Director, Immersive Experience Design

About the Role

Key Responsibilities

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams and apply strategic vision and creative leadership to develop and execute immersive design strategies that align innovative ideas with clear business objectives and customer insights.
• Own and lead the immersive design process from concept through delivery, guiding storytelling and brand integration while orchestrating collaboration with internal teams and client stakeholders to ensure strategic alignment, executional excellence, and memorable, user-centered experiences.
• Ensure immersive experiences are guided by strong omnichannel integration, seamlessly aligning with and enhancing broader customer journeys to drive consistency and continuity across touchpoints.
• Uphold delivery quality and consistency by establishing and maintaining high strategy design standards across all touchpoints, while tailoring solutions to meet the unique needs of each client and audience.
• Contribute to scopes of work, budgets, timelines, and resources, effectively balancing brand and experience aspirations with operational realities.
• Support ongoing team development and mentorship by fostering an inspiring, collaborative environment and mentoring multidisciplinary project team members to encourage experimentation, growth, and immersive experience excellence.
• Demonstrate trend and thought leadership by staying ahead of emerging technologies and design innovations in immersive and experiential environments, proactively integrating these insights into creative solutions.
• Model and uphold immersive design best practices—championing design craft, storytelling, and innovation to elevate project and practice outcomes.
• Contribute to the evolution of the immersive experience design offering by helping define methods, tools, approaches, and expansion ideas reflecting emerging technologies, industry trends, and client needs.
• Serve as a primary liaison with current and prospective clients, understanding their vision and translating it into compelling solutions.
• Partner with Client Services, Solution Consultants, and other MERGE leaders on business development, pitches, and existing client opportunities, including solutioning, scoping, and resourcing.

Requirements

• 10+ years of professional experience in immersive, experiential, or environmental design, including at least 2+ years mentoring or managing junior team members.
• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Experience Design, Architecture, Environmental Design, or related discipline (or equivalent experience).
• Proven expertise in designing in-store retail experiences and experience across industries such as health and life sciences, quick-service restaurants, connected living (smart home, IoT), and financial services, with the ability to translate insights into strategic, high-impact immersive solutions for B2B and B2C audiences.
• Proven success in conceptualizing and delivering high-impact, large-scale physical and digital experiences.
• Deep expertise in spatial storytelling, human-centered design principles, and multi-sensory experience creation.
• Skilled at managing vendors to ensure alignment, executional excellence, and seamless integration across all work phases.
• Strong business acumen with the ability to align creative concepts to measurable business results.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and influencing skills with senior-level stakeholders.
• Proficiency in design and visualization tools such as Adobe Creative Suite, SketchUp, Rhino, Cinema4D, or similar, and collaborative project management tools like Google Suite.
• Experience applying emerging technologies such as AR and VR to enhance immersive and experiential design solutions, with an understanding of how to integrate these tools into storytelling, prototyping, and final execution.
• Willingness to travel approximately 30%.

Nice to Have

• Experience managing vendors to ensure alignment and seamless integration.
• Ability to translate cross-industry insights into strategic immersive solutions.
• Experience in developing and defining methods, tools, and approaches for immersive design.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Experience Design, Architecture, Environmental Design, or related discipline (or equivalent experience).
• 10+ years of experience in immersive, experiential, or environmental design.

Benefits & Perks

• Meaningful Medical, Dental, Vision, Life Insurance
• 401K
• Lifestyle Spending Account
• Employer Paid Life & Disability Insurance
• Flexible Time off & Holidays
• Many other benefits and rewards