Design Director

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At Smith Design, we believe in delivering the highest quality work and exceeding our clients’ expectations. We are growing and looking for leaders to help steer the future of our brand.

Smith Design is a WBENC full-service Brand Design Agency based in NJ with over 40 years of experience in creating breakthrough visual solutions for brands to win in the marketplace. In addition to strategic brand design (visual branding, packaging, graphics and structural concepts) we also extend visual and verbal strategy to various digital and physical touchpoints including social content development, websites, in-store POS, activation, corporate identities, style guides, and environments.

The Design Director position provides “hands-on” strategic design solutions from concept ideation and innovation development through polished finalization. We have a range of exciting challenges and briefs that include revolutionary brand redesign for complex branded package design systems, as well as brand refreshes that help brands retain relevancy as well as grow with new audiences with product innovations. We are looking for a candidate who has a broad range of experience working with national and international CPG brands. Our work and clients expand several different industries and categories including food and beverages, health & wellness/personal care, Pharma/OTC, household, and electronics.  We are seeking high levels of creativity and fresh thinking, developing concepts that are delightfully different yet right for the brand.  Knowledge and experience translating marketing and communication strategies into effective design strategies and visual communications solutions is a plus (ie. extending the visual strategy into digital platforms, online and in-store activation).

Duties & Responsibilities:

• Deliver high-level creative ideation and execution on all projects
• Ability to work independently and in a team environment under the supervision of the creative team leadership
• Responsible for project management, time assessment and collaboration with creative team and account managers to ensure goals are met from both creative and budget standpoints
• Responsibilities of the design including delivering high-quality products, overseeing design team, and troubleshooting design problems.
• Developing strategic design plans with projected timelines and budget.
• Pitching ideas and the creative vision to the client and communicating the project outline to the design team.
• Overseeing the design projects from start to finish monitoring the team to ensure they adhere to the budget and timeline.
• Hands-on role with expectations of creative suite skills and ability to deliver both digital and tangible creative solutions.

Job Specifications:

• Minimum 7 years with managerial or Senior Level design experience
• Background on leading CPG brands (packaging experience essential)
• Total fluency in the Adobe Creative Suite and a working knowledge of print production
• An interest in typography and strong hand skills
• A great attitude and the ability to work well in a fast-paced, deadline driven environment
• Being articulate and communicate proficiently
• Develop designs that are delightfully different, innovative and strategic
• Strong creativity skills and the vision to turn briefs into creative projects
• Strong interpersonal skills: able to deal with a broad range of people
• Stable, reliable, hardworking, flexible
• Attention to detail, high work standards
• Great time management and multi-tasking skills
• Ability to resolve complex design and communication issues
• Must be able to work well under pressure to meet strict deadlines

Smith Design offers great benefits: Medical, dental, vision insurance, life insurance, voluntary long-term and short-term disability plans, hospital, accidental, and cancer protection insurance plans, 401k plus profit sharing, training opportunities, WFH Fridays and 12 flexible WFH days of your choice annually, 15 paid time off plus 3 floating days (pro rata) immediately, healthy snacks always available.

We are committed to Equal Opportunity regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, veteran status, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any other legally protected status.

To apply for this job, email your details to jobs@smithdesign.com