Noho Labs - Brand Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Founding Brand Designer

Company: Noho Labs (backed by 8VC)

Location: United States

Job Type: FULL_TIME

Category: Brand Design / Marketing Operations

Date Posted: December 08, 2025

Experience Level: 7+ years

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead the creation and evolution of Noho Labs' comprehensive brand system, encompassing visual identity, narrative, and communication strategies for a rapidly scaling consumer healthcare brand.

• Drive the conceptualization and production of original visual assets, including illustration, art direction for photography, and campaign creative, to translate complex clinical concepts into clear, emotionally resonant patient stories.

• Collaborate closely with founders, product design, and growth teams to ensure brand consistency across all touchpoints, from digital marketing assets to patient education materials and physical product packaging.

• Develop and maintain scalable brand guidelines and systems that support diverse applications across marketing, product, and future business lines, ensuring cohesive brand architecture and extensions.

• Translate complex scientific and clinical information into intuitive, trustworthy, and accessible visual narratives for patients, fostering a sense of safety and confidence in the brand.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the job title is "Brand Designer," the responsibilities and context provided strongly indicate a need for strategic GTM (Go-To-Market) and marketing operations alignment. The role requires not just visual creation but also system building, cross-functional collaboration, and a deep understanding of how brand translates into performance marketing assets and patient experience. This is a "founding" role, implying significant autonomy and strategic input from day one. The emphasis on "systems thinker" and "building a library of performance-backed design patterns" points towards operations-adjacent responsibilities in ensuring brand scalability and effectiveness.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Define, develop, and meticulously maintain Noho's core brand system, including logo/wordmark, typography, color palettes, motion graphics, illustration styles, and iconography.

• Establish and evolve a cohesive, flexible design language capable of spanning clinical, wellness, and performance-oriented contexts while upholding trust and clarity for diverse audiences.

• Create and implement scalable brand guidelines that effectively govern the application of brand elements across product design, marketing collateral, and operational communications.

• Conceptualize and develop compelling campaign themes and visual territories that dictate Noho's brand presentation across marketing initiatives, clinical communications, and product interfaces.

• Conceptualize and produce original visual assets, custom illustrations, art direction for photography, campaign concepts, and digital storytelling pieces that align with brand strategy.

• Design and create high-converting, brand-consistent digital marketing assets, including landing pages, lifecycle email campaigns, paid advertisements, social media content, and investor/founder decks.

• Translate intricate peptide concepts into intuitive visual aids and narratives for patients, such as infographics, explainer diagrams, and engaging content layouts.

• Partner with the Head of Growth to conduct creative concept testing, iterate rapidly on design solutions, and develop a robust library of design patterns proven for performance.

• Collaborate with the Product Designer/Design Engineer to ensure seamless brand integration within in-product user interfaces and patient touchpoints, providing essential visual direction and brand expression.

• Develop visually compelling patient education materials grounded in brand storytelling principles, working cross-functionally with product and clinical teams to distill complex information into clear visual representations.

• Contribute to the design of packaging and physical brand touchpoints, including inserts and kits, as the fulfillment experience is formalized.

• Assist in defining Noho's brand architecture, ensuring consistent presentation across distinct audience segments (patients, clinicians, partners) while maintaining a unified brand identity.

• Explore and propose how the brand identity can adapt and scale for future lines of business, such as performance, longevity, and specialty programs.

• Build and maintain systems that facilitate storytelling around patient case studies, treatment outcomes, and clinician expertise.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a critical need for the Brand Designer to think beyond pure aesthetics and engage in strategic GTM operations. Responsibilities like "Develop campaign concepts and visual territories," "Partner with Growth to test creative concepts, iterate quickly, and build a library of performance-backed design patterns," and "Help define how Noho shows up across different audiences" directly involve operationalizing brand strategy for marketing and growth. The emphasis on "scalable brand guidelines" and "systems that support storytelling" also points to a need for operational efficiency and repeatable processes.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is mandated, a strong foundation in graphic design, visual arts, or a related field is implied by the nature of the role.

