Brand Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Brand Designer

Company: Chainguard

Location: United States - Remote

Job Type: Full-Time

Category: Creative & Media / Art & Design / Marketing

Date Posted: July 31, 2026

Experience Level: 2-5 Years

Remote Status: Fully Remote

🚀 Role Summary

• Brand Stewardship: Responsible for maintaining and enhancing Chainguard's visual identity across all platforms, ensuring brand consistency and precision in every design output.

• Creative Asset Production: Design and produce a wide range of digital and print assets, including social media graphics, presentation decks, launch materials, and event branding, to support marketing and GTM initiatives.

• Motion Graphics Expertise: Develop engaging short-form motion graphics and animations for marketing campaigns, product demonstrations, and social content, bringing brand elements to life.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner closely with marketing, events, content, and product marketing teams to execute creative deliverables efficiently, ensuring alignment with GTM strategies and project deadlines.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the role is for a "Brand Designer," the emphasis on supporting marketing, events, and product marketing, along with the requirement to translate complex technical ideas into compelling creative work, indicates a strong connection to Go-To-Market (GTM) operations and a need for understanding how design impacts business objectives. The "developer-first or security brands" bonus point suggests an appreciation for nuanced audiences within the tech sector, common in GTM roles.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Design Production: Create compelling creative assets for both digital and print mediums, including social media posts, presentation decks, product launch assets, and comprehensive event branding packages.

• Brand System Adherence: Diligently ensure all creative output strictly adheres to the established Chainguard brand system, visual standards, and design guidelines to maintain a unified brand presence.

• Event & Campaign Support: Produce specialized assets for conferences, trade shows, and digital campaigns, encompassing everything from large-scale signage and booth graphics to promotional merchandise (swag).

• Motion & Animation Development: Conceptualize and execute short-form motion graphics and animations tailored for marketing campaigns, interactive product demos, and engaging social media content.

• Cross-Functional Partnership: Collaborate effectively with campaigns, content, and product marketing teams to execute creative deliverables efficiently, meeting deadlines and strategic objectives.

• Asset Management & Handoff: Manage the delivery of final assets in appropriate formats and maintain organized, accessible design files for efficient future use and version control.

• Quality Assurance & Integrity: Conduct thorough reviews of all creative deliverables to guarantee accuracy, alignment with brand standards, and overall design integrity across diverse platforms.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a production-heavy role with a focus on execution and brand consistency, which is critical for GTM operations that rely on consistent messaging and visual representation. The mention of "turning complex technical ideas into clear, compelling creative work" is a key GTM skill, bridging the gap between product and market.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is mandated, a strong portfolio demonstrating equivalent knowledge and experience in graphic design and motion graphics is essential.

Experience: 3-5 years of experience in graphic design or production design, with a significant emphasis on motion design, preferably gained within an in-house creative environment.

Required Skills:

• Graphic Design Fundamentals: Strong command of layout, typography, color theory, and visual hierarchy to create aesthetically pleasing and effective designs.

• Brand Consistency Management: Proven ability to maintain and enforce brand standards across diverse creative outputs and platforms.

• Digital & Print Asset Creation: Proficiency in designing a wide array of assets for online and offline use.

• Motion Graphics Production: Experience in creating short-form animations and motion graphics for marketing and communication purposes.

• Figma Proficiency: Expertise in using Figma for design, prototyping, and collaborative workflows.

• Adobe Creative Suite Mastery: Advanced skills in Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign for detailed graphic creation and layout.

• Motion Tool Proficiency: Experience with motion design software such as Jitter, Adobe After Effects, or similar tools (Capsule mentioned).

• Project Management: Demonstrated ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously, prioritize tasks, and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment.

• Collaboration & Communication: Excellent interpersonal skills, with the ability to work proactively and receptively with cross-functional teams and stakeholders.

• Problem-Solving: Aptitude for translating complex technical concepts into clear, visually compelling creative work.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience with Developer-First or Security Brands: Familiarity with the design nuances and audience considerations specific to the open-source, security, or developer-focused technology sectors.

