilitated efficiency or scalability.

• Demonstrate Brand Understanding: Show how you adapt designs to specific brand guidelines while also achieving performance objectives.

• Be Ready to Discuss Figma: Be prepared to walk through your Figma files, explaining your file structure, component usage, and prototyping techniques.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand Perplexity: Research Perplexity's current marketing pages, brand voice, target audience, and unique selling propositions.

• Conversion Focus: Be ready to discuss strategies for optimizing landing pages for conversion, considering elements like CTAs, form design, and user flow.

• CMS Principles: Familiarize yourself with the principles of designing for content management systems and how to create flexible, user-friendly templates.

• Agile Mindset: Prepare to discuss how you handle rapid iteration, feedback incorporation, and collaboration with engineers in a fast-paced environment.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on owning a CMS design system and partnering with Growth means interviewers will be looking for a blend of creative talent and operational thinking. Candidates should be prepared to discuss how their design work directly contributes to business metrics and operational efficiency.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: Essential for all design work, including wireframing, high-fidelity mockups, prototyping, and component creation. Fluency is a must.

• CMS Platforms: Experience with Content Management Systems (e.g., Webflow, Contentful, WordPress, or custom solutions) is crucial, as you will be designing for and potentially helping to build out the design side of the CMS.

• Prototyping Tools: While Figma has strong prototyping capabilities, familiarity with other tools might be beneficial.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Google Analytics / Amplitude: Understanding how to interpret analytics data to inform design decisions and measure the performance of landing pages is important.

• A/B Testing Tools: Familiarity with tools like Optimizely or VWO for testing different design variations is a plus.

CRM & Automation:

• Marketing Automation Platforms (e.g., HubSpot, Marketo): While not a direct user, understanding how landing pages integrate with these systems for lead capture and nurturing is beneficial.

📝 Enhancement Note: The role explicitly mentions migrating off Framer, implying familiarity with web design tools that can be translated into code or directly integrated into a CMS. Proficiency in Figma is a core requirement, and understanding how designs function within a CMS environment is paramount for the operational aspect of this role.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Impact-Driven: A focus on delivering measurable results, particularly in conversion rates and user acquisition, aligning design decisions with business objectives.

• Efficiency & Scalability: Valuing the creation of systems and processes (like the CMS design system) that enable faster, more efficient workflows for the entire company.

• Collaboration: A strong emphasis on teamwork, open communication, and working effectively across different departments (Growth, Marketing, Engineering).

• Innovation: Embracing new technologies and creative approaches to solve design challenges and enhance the user experience.

• Craftsmanship: Maintaining a high standard for visual design, user experience, and overall execution, even in a fast-paced environment.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Integration: Expect to be deeply integrated with Growth, Product Marketing, and Engineering teams, participating in their planning sessions and feedback loops.

• Iterative Feedback: A culture that encourages constructive feedback on designs, with a process for iterating based on performance data and team input.

• Knowledge Sharing: Openness to sharing design best practices, insights from user research, and learnings from A/B tests across teams.

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's focus on AI and rapid growth suggests a culture that is both ambitious and practical. For a designer, this means being adaptable, data-aware, and focused on how design directly contributes to the company's operational success and market position.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Balancing Brand and Conversion: Continuously finding the optimal balance between maintaining a high-craft brand aesthetic and designing for maximum conversion rates on marketing pages.

• Scalability of Design Systems: Evolving the CMS design system to meet the increasing demands of a growing company while ensuring ease of use and maintainability.

• Rapid Iteration Cycles: Adapting to the fast-paced startup environment where design feedback and implementation cycles can be very short.

• Technical Constraints: Working effectively within the technical limitations and opportunities presented by web development and CMS capabilities.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Deep Dive into AI: Gain specialized experience designing for a cutting-edge AI product.

• Growth Marketing Acumen: Develop a strong understanding of growth strategies, A/B testing, and conversion rate optimization (CRO).

• System Design Expertise: Become a go-to expert in designing and implementing scalable design systems and CMS frameworks.

• Cross-Disciplinary Learning: Learn directly from engineers, marketers, and product managers, broadening your skill set beyond pure design.

📝 Enhancement Note: The primary challenge and opportunity lie in building and owning a critical piece of the company's GTM infrastructure – the CMS design system. Success here requires not just design skill but also strategic thinking about operational efficiency and user enablement.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "How would you approach designing a new landing page to drive sign-ups for a specific Perplexity feature, considering our brand and conversion goals?" (Prepare to discuss user personas, key conversion points, CTA strategy, and visual hierarchy.)

• "Describe your process for creating and maintaining a design system for a CMS. What are the key components and considerations for making it self-serve?" (Focus on modularity, documentation, user testing for non-designers, and scalability.)

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What excites you about Perplexity and the AI space?" (Research Perplexity's mission, recent product updates, and competitive landscape.)

• "How do you handle feedback from stakeholders who may not have a design background?" (Emphasize active listening, clear articulation of design rationale, and finding common ground.)

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure Your Narrative: For each case study, clearly define the problem, your solution, your process, and the impact. Use visuals effectively to guide the interviewer.

• Highlight Operational Impact: Specifically call out any instances where your design work improved efficiency, enabled self-service, or directly contributed to key business metrics like user acquisition or conversion rates.

• Showcase CMS/System Thinking: If applicable, dedicate a portion of your presentation to systems thinking – how you design for reusability, scalability, and ease of implementation.

• Be Prepared for Figma Deep Dive: Have your Figma files organized and be ready to navigate them, explaining your component structure, design system setup, and prototyping.

📝 Enhancement Note: Candidates should be prepared to demonstrate not only their visual design skills but also their strategic thinking regarding operational efficiency, scalability, and the direct impact of design on business objectives. Be ready to discuss how you would build and maintain a core part of the company's GTM infrastructure.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this operations-aligned design position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on Ashby.

• Portfolio Customization: Tailor your portfolio to prominently feature web design projects that emphasize marketing pages, landing pages, and any experience with CMS platforms or scalable design systems. Clearly articulate the impact and processes behind your work.

• Resume Optimization: Ensure your resume highlights keywords such as "Web Design," "Figma," "CMS," "Design Systems," "Conversion Optimization," "Responsive Design," "Brand Design," and "Growth Marketing." Quantify achievements wherever possible.

• Interview Preparation: Practice articulating your design process, your approach to conversion-focused design, and your experience in building scalable design solutions. Be ready to discuss how your work contributes to operational efficiency.

• Company Research: Thoroughly research Perplexity, its mission, its product, its target audience, and its current web presence. Understand their competitive landscape and AI focus.

⚠️ 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.