Staff UX Designer

The Trade Desk is a global technology company and the world’s leading independent platform for digital advertising, with nearly 4,000 employees across more than 30 offices. Our technology helps advertisers reach the right audiences across the open internet — from streaming TV and podcasts to mobile apps, news, and more.

Advertising powers the content people love. By making it more transparent, effective, and responsible, we help support trusted journalism, quality entertainment, and creators worldwide. The world’s brands and agencies rely on us to reach their customers and grow their businesses responsibly.

The scale of our platform brings unique technical challenges — from processing massive datasets in real time to building systems that operate reliably on a global scale. When you work here, your impact is worldwide. We welcome diverse perspectives, encourage curiosity, and build teams that learn from one another. If you’re driven to solve meaningful challenges, we’d love to meet you.

What we do:

The Trade Desk is seeking a Staff UX Visual Designer to help define and elevate the visual and interaction design quality of our platform. This is a senior individual-contributor design role for someone with exceptional visual craft, strong UX judgment, and a systems-level eye for detail.

The Trade Desk is transforming the way advertising is bought, sold, and consumed as a global leader in the programmatic industry. As our platform grows more powerful and more complex, this role will shape how it looks, feels, and behaves for advertisers and agency partners — bringing clarity, consistency, and craft to sophisticated, data-dense experiences.

As Staff UX Visual Designer, you will own high-fidelity design execution across key areas of The Trade Desk's platform and serve as a design partner to Product, Engineering, and UX Leadership, helping set the visual and interaction design bar across the company.

At The Trade Desk, great design is what makes complexity usable. As Staff UX Visual Designer, you will help shape the visual and interaction design quality of the platform, lead its execution hands-on, and set the standard for thoughtful, well-crafted design across adtech.

What you'll do:

Define & Champion Visual Design Excellence

Set the visual and interaction design bar for how The Trade Desk platform looks, feels, and behaves across complex, data-dense workflows

Translate ambiguous, technical, or data-heavy problems into clear, compelling, well-crafted product experiences

Define what “good” looks like for visual design and interaction quality across the platform — typography, layout, motion, and information hierarchy

Build and evolve design patterns and systems that bring consistency and polish across surfaces

Partner with UX Leadership to align design quality standards with broader product and company strategy

Lead End-to-End Design Execution

Lead hands-on, high-fidelity design for flagship product features — from early concept and prototyping through detailed interaction design and launch

Design across a wide range of experience types, including dashboards, workflow tools, data visualization, and — where relevant — AI-assisted features embedded in the product

Rapidly prototype concepts to test feasibility, gather feedback, and align stakeholders around a shared design vision before heavy investment

Drive user research and usability testing to validate design decisions and inform iteration

Partner closely with Product and Engineering to ensure design vision and technical feasibility evolve together

Elevate Craft & Set the Bar for Visual and Interaction Design

Set the craft standard for visual and interaction design across the UX organization, raising the bar on clarity, polish, and consistency

Champion strong design fundamentals — typography, layout, color, motion, and information design — applied to complex, data-dense interfaces

Ensure experiences are accessible, inclusive, and usable across a wide range of customer sophistication and contexts

Provide critique and design direction across the design team, acting as a go-to reviewer for visual and interaction design quality

Partner Cross-Functionally

Act as a strong design voice in product strategy conversations with Product and Engineering leadership

Identify opportunities to improve the customer experience through better visual design, interaction patterns, and information architecture

Build trusted relationships with senior stakeholders and serve as a thought partner on product design direction

Represent the customer experience perspective in cross-functional discussions about product capability and behavior

Mentor & Grow Design Talent

Mentor designers across the UX organization on visual craft, interaction design, and design systems thinking

Lead by example through visible, hands-on craft — modeling what excellent design execution looks like in practice

Contribute to a shared point of view, vocabulary, and set of patterns that help the broader design team raise the bar on craft

Represent TTD's Design Point of View

Represent The Trade Desk at industry events and design conferences, sharing perspective on design craft in adtech

Position TTD as a company at the forefront of thoughtful, well-crafted, customer-centered design

Contribute to broader UX design community conversations, research, and thought leadership

Who you are:

You are an experienced designer with a track record of shaping the visual and interaction design of complex, data-rich products. You combine strong craft with sound UX judgment, and you are energized by turning ambiguous, technical problems into experiences that feel clear, confident, and considered.

Bachelor's degree in Design, HCI, or a related field (or equivalent experience)

8+ years of experience in product design or UX design, with a strong emphasis on visual and interaction design craft

Proven track record shaping high-fidelity design execution from concept through shipped product, in a complex enterprise or platform-based product

Exceptional visual design skills — typography, layout, color, and information hierarchy — applied to complex, data-dense interfaces

Strong command of Figma and modern prototyping tools, used in service of fast, high-fidelity design exploration

Deep interaction design expertise, including for dashboards, workflow tools, and data visualization

Experience contributing to or evolving design systems

Exceptional communication and storytelling skills, with the ability to present design vision clearly to cross-functional partners and senior leadership

Ability to navigate ambiguity and drive clarity and alignment in complex, fast-moving environments

Working familiarity with AI-powered product patterns and how they show up in modern UX (preferred, not required)

Experience in adtech, martech, or enterprise SaaS with complex, data-dense interfaces (preferred)

Portfolio demonstrating exceptional visual craft, interaction design, and measurable impact on user experience and product outcomes

The Trade Desk does not accept unsolicited resumes from search firm recruiters. Fees will not be paid in the event a candidate submitted by a recruiter without an agreement in place is hired; such resumes will be deemed the sole property of The Trade Desk. The Trade Desk is an equal opportunity employer. All aspects of employment will be based on merit, competence, performance, and business needs. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, marital status, age, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic information, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other status protected under federal, state, or local law.

As an Equal Opportunity Employer, The Trade Desk is committed to creating an inclusive hiring experience where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

Please reach out to us at accommodations@​thetradedesk.​com to request an accommodation or discuss any accessibility needs you may require to access our Company Website or navigate any part of the hiring process.

When you contact us, please include your preferred contact details and specify the nature of your accommodation request or questions. Any information you share will be handled confidentially and will not impact our hiring decisions.