📝 Enhancement Note: The experience level (3-5 years) and the specific tool requirements (Figma, Adobe Suite, motion tools) are standard for mid-level designers. The preference for experience with "developer-first or security brands" is a strong indicator of the target audience for Chainguard's GTM efforts, suggesting the designer will need to understand how to visually represent technical products to a sophisticated audience.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Design Versatility: Showcase a diverse range of projects demonstrating proficiency across digital (social media, web assets) and print (event materials, presentations) formats.

• Motion Design Excellence: Feature compelling examples of short-form motion graphics and animations that highlight creativity, technical skill, and brand integration.

• Brand Consistency Examples: Include case studies or examples that illustrate how you've maintained and enforced brand guidelines across multiple touchpoints.

• Technical Concept Translation: Present projects where complex technical ideas were successfully simplified and visually communicated to a broader audience.

• Tool Proficiency Demonstration: Ensure your portfolio reflects work created using Figma, Adobe Creative Suite, and motion design tools like After Effects or Jitter.

Process Documentation:

• Workflow Design: Examples of how you approach the design process from brief to final delivery, including stages for concept development, iteration, and feedback integration.

• Asset Handoff & Organization: Showcase your system for organizing design files and delivering production-ready assets to stakeholders, ensuring ease of use and future accessibility.

• Quality Assurance Approach: Detail your methods for reviewing and ensuring the accuracy, brand alignment, and design integrity of creative deliverables before final release.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a Brand Designer role supporting GTM, the portfolio is paramount. It needs to demonstrate not just aesthetic skill but also the ability to execute efficiently, maintain brand integrity under pressure, and translate technical messaging. The "process documentation" aspect implies a need for organized workflow and efficient asset management, crucial for GTM operations that require rapid deployment of creative assets.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: $111,000 - $130,000 USD per year (Base Salary). The On-Target Earnings (OTE) range is specified as $127,650 - $149,500, suggesting potential for bonuses or commissions tied to performance, which is common in GTM-adjacent roles.

Benefits:

• Flexible & Remote-First Culture: Fully remote work environment with opportunities for in-person team meetups, bi-annual destination summits, and a monthly stipend for coworking, phone, and internet expenses.

• Equity Ownership: Stock options granted upon hire and promotion, with long-term exercise potential (10 years). Participation in secondary offerings is also available.

• Comprehensive Health Coverage: 100% employer-paid premiums for health, vision, and dental insurance for employees and their dependents.

• Unlimited Flexible Time Off: A generous "unlimited" PTO policy encouraging employees to take necessary time for rest and recharge.

• Generous Paid Parental Leave: 18 weeks for birthing parents and 12 weeks for non-birthing parents, with flexibility in usage.

Working Hours: While not explicitly stated, the "40" derived value suggests a standard full-time work week. The remote-first culture and flexible time off imply a degree of autonomy and flexibility in managing work hours, provided project deadlines and collaboration needs are met.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range provided is for base salary, with an OTE that includes potential variable compensation. This suggests the role might have some performance-based incentives, common for positions that directly support revenue generation or GTM activities. The benefits package emphasizes flexibility and employee well-being, aligning with a remote-first tech company culture.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Software / Open Source Security / Cloud Infrastructure. Chainguard operates at the intersection of open source, security, and cloud-native technologies, providing essential tools for developers and enterprises to build secure software supply chains. This context is crucial for understanding the target audience and the technical nature of the brand's messaging.

Company Size: Chainguard is a venture-backed startup, indicated by its list of prominent investors and its focus on rapid growth. While an exact employee count isn't provided, its customer base includes Fortune 500 companies, suggesting a significant market presence and ambitious scale.

Founded: Founded in 2021, Chainguard is a relatively young but rapidly growing company, driven by innovation in the open-source security space.

Team Structure:

• Marketing & GTM Focus: The Brand Designer will likely be part of a broader marketing or GTM team, collaborating closely with campaign managers, content creators, and product marketers.

