The Role

You are an experienced designer, relentlessly authoring ideas and crafting exceptional work.

You’re a strong conceptual thinker with a high level of creative independence—comfortable exploring ideas, shaping design systems, and executing with precision. You collaborate closely with the wider team to deliver thoughtful, impactful work, while staying deeply embedded in the craft.

Your Responsibilities

1. You generate and develop strong ideas
   You contribute to and evolve standout creative ideas in close collaboration with senior creative leadership. You know how to explore, refine, and bring them to life with clarity and intent.

2. You are deeply hands-on with the work
   You spend the majority of your time designing and crafting world-class brand identities across typography, color, composition, and systems. You take ownership of your output and push the quality of the work forward.

3. You think conceptually and execute with rigor
   You translate strategy into compelling creative outcomes—balancing big ideas with thoughtful, detailed execution.

4. You collaborate across disciplines
   You work closely with Strategy and Client Services to bring ideas to life—contributing to immersions and creative responses and ensuring the work is both meaningful and effective.

5. You support storytelling and presentations
   You help build clear, compelling narratives and contribute to presentations. You’re confident talking through your work and supporting client conversations.

6. You elevate the team around you
   You collaborate generously—supporting junior designers, contributing to creative discussions, and helping raise the overall standard of the work.

7. You demonstrate ownership and growth
   You take responsibility for your work, actively seek feedback, and apply it to continually improve your craft and impact.

8. You manage your time and priorities effectively
   You have a strong awareness of timelines and deliverables, and you manage your workload to meet project needs within scope.

9. You bring a digital and AI-aware mindset
   You bring a digital and AI-aware mindset—understanding how emerging tools can support and accelerate creative exploration, without compromising craft.

10. You’re open and collaborative
    You’re excited to work closely with the team—contributing to a positive, ambitious, and high-performing studio culture.

Our Responsibilities

1. We will ensure you have meaningful and regular access to your manager to support your personal development and career trajectory.

2. We will actively reward performance with promotions, pay increases, and a discretionary annual bonus of up to 10% of salary to all employees.

3. We ensure Koto is an equal environment for all its employees.

4. We will support you in taking family leave and offer significant paid maternity and paternity.

5. We will actively encourage you to take 25 vacation days per year, in addition to US national holidays (on average 10) and a studio closure between Christmas and New Year.

6. We offer a 401(k) plan you can contribute to, and Koto matches up to 4%.

7. We deploy a monthly ‘employee wellness’ benefits package via Juno of $105 per month.

8. We offer YCN access and fund relevant training opportunities for employees looking to develop themselves and their careers.

9. We reward five years of service with $5,000 and five days' holiday. We reward ten years of service with $10,000 and four weeks' holiday.

10. We will give you the opportunity to work from any of the five Koto studios globally, with appropriate planning and application.

Our Culture

• At Koto, we encourage our team to be ‘rationally optimistic’ about the potential of our work, our clients, their businesses, and the power of brand.

• We pursue the best briefs, want to inspire meaningful work, and, for those interested, provide an opportunity to make the work of their lives. We are actively cultivating leadership, culture, and spaces to encourage this.

• We work in person, with an optional WFH day on Friday and an additional 20 days remote a year. We believe this produces the best work, mentoring opportunities, collective learning, and culture.

• We encourage autonomy among our team members, allowing them to manage their time, hours, and personal commitments appropriately to complete their work.