Design Account Strategist

Location: Phoenix, AZ (Hybrid – in-office 3x/week) Employment Type: Full-time Reports to: Chief Creative Officer About the Job Mirage Media is looking for a Design Account Strategist who can lead the client conversation, shape the strategic direction, and work closely with our Design team to turn business goals into thoughtful, effective creative work. You will serve as the primary Design contact for assigned clients and projects across branding, websites, packaging, photography, video production, and ongoing creative services. You will collaborate directly with clients to understand their business, audience, brand, goals, functional needs, preferences, and priorities. From there, you will help establish a clear strategic foundation and work with Mirage’s Design team to guide the project from discovery through presentation and delivery. We are looking for someone with strong visual literacy and a genuine understanding of branding, graphic design, websites, photography, video, and creative production. You should be able to recognize strong creative work, explain why it works, and help clients evaluate it against the agreed-upon strategy—not simply personal preference. You will also lead discovery conversations, creative reviews, milestone presentations, and Design updates during recurring client meetings. Your role is to make the creative process feel clear, collaborative, and strategically grounded from beginning to end. What You’ll Actually Be Doing Serve as the primary Design point of contact for assigned clients and projects Build strong client relationships through thoughtful communication, preparation, responsiveness, and follow-through Learn each client’s business, brand, audience, competitive landscape, goals, preferences, functional needs, and decision-making process Lead discovery conversations to understand what the client is trying to accomplish and what the work needs to do Help establish the strategic foundation for branding, website, packaging, photography, video, and creative-production engagements Shape project objectives, audience priorities, brand positioning, functional requirements, creative criteria, and definitions of success Collaborate with Mirage’s Design team throughout discovery, concept development, refinement, production, and delivery Connect client insights, audience needs, brand strategy, competitive context, references, and production considerations to the creative direction Participate meaningfully in strategic and creative conversations throughout the engagement Review concepts and deliverables for strategic alignment, brand consistency, audience relevance, functional fit, and client readiness Help clients evaluate creative work against the strategy and project goals Guide client feedback into clear, thoughtful, and actionable direction for the internal team Identify conflicting, unclear, or out-of-scope feedback before it creates unnecessary revisions Lead creative reviews, milestone presentations, approval conversations, and Design updates during recurring client meetings Present the strategy and rationale behind creative recommendations in clear, accessible language Keep clients informed about project progress, upcoming milestones, approvals, revision status, timelines, risks, and next steps Coordinate content, asset, technical, production, and stakeholder requirements throughout the engagement For ongoing Design accounts, help identify recurring creative needs, brand-system gaps, and future priorities Coordinate with Mirage’s Marketing and Advertising verticals when clients receive multiple services You’ll Thrive Here If You Have 3+ years of experience in creative strategy, design account strategy, brand strategy, production, or a comparable client-facing role, including at least one year within a branding, creative, design, web, or integrated agency environment Have strong visual literacy and a working understanding of branding, graphic design, websites, packaging, photography, video, and creative production Understand how to connect a client’s business goals and audience insights to a clear creative strategy Can lead a productive discovery conversation and uncover what the client is actually trying to accomplish Are comfortable presenting creative work and explaining the strategic thinking behind it Can guide subjective feedback without allowing the conversation to become an unstructured debate about personal preferences Know how to align multiple client stakeholders, manage competing opinions, and move the project toward a clear decision Can translate scattered feedback into specific, prioritized, and actionable direction Communicate clearly, confidently, and professionally Give thoughtful feedback while remaining collaborative and respectful of the creative team’s expertise Are highly organized and can manage multiple projects, timelines, conversations, dependencies, and revision cycles Take ownership, follow through, and care deeply about the quality of the client experience Have strong judgment, curiosity, and a thoughtful point of view about brands and creative work Know how to protect both the client relationship and the strategic integrity of the work Bonus Points if You Have experience supporting brand identity, website, packaging, photography, video, or integrated campaign engagements Have worked with multiple creative projects or client accounts at the same time Understand tools and workflows such as Figma, Adobe Creative Cloud, website CMS platforms, digital proofing, or project management systems Have experience with print production, web accessibility, content migration, shoot planning, or vendor coordination Understand the typical phases, dependencies, review points, and production considerations involved in brand, web, packaging, and shoot-based projects Have helped present brand concepts, website designs, creative campaigns, or production recommendations to clients Can quickly recognize when creative work is strategically aligned, visually strong, and ready to be presented About Mirage Media We are the strategic and creative agency brands turn to when they want results that actually look good. We work with founder-led startups and Fortune 500 companies alike, bringing big-agency thinking with boutique-level care. Mirage Media is built across three connected verticals: Marketing, Advertising, and Design. We are taste-driven, performance-obsessed, and committed to making every client feel like they have a true strategic partner invested in their success. Mirage Media is an equal-opportunity employer. In accordance with anti-discrimination law, it is the purpose of this policy to effectuate these principles and mandates. Mirage Media prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type and affords equal employment opportunities to employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, age, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Mirage Media conforms to the spirit as well as to the letter of all applicable laws and regulations. #J-18808-Ljbffr