• Reporting: The role likely reports to a Creative Director, Design Lead, or Head of Marketing, depending on the team's specific structure.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Expect close interaction with product teams, engineering (to understand technical concepts), and sales enablement functions to ensure brand consistency across all customer touchpoints.

Methodology:

• Data-Informed Creativity: While creative, the role requires translating complex technical data and product features into understandable and compelling visual narratives.

• Agile Production: The fast-paced nature of startups and the need to support dynamic GTM campaigns suggest an agile approach to design production, with an emphasis on efficient iteration and timely delivery.

• Brand System Driven: A strong reliance on an established brand system ensures consistency, but also requires designers to be adaptable within those parameters.

Company Website: chainguard.dev

📝 Enhancement Note: Understanding Chainguard's focus on "open source" and "security" is key. The brand designer needs to visually communicate trust, reliability, and technical sophistication to a developer audience. This requires a different approach than designing for consumer products, emphasizing clarity and accuracy over purely emotional appeals. The mention of "developer-first" brands as a bonus skill highlights this.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is positioned as a mid-level Brand Designer, requiring 3-5 years of experience. It’s a hands-on production role focused on executing the brand vision rather than setting high-level brand strategy.

Reporting Structure: The designer will likely report into a creative lead or marketing manager, working within a team that supports broader GTM initiatives.

Operations Impact: The Brand Designer plays a crucial role in shaping the perception of Chainguard among its target audience (developers, security professionals, enterprises). High-quality, consistent, and technically relevant visuals are vital for building trust, credibility, and brand recognition, which directly supports lead generation, customer acquisition, and overall GTM success.

Growth Opportunities:

• Specialization: Potential to deepen expertise in motion graphics, animation, or specific areas of GTM design (e.g., event branding, product marketing collateral).

• Leadership: With significant experience and proven impact, opportunities may arise to lead design projects, mentor junior designers, or contribute to evolving the brand system.

• Cross-Functional Skill Development: Opportunity to learn more about GTM strategy, product marketing, and developer relations by working closely with those teams.

• Industry Exposure: Working with a cutting-edge company in open-source security provides valuable experience in a high-growth, technically complex industry.

📝 Enhancement Note: The growth path for a Brand Designer typically involves moving towards Senior Designer, Art Director, or specializing in areas like motion graphics or UI/UX design. For this specific role, gaining deeper insight into developer-focused branding and security markets could lead to specialized GTM design roles.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Fully Remote. Chainguard embraces a remote-first culture, minimizing the need for physical office attendance.

Office Location(s): While the role is US-based and remote, the company may have distributed hubs or physical locations for optional collaboration or team meetups. The company headquarters is not explicitly stated, but its investor list suggests a strong presence in major tech hubs.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Digital Space: The remote environment necessitates strong reliance on digital collaboration tools (e.g., Figma, Slack, project management software) for seamless teamwork.

• Tech-Enabled Environment: Designers are expected to have reliable internet and the necessary equipment to perform their duties, with stipends provided for coworking, phone, and internet costs.

• Team Interaction: Opportunities for team interaction will primarily be virtual, supplemented by planned in-person meetups and company-wide summits.

Work Schedule: The "40" hours per week derived value indicates a standard full-time commitment. However, the remote-first and flexible time-off policies suggest a degree of autonomy in managing work hours, emphasizing output and results over strict adherence to a 9-to-5 schedule, as long as collaboration and deadlines are met.

📝 Enhancement Note: The remote-first nature means the designer must be highly self-motivated and adept at asynchronous communication. The provision of stipends acknowledges the need for a professional home office setup, which is standard for remote roles in tech.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A review of your resume and portfolio to assess qualifications and creative fit.

• Portfolio Review & Discussion: A deeper dive into your portfolio with a hiring manager or design lead, focusing on your design process, problem-solving skills, and ability to translate technical concepts. Be prepared to discuss specific projects and your role in them.

• Skills Assessment/Design Challenge: Potentially a practical exercise or a design challenge to evaluate your proficiency with required tools (Figma, Adobe Suite, motion tools) and your approach to brand consistency or translating technical ideas.

