Associate Creative Director, Visual Design

Associate Creative Director, Visual Design

The Associate Creative Director, Visual Design is responsible for elevating and differentiating the visual expression of a portfolio of premium pet brands at scale. This role leads a small but high-impact internal design team, sources and coordinates with external agency and freelance partners, and ensures world-class execution across packaging, photography, ecommerce, in-store merchandising and digital and print campaigns.

This is a senior, hands-on creative leadership role requiring strong judgment, an ownership mindset, and deep experience in premium brand design and production. The Associate Creative Director serves as the visual authority across brands by balancing strategic intent and creative and operational excellence.

Responsibilities include:

• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of in-house designers
• Own and elevate the visual expression of each brand in the portfolio, ensuring clear differentiation while maintaining high standards suitable for premium CPG
• Partner with brand, marketing, and product leaders to shape creative direction
• Translate brand strategy into distinctive, effective visual systems across packaging, photography, digital, and print
• Serve as the primary creative liaison to any external agencies and freelance creative professionals, ensuring alignment, clarity, and high-quality output
• Ensure all visual design projects meet quality, budget, and timeline expectations
• Establish efficient workflows and thorough documentation that support multiple brands simultaneously and allows for future scale
• Act as the final creative quality check for all visual work across internal and external team

Qualifications (Note: We strongly encourage you to apply even if you don't tick ALL of these boxes.):

• Exceptional visual taste and judgment, with a strong portfolio of premium brand work
• Proven ability to lead and develop designers into confident brand owners
• Strong collaborator who is able to balance creative ambition with business needs
• Experience managing freelance and agency partners
• High attention to detail paired with strong prioritization skills
• Practical knowledge of packaging design
• Able to manage complexity, timelines, and competing priorities across brands
• Deep understanding of Consumer Branding, Marketing, and Consumer Behavior.
• Required Education: Bachelor's Degree in Visual Arts, Graphic Design, Photography, or related field or equivalent experience
• Preferred Education: Masters Degree in Graphic Design, Visual Arts, Photography, or related field
• Required Experience: (Can be concurrent)
• 10+ years of experience in visual design, brand design, or creative leadership
• 4+ years leading designers and/or creative teams in-house or agency-side
• Demonstrated experience owning or evolving premium consumer brands
• Proven ability to manage external agencies and freelance creative partners
• Hands-on experience with photography direction, packaging
• Preferred Experience:
• CPG, pet, food, lifestyle industry experience preferred
• Hands-on experience with print production (including proofing and press checks)

Golden Perks & Benefits:

• Comprehensive healthcare coverage – We cover 100% of premiums for medical, dental, and vision plans for employee-only plans.
• Annual bonus
• We match up to 3.5% of your 401k contributions, ensuring your retirement savings grow alongside your career.
• 6 paid sick and mental health days, an Employee Assistance Program, free weekly yoga and meditation classes, and additional mental health benefits, because we take a holistic approach to your well-being.
• Invest in your future with our Employee Stock Ownership Plan, where company contributions fund your retirement plan with company stock.
• Reimbursements for a portion of personal cell phone and internet usage for eligible employees.
• Professional development opportunities with mentorship, continuous learning programs, and performance-based pay increases, empowering you to progress and excel in your career.
• Through our charity sponsorships, you can make a positive impact on communities worldwide. We've donated over $9 million to date.

The base salary range is $111,300-$148,400, plus bonus potential.

The posted salary range in this job posting reflects data based on California's cost of labor analysis. This salary range is subject to change per state; please click here to find the pay differential in your state of residence if the role is remote.

Salary is based on a wide range of factors that include relevant experience, knowledge, skills, other job-related qualifications, and geographical location.