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.Who We Are Looking ForThe Trade Desk is seeking an innovative Director of Design Technology to lead the technical design practice within our global UX Design organization. This is a senior leadership role responsible for shaping the tools, systems, AI capabilities, and engineering workflows that power how our design team creates and scales world‑class product experiences.The Trade Desk is transforming the way advertising is bought, sold, and consumed as a global leader in the programmatic industry. As this industry continues to evolve, you and your team will play a critical role in bridging the worlds of design and engineering - ensuring our platform remains not only powerful, but intuitive, elegant, and highly effective for advertisers and agency partners. Our industry is complicated, but we don't believe our platform should be.As Director of Design Technology, you will play a critical role in shaping our design system - contributing deep technical expertise to its evolution while partnering closely with the team that owns it. You will also lead our prototyping infrastructure and AI tooling strategy, enabling our designers to move faster and ship with greater confidence. You will bring a rare combination of design sensibility, engineering rigor, and a genuine passion for emerging AI technologies - from generative UI and LLM‑assisted workflows to intelligent automation across the design lifecycle. You will serve as a strategic partner to Product, Engineering, and UX Leadership - not only advocating for design craft but building the technical foundation that makes excellence possible at scale. This role reports directly to the Vice President of UX Design and is a key member of the UX leadership team at The Trade Desk.What You Will Be DoingShape & Advance the Design SystemPlay a critical role in shaping the evolution of The Trade Desk's UX design system, bringing deep technical expertise and a strong point of view on scalability, consistency, and adoptionCollaborate closely with the design system's owners to influence token architecture, component governance, and versioning strategyChampion design‑to‑code pipelines that reduce friction between design and front‑end development teamsContribute to and help maintain the shared component library, ensuring it reflects the highest standard of craft across all product surfacesLead AI Capabilities, Innovation & ToolingServe as the UX Design team's primary strategist and practitioner for AI‑assisted design workflows, setting direction across tooling, automation, and generative capabilitiesEvaluate, pilot, and implement AI tools across the design lifecycle - from ideation and wireframing to UI generation, copy assistance, and automated design QABuild and maintain an AI tooling roadmap that keeps the design team ahead of the curve on LLM‑powered prototyping, layout generation, and intelligent design systemsPartner with engineering and data science teams to explore how AI capabilities within The Trade Desk platform can be surfaced through smarter, more intuitive UX patternsDevelop internal frameworks and playbooks for responsible, effective AI use in design - balancing innovation with quality, consistency, and accessibilityIdentify opportunities to automate repetitive design and documentation tasks, freeing the team to focus on high‑value creative and strategic workStay current with the rapidly evolving AI tooling landscape - including Figma AI, Cursor, v0, and generative image and video tools - and make timely, evidence‑based recommendations to leadershipDrive Cross‑Functional InfluenceAct as the primary liaison between Design, Engineering, and Product to ensure technical feasibility and design integrity across all initiativesLead and mentor a team of design technologists, prototypers, and front‑end‑fluent designersPartner with engineering leadership to align on shared APIs, component standards, and documentation practicesEvaluate the broader design tool ecosystem and make strategic recommendations on tooling investment and migrationBuild deep trust with senior leaders and serve as a thought partner on design technology strategyEnsure Design Excellence at ScaleSet and uphold the technical quality bar for design deliverables, prototypes, and production hand‑offsDevelop best practices for high‑fidelity and functional prototyping, including data‑connected and AI‑powered prototype experiencesDrive workflow improvements that measurably increase design team velocity and output qualityChampion accessibility, responsive design, and multi‑platform implementation standards across all design workConduct design technology reviews and provide high‑level strategic guidance on implementation approachOperational LeadershipEstablish and optimize design technology processes that scale across teams and geographiesLead through rapid growth, evolving product demands, and cross‑team dependenciesMeasure and communicate the impact of design tooling and AI adoption through meaningful productivity and quality metricsRepresent