• Cross-Functional Interviews: Conversations with members of the marketing, content, or product marketing teams to assess collaboration style and understanding of GTM needs.

• Final Interview: May involve leadership for a final cultural and strategic fit assessment.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Highlight Relevance: Curate your portfolio to prominently feature work that aligns with Chainguard's brand (tech, security, developer-focused) and the specific requirements of the role (digital, print, motion).

• Showcase Process: For key projects, include a brief overview of your thought process, the problem you were solving, your design decisions, and the outcome. Use visuals to illustrate your workflow.

• Demonstrate Motion Skills: Ensure your motion design examples are clear, engaging, and showcase your ability to animate brand elements effectively.

• Quantify Impact (if possible): If any of your designs contributed to measurable GTM success (e.g., increased engagement on social media, successful event attendance), highlight this.

• Organized Handoff Examples: If you have examples of how you meticulously organized and handed off design files, include them to show your production readiness.

Challenge Preparation:

• Tool Familiarity: Be ready to demonstrate your proficiency in Figma, Adobe Creative Suite, and motion tools.

• Brand Application: Practice applying brand guidelines to new concepts or adapting existing assets.

• Technical Translation: Prepare to articulate how you would visually represent a technical concept (e.g., cloud security, open-source software) in a clear and engaging way.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on translating "complex technical ideas" and the preference for "developer-first or security brands" means candidates should prepare specific examples in their portfolio and interview discussions that demonstrate this capability. A strong understanding of the target audience (developers) and their aesthetic preferences is crucial.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Design Tools:

• Figma: Essential for collaborative design, prototyping, and creating scalable UI elements. Expect to use it for most digital design tasks.

• Adobe Creative Suite:

  • Illustrator: For vector graphics, logos, and complex illustrations.
  • Photoshop: For image editing, manipulation, and raster-based design assets.
  • InDesign: For layout design of presentations, event materials, and any print collateral.

• Motion Design Tools:

  • Jitter: A modern, efficient tool for creating animated social media content and simple animations.
  • After Effects: For more complex motion graphics, animations, and visual effects.
  • Capsule: Mentioned as a tool, likely referring to a specific animation or video editing software in their stack.

Collaboration & Communication:

• Slack: For real-time team communication and coordination.

• Project Management Software (e.g., Asana, Jira, Trello): To track project progress, manage tasks, and collaborate on deliverables.

Potential Supporting Tools:

• Brand Asset Management (BAM) / Digital Asset Management (DAM) Systems: For organizing and distributing brand assets efficiently.

• Presentation Software (e.g., Google Slides, PowerPoint): For creating and delivering pitch decks and internal presentations.

📝 Enhancement Note: Proficiency in Figma and Adobe Creative Suite is non-negotiable. The inclusion of motion tools like Jitter and After Effects indicates a need for dynamic visual content. Familiarity with how these tools integrate into a broader GTM workflow is a plus.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Customer Obsessed: Design decisions should ultimately serve the customer, making their experience with Chainguard's brand clear, valuable, and positive. This means understanding the developer audience's needs and preferences.

• Bias for Intentional Action: Approach design tasks with clear goals, efficient workflows, and a willingness to experiment and iterate quickly to deliver results.

• Don't Take Ourselves Too Seriously (but do serious work): Maintain a professional and high-quality output while fostering a positive and enjoyable work environment. Balance the gravity of security with creative expression.

• Trust Each Other and Assume Good Intentions: Collaborate openly, provide constructive feedback, and work towards shared goals with mutual respect and transparency.

Collaboration Style:

• Proactive Partnership: Actively engage with marketing, content, and product teams to understand their needs and contribute creative solutions from the outset.

• Feedback Integration: Be receptive to feedback from various stakeholders, iterating on designs to achieve the best possible outcome.

• Knowledge Sharing: Contribute to a culture of learning by sharing design insights, best practices, and new techniques with the team.

