Creative Director (Product)

Creative Director (Product)

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The IDFC FIRST Bank Philosophy:

IDFC FIRST Bank is a new-age, Digital-first bank, committed to transforming the way Indians experience banking. Our goal is to build a world-class bank in India—one that is driven by ethics, powered by technology, and a force for social-good. As a young and digital Bank, we are uniquely positioned to disrupt the sector and shape the future of banking for millions of Indians. We’re anything but traditional. We acknowledge that building effective digital experiences requires a strong foundation of communication design. This makes creative direction critical in shaping our products and ensuring that they are not only functional but polished, consistent and delightful. Come, let’s build a world-class Bank with world-class Design.

About the job:

As the Creative Director you will own and elevate the creative vision and aesthetic integrity for our apps, websites and other products across the board. You will primarily be focused on UI and UX design with some interventions on other areas within the org. You will scale branding across digital touch points, drive the aesthetic evolution of our design system, and inspire a multidisciplinary design team to deliver visually stunning, modern, and on-brand user experiences. Therefore, you need to be a passionate, experienced, versatile, and detail-oriented designer—with a modern, world-class aesthetic taste in a wide range of creative styles—someone who has a proven record of having created polished, delightful brands and product experiences. You should be comfortable both leading as well as executing the vision. You will work closely with animators, illustrators, product designers & managers, business, and brand & marketing teams. You will also shape our capability in this area through talent management.

What will you be responsible for:

• Unified Visual Direction: Lead efforts to bring together disparate visual directions within the organization, establishing and maintaining a strategic, cohesive and unified digital-first brand and design system.
• Digital Design Excellence: Elevate the visual design quality of digital products to put them at par with modern, global fintechs. Ensure a seamless and visually compelling user experience across all touchpoints though motion and visual storytelling.
• Brand Alignment: Collaborate with brand and marketing teams to extend, adapt and align digital product designs with overall brand guidelines, maintaining a consistent and recognizable brand identity. Be the voice of the team to the leadership and vice versa.
• Design System Development: Spearhead the development and implementation of a comprehensive design system, providing guidelines for visual elements, typography, color, and interactions.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with product managers, product designers, developers, and other stakeholders to ensure alignment between UI design and functional goals.
• Mentorship and Leadership: Provide mentorship and leadership to the design team, fostering a collaborative and innovative design culture. Hire, mentor and shape the communication design team.
• Stay Up to date: Employ and keep up with AI and latest trends, tools, and best practices. Keep abreast with industry trends, design trends, design best practices, and continuously improve and innovate our product design processes.

Therefore, you should have:

• Experience: 8-10 years in the creative industry, with at least 5 years in core branding / art direction and digital B2C product design, with a strong portfolio demonstrating successful unification of visual directions and impactful digital product designs.
• Taste and Versatility: Comfortable with multiple design formats (web, native, print, presentation), multimedia (photography, illustration, typography, kinetic and motion design, etc.). Able to work with and create a range of visual styles.
• Design Leadership: Proven ability to align different creative viewpoints from stakeholders and lead & inspire a design team, driving the development of a unified creative vision.
• Brand Expertise: Expertise in brand development and alignment, ensuring digital product designs are in harmony with overall brand guidelines.
• Design System Mastery: Experience in developing and implementing design systems, with a focus on scalability and consistency. We work with Figma and React/Flutter.
• Digital Focus: Strong understanding of digital product design principles, including UI/UX, interaction design, and user-centered design methodologies.
• Collaboration Skills: Excellent collaboration and communication skills, with the ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams and stakeholders.
• Portfolio: An online portfolio that documents your best work and thinking process (a PDF would do too). If not, you might be asked to take a design assignment.

What would make you stand out:

• You’ve worked in financial services, fintech, or other complex, highly regulated industries and know how to balance creativity with compliance.
• Have deep industry connects and have outsourced heavy design work to agencies and led them to closure.
• Have won awards in design or have a high follower-count on your Behance, Dribbble or professional Instagram account.
• Take interest in areas adjacent to Design: Art, branding, architecture, pop-culture, photography, etc.
• Enjoy teaching, mentoring, reading, researching, writing articles, evangelizing design, and working with the broader community of Design.
• Believe that Design is more than just work, but a way of life. You love to doodle, sketch, illustrate, arrange, showcase, and have a keen eye for daily-life aesthetics.

Best of luck!