the UX Design team's technology perspective in planning cycles and roadmap discussionsIndustry Presence & Thought LeadershipRepresent The Trade Desk at industry events and design technology conferencesPosition TTD as a company at the forefront of AI‑enabled design practiceContribute to broader UX and design technology community conversations, open‑source tooling, and innovationWhat You Bring to the TableYou are an experienced design technology leader with a proven track record of building the systems, tools, and AI‑powered workflows that enable great design teams to do their best work. You possess a strong technical foundation, a genuine design sensibility, and the strategic thinking to connect tooling investment to real business and user outcomes. You are driven by craft, energized by emerging technology, and skilled at leading through influence in complex, cross‑functional organizations.Bachelor's degree in Design, Computer Science, Interaction Design, or a related field (Master's preferred)10+ years of experience in design technology, design engineering, or a closely related discipline5+ years in a leadership or management role overseeing design technology or design systems teamsDeep expertise in Figma - including variables, advanced components, Dev Mode, and Figma AI featuresStrong proficiency in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript - able to read, write, and critique front‑end code with confidenceProven track record building and scaling design systems across large, complex enterprise or platform‑based productsDemonstrated hands‑on experience with AI tools in a design context - including generative UI, LLM‑assisted workflows, and AI‑powered prototypingStrong executive presence with experience presenting to VP‑level and senior leadershipExceptional communication and storytelling skills with the ability to translate technical concepts for design audiences and design thinking for engineering teamsExperience leading multi‑disciplinary teams across design technology, prototyping, and front‑end designDeep understanding of systems thinking and scalable design infrastructureAbility to navigate ambiguity and drive clarity in complex, fast‑moving environmentsWorking knowledge of machine learning concepts as they apply to UX - including intelligent defaults, predictive UI, and model‑assisted design decisions (preferred)Experience in adtech, martech, or enterprise SaaS with complex data‑dense interfaces (preferred)Contributions to open‑source design tooling or published design system documentation (preferred)Portfolio demonstrating design system leadership, AI tooling strategy, and measurable impact on team productivity and product qualityWhy This Role MattersAt The Trade Desk, each opportunity to engage a consumer is unique. Our platform provides advertisers and agencies with extraordinary power to describe and reach their target audiences. As that power grows, so does the responsibility to make it usable, intuitive, and elegant. Design technology is not just infrastructure - it is the foundation on which great design is built, scaled, and delivered. And AI is rapidly changing what that foundation can do. As Director of Design Technology, you will shape the future of how our UX team works, influence the direction of our platform, and build a design technology practice that sets the standard for the industry. If you are energized by the intersection of design craft, engineering excellence, and the transformative potential of AI - this is your role.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.[LA JOBS ONLY] The Trade Desk will consider qualified applicants with criminal histories for employment in a manner consistent with the requirements of the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring, Ordinance No. 184652.[SF JOBS ONLY] Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.Base Salary: $243,800 — $304,700 USDAll employees may be eligible to become The Trade Desk shareholders through eligibility for stock‑based compensation grants, which are awarded to employees based on company and individual performance. The Trade Desk also offers other compensation depending on the role such as variable compensation‑based incentives and commissions. Expected benefits for this role include comprehensive healthcare (medical, dental, and vision) with premiums paid in full for employees and dependents, retirement benefits such as a 401k plan and company match, short and long‑term disability coverage, basic life insurance, well‑being benefits, reimbursement for certain tuition expenses, parental leave, sick time of 1 hour per 30 hours worked, vacation time for full‑time employees up to 120 hours thru the first year and 160 hours thereafter, and around 13 paid holidays per year. Employees can also purchase The Trade Desk stock at a discount through The Trade Desk's Employee Stock Purchase Plan.Note: Interns are not eligible for variable incentive awards such as stock‑based compensation, retirement plan, vacation, tuition reimbursement or parental leave.#J-18808-Ljbffr