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Design Director salary: median $155,000 a year

Design Director listings that state pay run from $135,000 to $180,000 for the middle half, based on 41 current job listings. 117 design director roles are open now.

Design Director pay range

From 41 open listings that state pay. Annual, in US dollars.

Lower quarter
$135,000
Median
$155,000
Upper quarter
$180,000

Do AI skills change design director pay?

For Design roles in general, as of November 11, 2026. This is the function’s figure, not one for design director alone: one title rarely has enough listings on both sides.

Among Design listings, those that ask for an AI skill advertise a median $195,500, against $144,500 for those that never mention AI (+35.3%). That raw gap is not matched on level or industry.

Listings that ask for an AI skill
$195,500
median, from 390 paid listings
Listings that never mention AI
$144,500
median, from 191 paid listings

Advertised pay only: the midpoint of the range an employer posted, on live U.S. postings read from the full text. “Asks for an AI skill” means the posting names a specific AI skill; “no AI” means it never mentions AI. A difference in what is advertised is not a promise of what you would be paid, and it does not show that learning a skill causes a raise.

See the AI-skill pay table for every function · Check your own pay against these listings

More pay data: Design pay by level, skills that pay more and pay by employer size.

Open design director jobs

Verified against the employer’s own career site within the last week.

Showing the newest 15 of about 117 verified open jobs here. Search all jobs

All 117 design director jobs

Design jobs in the rankings

Rankings about design jobs

Design jobs · Top Design employers · All rankings

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Related salaries

Design Director salary questions

How much does a design director make?
Among 41 open design director listings that state pay, the median is $155,000 a year, and half of listings fall between $135,000 and $180,000.
Where does this design director pay data come from?
From current job listings on employers’ own career sites that state a pay range. Hourly pay is converted at 2,080 hours a year, and a listing’s midpoint is used. Listed pay is what employers advertise, not what people are paid.
Which state pays design directors the most?
Of the states with enough listings, New York has the highest median listed pay at $160,000.

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