Performance Marketing Graphic Designer

Performance Marketing Graphic Designer

Location: [Remote / Hybrid / On-Site - San Diego] Type: [Full-Time / Contract] Team: Creative Reports to: Creative Manager
About the Role

We're a performance-driven creative team building paid social and direct-response content for fast-growing DTC and ecommerce brands. Our ads are measured against real numbers - and our static creative carries just as much of that load as our video.

We're hiring a Performance Marketing Graphic Designer to own static ad creative across Meta, Google Display, and Native platforms. You'll design thumb-stopping statics, build out high-volume variations to test hooks and angles, and treat every ad as a conversion problem to solve - not just a layout to make pretty. The goal is simple: statics that win at the auction and scale.

If you understand why one headline-and-image combination crushes while a more "designed" version flops - and you've got the data instinct to know the difference - this role is for you. And if you can code, you'll have room to build things most designers can't.
What You'll Do

• Design high-converting static ads for Meta (Facebook/Instagram), Google Display, and Native platforms - optimized for thumb-stop rate, CTR, and ROAS, not just visual polish.
• Produce creative variations at volume - multiple hooks, headlines, layouts, and angles per concept so the media team always has fresh statics in rotation for testing.
• Master the direct-response static formats that actually perform: native/editorial-style ads, advertorials, before/after, comparison charts, social proof and review layouts, infographic ads, and UGC-style statics.
• Win the feed in the first glance with strong visual hierarchy, punchy headlines, and design that communicates the value prop instantly.
• Use AI image tools (Midjourney, Firefly, DALL• E, Ideogram, or similar) to expand concepting speed and generate assets, backgrounds, and variations.
• Work the data. Review creative performance (CTR, CVR, ROAS, thumb-stop rate) and iterate your designs based on what's actually converting.
• Collaborate closely with media buyers, strategists, and copywriters on audience insights, product positioning, and funnel strategy.
• Stay current on platform specs, ad formats, design trends, and ad-policy/compliance requirements across channels (including health-adjacent advertising standards where relevant).

Coding / HTML - A Big Plus

This isn't required, but it's a real differentiator and you'll get to use it:

• Build HTML/CSS ad components , end cards, and interactive units.
• Design and code advertorials, sales pages, and landing pages that match the ad creative and convert.
• Create templated, dynamic systems so static variations can be produced at scale instead of one-by-one.
• HTML email design and build.

If you live in Figma and are comfortable in code, tell us - it moves you to the top of the stack.
What Success Looks Like

• First 30 days: You're shipping clean, on-brief static ads with fast turnaround and learning our brands, accounts, and creative testing process.
• First 90 days: You're independently producing testable static variations across formats and proposing hooks and angles based on what the data is telling us.
• Ongoing: Your statics consistently produce winners that scale - and you can point to the metrics that prove it.

What You Bring

• 2-4 years designing static creative for paid social and performance marketing (agency or in-house DTC/ecommerce experience strongly preferred).
• Expert command of Figma and the Adobe suite (Photoshop, Illustrator), plus hands-on experience with AI image generation tools.
• A real understanding of direct-response advertising - hooks, angles, offer structure, visual hierarchy, and the psychology of what makes someone stop scrolling and click.
• Channel fluency: you've designed specifically for Meta Ads Manager, Google Display, and Native networks, and you understand the spec and behavior differences between them.
• Speed without sloppiness - you thrive on quick turnarounds, high output, and iterative testing cycles.
• A portfolio of high-performing static ad creative, ideally with the campaign results or metrics to back it up.

Bonus Points

• HTML/CSS and front-end coding ability (see above - this is the big one).
• Familiarity with advertorial, sales page, and landing page design.
• Light motion or animated static (GIF/HTML) experience.
• Knowledge of A/B testing frameworks and creative optimization cycles.
• A track record collaborating directly with media buyers, performance marketers, and copywriters.