Design director with 14 years of experience leading product and brand design for consumer health and wellness companies. Leads 18 designers, researchers and writers across 3 product lines. Shaped a unified app experience that grew paid members from 400k to 1.1M while raising design quality and team maturity.
Experience
Design Director, Balance Bay Health (San Francisco, CA)
Oct 2021 – Present
Lead 18 designers, researchers and content designers across 3 product lines and brand
Unified 2 legacy apps into one member experience, supporting growth from 400k to 1.1M paid members
Own a $2.6M design budget including headcount, agencies and research
Built a design leadership bench of 3 managers and set org-wide quality standards
Head of Product Design, Restwell Sleep (San Francisco, CA)
May 2017 – Sep 2021
Grew design team from 3 to 10 while launching a sleep coaching subscription
Led app redesign that lifted 30-day retention from 22% to 31%
Partnered with marketing on brand refresh across product and packaging
Senior Designer, Golden Hour Interactive (Los Angeles, CA)
Jun 2012 – Apr 2017
Designed apps and sites for entertainment and lifestyle brands
A strong Design Director resume shows the problems you framed, the decisions you drove, and the user or business outcomes they produced. Show the organization you ran (team size, budget, revenue) and the business results you are accountable for.
Sections, in order
Summary
Experience
Projects
Skills
Education
Length: Two pages are common for leadership roles; keep the first page strong enough to stand alone.
Summary: Lead with your leadership scope and the business outcomes you are known for.
Skills to feature
User research
Product strategy
Prototyping
Figma
Design systems
Usability testing
Roadmapping
Experimentation (A/B testing)
Stakeholder management
Accessibility
Example bullet points
Redesigned onboarding from 9 steps to 4, lifting week-one activation from 31% to 44%
Built a 120-component design system adopted by 5 squads, halving UI build time for new features
Ran 40 user interviews and a pricing test that informed a packaging change worth $1.2M ARR
Tips from recruiters
Put a portfolio link in the header; for product roles, link a case study or launch write-up instead.
Describe your role in shared outcomes precisely ("led", "co-owned", "contributed").
Keep visuals for the portfolio: a clean, readable resume signals design judgement better than decoration.
Recommended templates
Modern (ATS-friendly): Clean single column with accent headings and rules
Timeline (ATS-friendly): Clean accent layout with a dated career timeline
Vanguard (ATS-friendly): Bold display name, accent-led headings with line rules
Design Director resume FAQ
What should a Design Director resume include?
A Design Director resume should show the problems you framed, the decisions you drove, and the user or business outcomes they produced. Use these sections in this order: Summary, Experience, Projects, Skills and Education. Show the organization you ran (team size, budget, revenue) and the business results you are accountable for.
What is the best resume template for a Design Director?
Modern, Timeline and Vanguard work well for Design Director roles. They are single-column with standard headings, so applicant tracking systems (ATS) parse them reliably.
How long should a Design Director resume be?
Two pages are common for leadership roles; keep the first page strong enough to stand alone.
Which skills should a Design Director put on a resume?
Prioritize the skills named in the job posting. Common ones for Design Director roles are User research, Product strategy, Prototyping, Figma, Design systems and Usability testing.
How do I write strong Design Director resume bullet points?
Start with an action verb, say what you did, and end with a measurable result such as activation, conversion and retention. For example: "Redesigned onboarding from 9 steps to 4, lifting week-one activation from 31% to 44%."