Design Lead

Company: Applecart
Location: New York City
Posted on: February 16, 2026

Job Description:

Job Description Job Description About Us Applecart is the leading technology company that C-suites rely on to reach business-critical decision makers. The most important decisions are made by the hardest people to reach and influence. Historically, C-suite leaders have lacked the tools to reach the stakeholders who matter most to their business. The C-suites of hundreds of Fortune 500 companies, major agencies, trade associations, nonprofits, and governments use Applecart to put their best content in front of business-critical decision makers and those they trust — from policymakers and investors to CEOs, key employees, members of the media and more. Decision makers are informed by what they read, learn from advisors, hear from colleagues, and discuss with family and friends. To break through to them, you must reach them through the only channel that really moves them: those they know and trust. Applecart's platform uses publicly available data to map billions of social relationships between nearly every American adult and enable clients to deliver content directly to decision makers and those who matter most to them. We are hiring a Design Lead in our New York office. About the Role: As Design Lead, you will be a key member of Applecart's Client Delivery organization leading creative strategy and execution for digital advertising placements across strategic communications and marketing campaigns in support of Applecart clients–guiding the look, feel, and best practices of creative across client campaigns. This role will work cross-functionally with Go-to-Market, Platform, and Operations teams and combine a refined design sensibility and an understanding of emerging technologies—especially AI-driven image and video generation—to craft compelling, scalable, and strategic content offerings. This role is ideal for someone at the intersection of design, strategic communications, and technological innovation. What You'll Do: Collaborate with our account teams of communications and media strategists to understand clients' communications goals to align digital advertising placements with our clients' strategic business goals. Manage graphic designers, oversee the production of, and ensure consistency and excellence across client campaigns and creative assets. Set and uphold standards and best practices for visual style, tone, and clarity across a variety of client use cases such as legislative advocacy, investor relations, and corporate communications. Partner with product and media teams to analyze performance across campaigns, identify characteristics of high-performing ads, and implement learnings in creative production. Build scalable systems and creative processes that leverage graphic designers as well as automation. Stay ahead of emerging trends in generative media and advise on their practical use. Working with counsel, consistently apply guidelines for fair and brand-safe use of images, videos, logos, news media, and AI-generated content. While this role's primary focus is client marketing efforts, it may also support the design and development of Applecart marketing and Go-to-Market materials and templates. Experiences and Capabilities You Bring: 8 years of experience in a senior creative role, within an agency, tech company, or fast-growing brand with experience creating corporate affairs content and creative assets for programmatic and social ad campaigns (e.g. communications and earned media, government relations, investor and employee relations, etc). Strong understanding of branding, typography, motion, and digital design principles. Strong understanding of intellectual property considerations, including copyright, fair use, and image and video licensing requirements. Proficiency with creative software, including Adobe Creative Suite, Figma, and motion/video editing tools. Hands-on experience with AI tools for image and video generation (e.g., Midjourney, Veo, Sora, Runway, DALL·E, etc.). Strong portfolio showcasing conceptual thinking, storytelling, and multimedia work. Excellent communication, collaboration, and presentation skills, and experience in a fast-paced, changing environment. Experience integrating AI content generation into marketing campaigns or automated creative workflows is a plus. This is a hybrid role. Work from home on Monday and Friday and in Applecart's New York City office Tuesday through Thursday. Compensation: Our compensation package consists of three components: (i) a base salary, (ii) annual cash bonus, and (iii) generous equity compensation. The base salary range for this role is between $140,000-$160,000, based on the candidate's experience and skills relative to the requirements listed above. The salary range provided is exclusive of discretionary annual cash bonus and equity compensation. The salary range provided for this role is specific to candidates located in the New York City area. A few facts about us: Applecart's platform has been used by hundreds of industry-leading clients spanning Fortune 500 companies like Blackstone and Intuit, leading nonprofit organizations like the Environmental Defense Fund, and top-tier advertising and communications agencies like Teneo, FGS, Weber Shandwick, and OMD. Applecart is growing quickly — over the last 4 years, we've increased our revenue by 10X, grown our headcount by almost 5X, and we're cashflow positive. Our senior leadership team includes two members of the Forbes 30 under 30 list for Marketing and Advertising, the former Head of Product at Moat, Oracle's online ad measurement platform, a former senior White House advisor, early sales and talent leaders from Google and Twitter, two of the Democratic Party's most successful pollsters and strategists, and alums of top-tier organizations like Bain & Company, Amazon and Simpson Thacher. Applecart raised a $100M Series C from Blackstone's tech growth fund at the end of 2025. The company's other investors include Bain & Company, global sports, entertainment and marketing giant Endeavor, KKR Co-Founder Henry Kravis, entrepreneur Chris Burch, a founder of Palantir, senior engineering leaders at Twitter and Yelp, former Fortune 50 and advertising agency CEOs, and a number of well-known venture capitalists. Ari Emanuel, CEO of TKO and Executive Chairman of WME, Wayne Berman, Blackstone's Head of Global Government Affairs, and Risa Heller, CEO of HELLER, serve on our board. Our work has been featured on Morning Joe on MSNBC, BloombergTV, and The Colbert Report, and in Axios, Semafor, BusinessWeek, the Associated Press, Forbes, the Washington Post, and Politico, among many others.

Keywords: Applecart, Hoboken , Design Lead, PR / Public Relations , New York City, New Jersey