🌎 About the studio
When we started XXIX in 2013, we set out to create a different kind of design studio and we’ve thrived because we continually ask what a creative practice can be. We’re building a radically different kind of organization that values autonomy, growth, transparency, and shared responsibility.
Our structure is less hierarchical than traditional studios: we don’t have professional managers, instead empowering each team member to share in a culture of quality and mutual accountability where craftspeople can do their best work. We are a team of ~30 working across design and engineering roles, with clients like Stripe, Figma, Brooklyn Museum, Etsy, Mailchimp, Google, Dropbox, The Nobel Prize, Herman Miller, Adobe and many others. Our studio’s work and ideas are recognized across the creative industry.
We think of our studio as a refuge for creative people, prioritizing a happy, talented, and diverse studio culture. We offer competitive pay, comprehensive benefits, and progressive policies, work on projects that bring value to our world, and balance deep care for the work we do with a genuine curiosity about life outside of our jobs. (And, yes, we can back all of that up!)
👯 **We care deeply about building great products and designing amazing things for a diverse set of users, and to do that well, we need people who think through a wide lens of different experiences.
At the current time, we are holding space for individuals who are underrepresented in our industry. If you feel that’s you, please reach out!**
Garden3D (our collective umbrella studio) currently consists of:
- 55.88% White, 44.12% BIPOC
- 55.88% Male, 32.35% Female, 11.77% Transgender, Gender-Fluid, Nonbinary, and Gender-Nonconforming
→ We track these statistics closely, talk about them openly, and work to improve them year over year. 2022 DEI Report.
About the role
We’re looking for a senior-level designer with experience creative directing large projects and leading multi-disciplinary teams. We don’t use traditional industry titles but we’re big on clear expectations, so the ideal candidate:
- Probably has around a decade of experience at medium/large organizations
- Is passionate about design and obsessive about quality
- Can speak to a deep portfolio of large-scale projects spanning different types of work
- Has extensive experience working directly with clients
- Plans and manages projects that are well organized and run smoothly
- Has led creative teams and upskilled others
- Is outgoing in the studio context and has great communication skills
- Brings a business mindset that results in projects running on-budget and on-time
- Has a keen awareness of visual and cultural trends and is active in their creative community
- Values a self-directed, equitable, and non-traditional work environment
- Thinks beyond conventional disciplines; we’re a graphic design studio but we do all kinds of work
The person we’re looking for is happy, relaxed and easy to get along with. They’re flexible on anything except conceits that lower outstanding work quality. We’ve built a studio culture where designers run the show, so they should be willing to roll up their sleeves, take initiative, and bring critical-thinking skills. We believe in empowering designers, and we think that projects go better when actual craftspeople organize and manage them.
👩🏭 Benefits and how we work:
We’re building the best studio in which to be a designer, and for that reason we work differently to most other places:
- Profit Sharing: Every 12 months, we put aside a portion of profit earned throughout the year to be distributed to every member, through a simple calculation based on the overall team efficiency throughout the year, and time that each team member has been with Sanctuary.
- 100% Healthcare, Dental & Vision: Unlike most US companies, we offer at least one of our four healthcare, dental and vision plans at 100% employer coverage (no cost to the employee). This usually means a saving of $3k – $6K USD a year for the individual!
- Freedom Fridays: In the spirit of Yvon Chouinard’s “Let My People Go Surfing”, the last Friday of every month is a day off. We think that well rested, calm and thoughtful team members make far better decisions, and 12 extra long weekends each year helps everyone stay focused.
- **150% Carbon Negative:** Our studio offsets 150% of the carbon we use to do business each year, dated back to our founding in 2015. We turn down work that is not in-line with our morals, and we encourage our peers to do the same. We were certified climate neutral earlier this year.
- A TON of Time Off: We take 15 days PTO, major US holidays, the last friday of every month, close between Christmas & New Years, and offer 7 days sick leave, making for 40+ paid days off each year.
- Strong Morals: This year alone, we’ve turned down somewhere between $200k – $300k of work that didn’t meet our moral standards. (Most of that was DTC brands that can’t show a valid sustainability initiative).
- Generous Parental Leave Policy: We give new parents 4 months paid leave, and make no distinction between genders or primary and secondary care givers.
- Async & Decentralized: We use tools optimized for calm, thoughtful communication, and opt for async whenever possible. We fight hard to maintain our focus time.
- Remote Friendly: In the wake of COVID-19, our company has transitioned to remote working, and in the process have evolved to make our workplace more decentralized, and democratized in the process.
- Optional 401k: Our payroll provider integrations with Slavic401k to provide Sanctuary employees a way to save for retirement, without all that tax.
- Optional 4-Day Employment: Prefer to work 4 day weeks? Opt in at 80% of our salary and benefits.
- **Transparency & Ownership:** We release out Profit & Loss statements to the community each year, open source our best ideas, and talk business & money with everyone in the company. We’re proud to run our business with integrity, and for that reason we share everything with our team & community.
- Ideas & Products: In our spare studio time, we work to build our own open source or internal products to diversify & bolster our income. We create amazing technology products for our clients, so why not for the studio?
💌 How to apply
Please apply by emailing [email protected]o with the subject line: Senior Designer.
- We appreciate each applicants interest in working with us; unfortunately we aren’t able to reply to everyone, though.
- If the job posting is still up, the position is still available.
- We’ll follow up with qualified candidates so there’s no need to follow up on the status of your application.