Experience: 7+ years of experience shaping premium consumer brands, with a proven track record of high-taste visual craft, creative direction, and original concept development.

Required Skills:

• Exceptional concept development capabilities, with the ability to translate creative themes into scalable illustrations, photography direction, and visual systems.

• Proven experience in building or significantly evolving a brand system from its foundational elements.

• Proficiency in designing for digital-first marketing assets, including web interfaces, lifecycle marketing (email), paid advertising creative, and social media content.

• Strong understanding of core brand system development, encompassing identity, comprehensive guidelines, and template creation.

• Ability to integrate complex information (e.g., clinical concepts, data) into clear, intuitive, and safe visual narratives.

• High degree of comfort and proficiency with design tools such as Figma for digital asset creation and component-based design.

• Demonstrated ability to generate original visual assets, including custom illustration and art direction for photography.

• Experience in developing and maintaining scalable brand guidelines and systems.

• Strong product intuition and the ability to collaborate effectively with product, engineering, and growth teams.

• Adept at operating with ambiguity and autonomy, capable of taking fuzzy problems and driving them to clear, actionable solutions with rapid iteration.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience in consumer healthcare, or a strong demonstrated interest and ability to learn the nuances of the sector.

• Proficiency or familiarity with motion design, lightweight animation, or creating simple prototypes to animate brand elements.

• Experience with packaging design, print collateral, or other physical brand touchpoints.

• Prior experience as an early-stage designer or a founding member of a design team.

• Experience in categories such as luxury goods, fashion, hospitality, or high-end real estate.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "7+ years" requirement, coupled with the emphasis on "building or significantly evolving a brand system" and "high-taste visual craft," suggests this role is senior-level. The expectation to "design for both pixels and Figma components" and partner with "Growth to test creative concepts" implies a need for skills that bridge creative execution with marketing operations and performance analysis. The "nice-to-haves" like motion design and packaging experience further broaden the operational scope of the role.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• A robust portfolio showcasing the end-to-end process of building and evolving brand systems for premium consumer brands, demonstrating strategic thinking and visual execution.

• Specific examples of original concept development, including the journey from initial brief to final visual assets and campaign territories.

• Demonstrations of custom illustration work, art direction for photography, and the creation of digital marketing assets that achieved measurable results.

• Case studies detailing the creation and implementation of brand guidelines, illustrating how these systems supported consistency and scalability across various channels.

• Examples of translating complex information into clear, engaging visual narratives, particularly relevant for patient education or technical concepts.

• Evidence of collaboration with cross-functional teams (product, growth, clinical) and how design integrated with broader business objectives.

Process Documentation:

• The portfolio should implicitly or explicitly document the candidate's design process, emphasizing how they approach ambiguity, develop concepts, iterate based on feedback, and ensure brand integrity.

• Showcase how systems thinking was applied to create scalable brand assets and guidelines, rather than one-off campaign pieces.

• Evidence of collaboration workflows, detailing how feedback was incorporated from product, growth, and clinical stakeholders to refine designs.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a "Founding Brand Designer" role, the portfolio is paramount. It's not just about showcasing finished work but demonstrating a strategic and systematic approach. The emphasis on "building the full brand system" and "scalable brand guidelines" implies a need for portfolio pieces that illustrate process, system design, and the ability to create repeatable frameworks, which is a core tenet of operations. The "performance-backed design patterns" requirement suggests a need to show how design decisions were informed by data or tested for effectiveness.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Given the "Founding Brand Designer" title, 7+ years of experience, remote US location, and backing by a venture capital firm (8VC), an estimated salary range for this role in the United States would typically fall between $150,000 - $200,000 annually. This range accounts for the senior level, strategic impact, and the early-stage nature of the company.

Benefits:

• Equity/Stock Options: As a founding team member, significant equity is expected.

• Health, Dental, and Vision Insurance: Comprehensive medical coverage.

• Remote Work Stipend: Support for home office setup and ongoing remote work expenses.