📝 Enhancement Note: The company values emphasize a blend of customer focus, execution efficiency, and a positive, collaborative team dynamic. For a designer, this translates to creating work that resonates with the target audience, being a reliable and proactive team member, and contributing to a constructive creative environment.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Translating Technical Complexity: The primary challenge will be visually representing sophisticated open-source security concepts in a way that is both accurate and easily digestible for a technical audience.

• Maintaining Brand Consistency Across Diverse Channels: Ensuring a unified brand experience across digital, print, events, and potentially product interfaces requires meticulous attention to detail and strong brand stewardship.

• Balancing Creative Vision with GTM Deadlines: Delivering high-quality, innovative creative assets within rapid GTM timelines requires efficient workflow management and prioritization skills.

• Adapting to a Fast-Paced Startup Environment: The role will require adaptability, quick learning, and the ability to pivot as company priorities or GTM strategies evolve.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Deepen Industry Expertise: Gain specialized knowledge in the open-source security and developer tooling markets, understanding their unique design needs and communication styles.

• Advanced Motion Graphics: Expand skills in animation and motion design through challenging projects and potential training.

• GTM Strategy Acumen: Develop a better understanding of how design directly impacts GTM success, lead generation, and brand perception.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration Skills: Enhance abilities in working with diverse teams, managing stakeholder expectations, and contributing to broader business objectives.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges are inherent to working in a technical B2B/B2D (Business-to-Developer) environment. Overcoming them requires strategic thinking, strong design execution, and effective communication, all of which are valuable for career growth.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• Brand Translation: "How would you approach designing a campaign for a new open-source security feature aimed at enterprise CISOs vs. individual developers?" (Focus on audience segmentation and visual communication strategy.)

• Process & Workflow: "Describe your process for taking a complex technical product update and turning it into a compelling social media graphic or short animation." (Highlight your systematic approach, tool usage, and iterative steps.)

• Brand Consistency: "Imagine you're given a set of existing marketing materials that slightly deviate from our brand guidelines. How would you address this and ensure future consistency?" (Showcase your understanding of brand systems and diplomatic communication.)

Company & Culture Questions:

• Understanding Chainguard: "What interests you about Chainguard's mission and its position in the open-source security market?" (Demonstrate research and genuine interest.)

• Remote Collaboration: "How do you ensure effective communication and collaboration in a fully remote design role?" (Provide examples of your preferred tools and methods.)

• Value Alignment: "How do you see your design approach aligning with our company values, particularly 'customer obsessed' and 'bias for intentional action'?" (Connect your work philosophy to their stated values.)

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Narrative Arc: For each featured project, tell a story: the problem, your role, your process, the solution, and the impact (if known).

• Highlight Key Skills: Ensure your presentation explicitly calls out examples of your graphic design, motion design, Figma, and Adobe Suite proficiency.

• Address Technical Translation: Be ready to point to specific projects where you successfully simplified complex information visually.

• Brand System Focus: If possible, show examples where you applied or adapted a brand system effectively.

• Conciseness: Keep your presentation focused and efficient, respecting the interviewer's time. Aim for ~15-20 minutes of presentation, leaving ample time for Q&A.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview preparation should focus on demonstrating not just creative talent, but also strategic thinking, technical understanding, and excellent collaboration skills relevant to a GTM context. The portfolio is the primary tool for showcasing these capabilities.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Brand Designer position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on Greenhouse.

• Portfolio Customization: Tailor your portfolio to highlight your strongest work in graphic design, motion graphics, and brand consistency, with a specific focus on projects relevant to technology, security, or developer-focused audiences.

• Resume Optimization: Ensure your resume clearly articulates your 3-5 years of experience, lists proficiency in Figma, Adobe Creative Suite, and motion tools, and emphasizes achievements in creative production and cross-functional collaboration.

• Interview Practice: Prepare to discuss your design process, how you translate technical concepts, and your experience with brand systems. Practice presenting a few key portfolio pieces concisely.

• Company Research: Familiarize yourself with Chainguard's mission, products, target audience, and recent news. Understand their brand voice and visual identity to demonstrate genuine interest and alignment.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.

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