Application Guide

How to Apply for Lead Brand Designer

at Workiva

🏢 About Workiva

Workiva specializes in integrated ESG reporting, helping companies transparently communicate their climate impact and compliance efforts. This focus on sustainability and transparency makes them unique in the SaaS space, appealing to designers who want their work to support meaningful environmental and social governance initiatives. Their B2B SaaS model targeting corporate reporting creates complex, high-stakes design challenges ideal for experienced brand professionals.

About This Role

As Lead Brand Designer at Workiva, you'll be the primary steward of their visual identity, responsible for evolving the brand across global programs and ensuring consistency. This role involves translating ESG-focused brand strategies into compelling creative direction for campaigns, events, digital ads, and executive presentations. You'll develop scalable design systems and toolkits used by marketing and cross-functional teams worldwide, making this position central to how Workiva communicates its climate impact mission.

💡 A Day in the Life

A typical day might involve reviewing global marketing materials for brand consistency, collaborating with product marketing on campaign visuals that simplify ESG concepts, and advancing the Figma design system with new components. You'd likely spend time mentoring other designers on brand guidelines, presenting creative direction for upcoming executive events, and ensuring all visual storytelling aligns with Workiva's mission of transparent climate impact reporting.

🚀 Application Tools

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Interview Prep

Practice questions for this role

🎯 Who Workiva Is Looking For

  • Has 8+ years specifically in B2B brand design, preferably with SaaS experience, not just general graphic design
  • Demonstrates expertise in building and evolving comprehensive design systems in Figma, not just creating individual assets
  • Shows portfolio examples of translating complex business concepts (like ESG reporting) into accessible visual storytelling
  • Has experience leading brand consistency across global programs and mentoring other designers on brand guidelines

📝 Tips for Applying to Workiva

1

Tailor your portfolio to show B2B/SaaS case studies, not consumer-focused work, highlighting how you simplified complex business concepts visually

2

Include specific examples of design systems you've built or evolved in Figma, showing before/after states and documentation

3

Research Workiva's current brand materials and suggest one specific improvement to their visual identity in your application

4

Prepare to discuss how you've ensured brand consistency across global teams in previous roles, with concrete examples

5

Highlight any experience with ESG, sustainability, or corporate reporting topics in your resume and portfolio

✉️ What to Emphasize in Your Cover Letter

["Explain how your B2B/SaaS design experience prepares you to communicate Workiva's complex ESG reporting solutions visually", 'Describe a specific example of evolving a brand identity or design system and the business impact it created', "Demonstrate understanding of Workiva's mission by suggesting how visual storytelling could enhance their climate impact messaging", "Highlight your experience with Figma-based design systems and how you've enabled cross-functional teams to maintain brand consistency"]

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🔍 Research Before Applying

To stand out, make sure you've researched:

  • → Study Workiva's current brand materials (website, reports, marketing collateral) and identify consistency gaps or evolution opportunities
  • → Understand the ESG reporting landscape and how companies communicate climate impact to identify design opportunities
  • → Research Workiva's key competitors in SaaS reporting to understand how their visual identities differentiate
  • → Review Workiva's recent campaigns and events to understand their current creative direction and storytelling approach

💬 Prepare for These Interview Topics

Based on this role, you may be asked about:

1 Walk us through how you would evolve Workiva's current visual identity to better communicate our ESG reporting capabilities
2 Describe your process for creating a scalable design system in Figma that marketing and other teams can use independently
3 How have you translated complex B2B product features into compelling visual narratives for campaigns or events?
4 Share an example of ensuring brand consistency across global programs with distributed teams and tight deadlines
5 How would you approach designing for high-visibility executive moments that represent Workiva's brand to key stakeholders?
Practice Interview Questions →

⚠️ Common Mistakes to Avoid

  • Submitting a portfolio heavy with consumer/B2C work without explaining how it translates to B2B/SaaS challenges
  • Focusing only on individual asset creation without demonstrating design system thinking or scalability
  • Applying with generic design skills instead of specifically addressing brand stewardship, visual identity evolution, and global consistency

📅 Application Timeline

This position is open until filled. However, we recommend applying as soon as possible as roles at mission-driven organizations tend to fill quickly.

Typical hiring timeline:

1

Application Review

1-2 weeks

2

Initial Screening

Phone call or written assessment

3

Interviews

1-2 rounds, usually virtual

✓

Offer

Congratulations!

Ready to Apply?

Good luck with your application to Workiva!

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