• Generous Paid Time Off (PTO): Standard vacation, sick leave, and holidays.

• Professional Development Budget: Funds for courses, conferences, and skill enhancement related to design, branding, or healthcare.

• Regular In-Person Team Gatherings: Company-sponsored offsites every six weeks to foster team cohesion and strategic alignment.

• Direct Access to Founders: Opportunity for high-impact collaboration and mentorship.

Working Hours: Standard full-time hours (approximately 40 hours per week) are expected, with flexibility often afforded to remote employees. The emphasis on "Agency over authority" and "Forgiveness > Permission" suggests a results-oriented environment where employees manage their time effectively to meet objectives.

📝 Enhancement Note: Salary is an estimation based on industry benchmarks for senior-level design roles in US-based startups backed by VCs, especially for "founding" positions. The benefits listed are typical for well-funded startups and are tailored to attract senior talent in a remote-first environment. The inclusion of equity is a critical component for founding roles.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Healthcare (specifically, peptide-based care and wellness/longevity solutions), backed by Venture Capital (8VC). This industry is characterized by high stakes regarding patient safety, regulatory considerations, and the need for clear, trustworthy communication.

Company Size: Early-stage startup, likely a small, agile team, growing rapidly from early product-market fit. This means a high degree of individual ownership and direct impact.

Founded: The company is Noho Labs, with 8VC being a prominent VC firm. The exact founding date of Noho Labs isn't specified, but the context implies it's a relatively new venture leveraging significant VC backing.

Team Structure:

• A tight-knit, founder-led team.

• The Brand Designer will report directly to the founders and work closely with Product Designer/Design Engineer, Head of Growth, and potentially clinical advisors.

Methodology:

• Patient-centricity: Prioritizing patient safety, trust, and understanding above all else.

• Action-oriented: A "Bias to build. Less debate, more demo" approach, encouraging rapid prototyping and execution.

• Ownership: Fostering an environment where individuals act as owners ("Forgiveness > Permission").

• Data-informed: Collaborating with Growth to test creative concepts and leverage performance data.

• Integrity-driven: Commitment to raising the bar for honesty and responsibility in a complex healthcare sector.

Company Website: https://www.8vc.com/ (This is for the VC firm; Noho Labs' specific website is not provided but would be crucial for brand research.)

📝 Enhancement Note: The company culture is explicitly defined by core values emphasizing action, ownership, patient focus, and integrity. This suggests a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment where individuals are empowered to make decisions and drive results. The "remote-first with in-person gatherings" model is a common structure for modern startups seeking to balance flexibility with team cohesion.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is positioned as a "Founding Brand Designer," indicating a senior-level, strategic position. It's not just about executing design tasks but about architecting the brand's visual foundation and identity from the ground up. This level requires significant autonomy, strategic input, and the ability to operate with minimal direct oversight.

Reporting Structure: The Brand Designer will likely report directly to one of the company's founders. This direct line of communication ensures high visibility and the ability to influence strategic decisions. The role will involve close collaboration with other key functional leads, such as Product Design and Growth.

Operations Impact: The Brand Designer's impact will be profound and multifaceted:

• Brand Equity & Trust: Establishing a strong, trustworthy visual identity is critical for a consumer healthcare company, directly influencing patient acquisition, retention, and overall brand perception.

• Go-To-Market Effectiveness: Creating high-converting marketing assets and clear patient education materials directly supports growth initiatives and improves the efficiency of marketing spend.

• Product Cohesion: Ensuring the brand experience is consistent from marketing touchpoints to the in-product interface enhances user experience and strengthens brand loyalty.

• Scalability: Building robust brand systems and guidelines will enable the company to scale its marketing and communication efforts efficiently as it grows.

Growth Opportunities:

• Strategic Leadership: Opportunity to shape the foundational identity of a venture-backed startup in a high-growth industry, with potential to grow into a Head of Brand or Creative Director role as the company scales.

