Staff Brand Designer

About the role

Mercury is a financial technology company that helps startups spend less time banking and more time building. We are looking for a Staff Brand Designer who will set and uphold the craft standard for Mercury's brand.

Responsibilities

• Set and uphold the craft standard for Mercury's brand — across campaigns, web, social, events, and every surface the brand touches.
• Lead the most technically complex and high-visibility brand design projects end-to-end, from brief through delivery.
• Partner with a staff-level brand designer and creative leadership to co-lead the evolution of Mercury's creative direction — defining and executing visual standards across typography, imagery, layout, and motion.
• Provide hands-on craft oversight across Brand Studio output — reviewing work, raising the quality floor, and helping the team make better decisions.
• Commission and art-direct external creatives: photographers, illustrators, and motion designers.
• Develop brand system documentation and decision-making frameworks that help the team move with confidence and consistency.
• Mentor IC3 and IC4 designers through critique, pairing, and direct feedback — elevating their craft through the work, not just in conversation.
• Collaborate with brand strategists, copywriters, PMMs, and leadership on how Mercury shows up across all channels.
• Shape how Brand Studio uses AI in its craft. You’ll set the standard for where AI belongs in the creative process, build AI-ready brand guidelines the team can design against, and hold the quality bar as these tools become part of how work gets made.

Requirements

• A portfolio that is simply excellent — work that demonstrates mastery of typography, layout, color, and composition across a range of brand contexts.
• A clear and deeply held aesthetic point of view: you can articulate what makes something great and what makes something fall short, and you've built that perspective through years of rigorous practice.
• Fluency in brand systems — you understand how to build for scale and consistency, and you've stewarded a brand through growth or change.
• 7–10+ years of brand design experience, with a background that includes high-craft environments: agency, fashion, elevated consumer, or design-forward tech.
• Experience operating at a staff level: you work autonomously, influence without authority, and make decisions that shape the output of an entire team.
• Proficiency in Figma and hands-on experience contributing to or owning a design system.
• Strong verbal and presentation skills — you can communicate the process, intent, and impact of your design decisions with clarity.
• The judgment to know when to zoom in and when to zoom out, and the discipline to hold both at once.
• A considered point of view on AI’s place in high-craft design. You’ve used AI tooling in real creative work and can guide a team on where it belongs and how to use it without lowering the bar.
• Curiosity, restraint, and a genuine passion for doing work that's worth doing.

Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor's degree in graphic design, fine arts, or related field.
• Experience: 7–10+ years of brand design experience, with a background that includes high-craft environments: agency, fashion, elevated consumer, or design-forward tech.
• Skills: Proficiency in Figma, strong verbal and presentation skills, ability to articulate a clear aesthetic point of view, fluency in brand systems, and a considered point of view on AI's place in high-craft design.

Benefits

• Base salary: $170,400 - $213,000 (US employees outside of New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Seattle)
• Equity: Stock options/RSUs
• Benefits: Comprehensive health insurance, retirement plans, paid time off, and more.

Pay

• Base salary: $170,400 - $213,000 (US employees outside of New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Seattle)

Schedule

• Full-time