• Skill Expansion: Deepen expertise in consumer healthcare branding, digital marketing design, packaging, and potentially motion design through hands-on experience and direct collaboration.

• Entrepreneurial Experience: Gain invaluable experience in an early-stage startup environment, understanding the full lifecycle of building a brand and business.

• Cross-Functional Mastery: Develop a comprehensive understanding of product development, growth marketing, and clinical operations through close collaboration with these teams.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Founding" aspect of this role implies a high level of ownership and impact, offering significant career growth opportunities beyond traditional design roles. The direct reporting to founders and close work with growth teams provide exposure to business strategy and operational decision-making, which is rare for purely creative roles.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Remote-first. This model offers flexibility and access to a wider talent pool. However, the company supplements this with mandatory in-person team gatherings every six weeks, aiming to balance remote autonomy with in-person collaboration and team building.

Office Location(s): While remote, the company is based in the United States, and the role is open to candidates within the US. The specific headquarters location of Noho Labs is not detailed, but 8VC is a US-based VC firm.

Workspace Context:

• Autonomy & Flexibility: Employees are expected to manage their time and workflow effectively, reflecting the "Agency over authority" and "Forgiveness > Permission" values.

• Collaborative Tools: Expect to utilize digital collaboration platforms (e.g., Slack, Figma, project management tools) for seamless communication and asset sharing within the remote and hybrid team structure.

• Direct Impact: The work environment fosters direct impact, with designers working closely with founders and key decision-makers, ensuring their contributions are highly visible and influential.

• Focus on Craft and Strategy: The environment supports both deep creative work ("craft-obsessed designer") and strategic thinking ("systems thinker"), encouraging a balance between execution and planning.

Work Schedule: While generally aligned with standard full-time hours (approx. 40 hours/week), the remote-first nature likely allows for some flexibility in scheduling, provided objectives are met and collaboration across time zones is managed effectively. The emphasis on results and speed suggests a dynamic, responsive work culture.

📝 Enhancement Note: The remote-first setup with periodic in-person meetings is a common and effective model for startups. It requires strong self-management skills from employees and robust communication protocols from the company. The emphasis on "meeting in person... every six weeks" indicates a deliberate effort to build strong team bonds and facilitate deep strategic alignment.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: Likely a review of the application, resume, and portfolio by a recruiter or hiring manager to assess basic qualifications and alignment with brand aesthetic.

• Portfolio Presentation & Discussion: A core part of the process will involve presenting a curated selection of work from the portfolio. This will likely include case studies demonstrating:

  • Brand system development: How you've built or evolved a brand from scratch or significantly improved an existing one.
  • Concept creation: Your process for generating creative ideas and translating them into visual narratives.
  • Cross-functional collaboration: How you've worked with product, marketing, and other teams.
  • Problem-solving: How you tackled specific design challenges, especially complex clinical/healthcare concepts.

• Founder/Leadership Interviews: Discussions with founders to assess strategic thinking, cultural fit, autonomy, and alignment with the company's vision and values.

• Skills Assessment/Take-Home Challenge: Potentially a design challenge or a deep dive into specific skills like illustration or campaign concepting, designed to simulate real-world tasks.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate Strategically: Select 3-5 of your strongest, most relevant projects that directly showcase your ability to build a brand system from the ground up, your illustration skills, and your experience with premium consumer brands.

• Focus on Process & Impact: For each project, clearly articulate the problem, your role, your process (ideation, iteration, execution), the tools used, and the measurable impact or outcome. For this role, emphasize how your design work contributed to brand clarity, patient trust, or growth metrics.

• Highlight Systems Thinking: Showcase examples where you've created scalable brand guidelines, templates, or systems that enable efficient application across multiple channels.

• Demonstrate Craftsmanship: Ensure your portfolio reflects "high-taste visual craft" and original concept development. High-quality visuals and clean presentation are critical.

• Address Healthcare Nuances: If possible, include work that shows an understanding of sensitive industries or complex information, even if not directly healthcare. Explain how you approach communicating trust and safety.

• Prepare for Art Direction: Be ready to discuss your approach to art directing photography or other visual assets if applicable.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand the Brand: Thoroughly research Noho Labs (if possible) and its competitive landscape in consumer healthcare/longevity. Understand the "why" behind the brand and its mission.

• Embrace Ambiguity: Be prepared for open-ended problems that require you to define the scope, propose solutions, and justify your approach.

• Think Scalably: When presented with a challenge, consider how your solution could scale across different platforms and audiences.

• Articulate Your "Why": Be ready to explain the rationale behind your design decisions, connecting them to brand strategy, patient needs, and business objectives.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process for a founding role will be rigorous, focusing heavily on strategic capability, creative leadership, and cultural alignment. The portfolio review is the primary mechanism for assessing these qualities. Candidates should prepare to "sell" not just their design skills but their strategic vision and ability to build a brand from the ground up.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: Essential for UI design, component-based systems, brand guidelines, and collaborative design workflows.

• Adobe Creative Suite: Including Illustrator (for vector graphics, logos, icons), Photoshop (for image editing, digital assets), and After Effects (for motion graphics and animation).

• Prototyping Tools: Potentially tools like Principle, ProtoPie, or even advanced Figma prototyping features for bringing motion and interaction concepts to life.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Growth Analytics Platforms: Familiarity with tools used by the Growth team (e.g., Google Analytics, Mixpanel, Amplitude) to understand how design impacts user behavior and conversion rates.

• A/B Testing Tools: Understanding how design variations are tested (e.g., Optimizely, VWO) to inform design decisions.

CRM & Automation:

• CRM Systems: Basic understanding of how CRM data (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot) is used for customer segmentation and lifecycle marketing, influencing email and landing page design.

• Marketing Automation Platforms: Familiarity with platforms like HubSpot or Marketo, which often dictate email template design and campaign structure.

• Project Management Tools: Tools like Asana, Trello, Jira, or Monday.com for managing design projects and collaborating with the wider team.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the role is primarily design-focused, proficiency with Figma is paramount. Understanding the tools used by marketing and product teams is crucial for effective collaboration and ensuring brand integration across the customer journey, which is a key aspect of GTM operations.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Patient-First Mentality: Every design decision is evaluated through the lens of patient safety, clarity, and trust. This is the non-negotiable foundation.

• Bias for Action & Building: A proactive, results-oriented approach. The team values those who can take a concept and start building it, rather than getting bogged down in analysis paralysis.

• Ownership & Accountability: Employees are empowered to act as owners, making decisions and taking responsibility for outcomes without needing constant approval.

• Integrity & Transparency: Commitment to honest communication and ethical practices, especially critical in the healthcare space.

• Collaboration & Openness: Encouraging cross-functional teamwork, open feedback, and a willingness to learn from each other.

Collaboration Style:

• Highly Collaborative: Expect frequent interaction with founders, product designers, engineers, and growth marketers.

• Direct Communication: The culture favors direct, clear communication, whether in person or through digital channels.

• Feedback-Rich Environment: A willingness to give and receive constructive feedback is essential for rapid iteration and improvement.

• Cross-Functional Integration: Design is not siloed; it's integrated into product development and growth strategies from the outset.

📝 Enhancement Note: The stated values ("Patients before process. Agency over authority. Speed with safety. Move fast, treat responsibly. Bias to build. Less debate, more demo. Forgiveness > Permission. Act like an owner. Earn trust. Trust is our most valuable currency.") are extremely strong indicators of the desired work environment. They emphasize autonomy, speed, responsibility, and a deep commitment to the patient and the integrity of the brand.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Establishing Trust in a Sensitive Category: Building a brand identity that conveys trustworthiness and scientific credibility in a healthcare space with significant regulatory oversight and public skepticism.

• Translating Complex Science: Effectively communicating intricate peptide-based science and clinical benefits into simple, accessible, and emotionally resonant visuals for a broad patient audience.

• Balancing Brand Craft with Performance: Ensuring that high-level brand aesthetics and integrity are maintained while simultaneously creating marketing assets that drive measurable conversion and growth.

• Navigating Early-Stage Ambiguity: Operating in a fast-paced startup environment with evolving priorities and the need to define processes and systems as the company grows.

• Remote Collaboration Dynamics: Maintaining strong creative synergy and team cohesion within a remote-first structure, leveraging in-person meetings effectively.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Deep Dive into Consumer Healthcare: Gaining specialized knowledge and experience in branding for the regulated and rapidly evolving healthcare and longevity sectors.

• Founding Team Experience: Developing strategic business acumen and leadership skills by being part of a founding team.

• Cross-Functional Expertise: Broadening understanding of product design, growth marketing operations, and clinical strategy through intensive collaboration.

• Brand System Architecture: Mastering the art of building scalable, adaptable brand systems that can support future product lines and market expansions.

• Creative Direction & Art Direction: Honing skills in leading visual narratives and directing creative output across various mediums.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges presented are directly linked to the unique aspects of the healthcare industry and the early-stage startup environment. The growth opportunities emphasize the significant strategic and entrepreneurial learning potential of this "founding" role.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe your process for building a brand system from scratch for a new consumer product. How would you approach defining the core visual identity for Noho Labs, considering its focus on peptide-based care?" (Focus on your systematic approach, research, ideation, and execution.)

• "How do you balance creating high-quality, on-brand creative assets with the need for performance-driven marketing materials that convert? Can you share an example where you achieved this balance?" (Demonstrate your understanding of GTM operations and data-informed design.)

Company & Culture Questions:

• "Based on our stated values (e.g., 'Bias to build,' 'Agency over authority'), how do you see yourself contributing to our culture, and how do you prefer to work in such an environment?" (Align your working style with their stated values.)

• "What excites you most about the potential impact of peptide-based care, and how do you see brand design playing a crucial role in its adoption and trust-building?" (Show passion for the mission and strategic understanding.)

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Storytelling: Frame each project as a narrative: the challenge, your strategic approach, your creative process, the execution, and the results/impact.

• Highlight Systems: Explicitly point out where you've built systems, guidelines, or repeatable frameworks, not just one-off designs. This demonstrates operational thinking.

• Quantify Impact: Whenever possible, use metrics to showcase the effectiveness of your designs, especially for marketing assets. If direct metrics aren't available, discuss how you would measure success.

• Showcase Craft & Concept: Ensure your visual presentation is impeccable and that your core creative concepts are clearly articulated and compelling.

• Be Ready for Deep Dives: Prepare to discuss your technical process, tool choices, and specific design decisions in detail.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview preparation for a founding role should focus on demonstrating strategic thinking, a proactive and autonomous mindset, and the ability to integrate creative vision with business objectives and operational realities. The questions are designed to probe beyond surface-level design skills.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this operations-adjacent brand design position:

• Submit your application through the provided Ashby link, ensuring your resume and portfolio are clearly uploaded and accessible.

• Curate Your Portfolio: Select 3-5 of your most relevant projects that showcase your ability to build and evolve brand systems, your illustration skills, and your experience with premium consumer brands. Prioritize work that demonstrates strategic thinking and a systematic approach, particularly how you translate complex information into clear visuals.

• Tailor Your Resume: Highlight experience in brand system development, creative direction, illustration, and cross-functional collaboration. Use keywords like "brand identity," "visual system," "brand guidelines," "concept development," "art direction," and "consumer brands." Emphasize any experience in fast-paced environments or early-stage companies.

• Prepare Your Portfolio Presentation: Be ready to walk through your selected projects, explaining your process, rationale, and the impact of your work. Practice articulating how your design decisions align with business goals, patient needs, and company values like trust and integrity.

• Research the Company & Industry: Understand Noho Labs' mission, the competitive landscape in peptide-based care, and 8VC's investment thesis. Be prepared to discuss why this specific role and industry excite you and how your skills can contribute to their success.

⚠️ 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.