Senior Brand Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Brand Designer

Company: Catawiki

Location: Netherlands

Job Type: Full-time

Category: Creative & Design / Marketing Operations

Date Posted: March 16, 2026

Experience Level: Mid-Senior Level (5-10 years)

Remote Status: Hybrid

🚀 Role Summary

• Develop and execute distinctive visual concepts and campaign ideas that translate brand strategy into compelling creative assets across multiple marketing channels.

• Leverage cutting-edge generative AI tools as a core part of the creative workflow to accelerate asset production, explore new visual directions, and enhance creative velocity.

• Build and maintain scalable visual systems and brand design frameworks to ensure consistency and impact across diverse formats, platforms, and global markets.

• Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, including Brand, Performance Marketing, CRM, PR, and Product Marketing, to deliver integrated and impactful creative work.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned as a Senior Brand Designer, emphasizing a blend of traditional brand design expertise with a strong focus on incorporating advanced AI tools into creative workflows. The emphasis on "AI-Native Creative" and leveraging AI for "accelerated creative production" suggests a forward-thinking approach to design, requiring candidates to be proficient not only in visual design principles but also in understanding and directing AI generation for marketing and brand initiatives. This role will likely interact with operations through the execution of marketing campaigns and the development of creative assets that support sales and customer acquisition efforts.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Conceptualize and develop strong visual narratives and campaign themes that align with Catawiki's brand strategy and marketing objectives, ensuring distinctiveness and resonance.

• Design and produce high-impact creative assets for a wide range of marketing touchpoints, including digital advertising, social media campaigns, CRM communications, landing pages, and commercial materials.

• Utilize generative AI tools (e.g., Midjourney, DALL-E, Stable Diffusion) to rapidly prototype ideas, generate imagery and motion assets, and explore novel visual directions, applying strong art direction to maintain brand integrity and quality.

• Establish and evolve scalable creative systems and key visual frameworks that can be efficiently adapted and deployed across various channels, markets, and campaign variations, optimizing for both creativity and operational efficiency.

• Contribute to the ongoing refinement and evolution of Catawiki’s visual identity, brand guidelines, and design systems, ensuring all creative output adheres to established standards while pushing creative boundaries.

• Partner effectively with copywriters, marketers, performance specialists, product teams, and other designers to ensure a cohesive and integrated approach to creative development and campaign execution.

• Translate complex strategic briefs into clear, concise, and visually compelling creative solutions, demonstrating a deep understanding of target audiences and channel-specific requirements.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a significant emphasis on AI integration within the design process. This implies that the role will be responsible for not just creating assets but also establishing best practices for AI-assisted design workflows, which has direct implications for marketing operations efficiency and creative output scalability.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is mandated, a strong portfolio demonstrating equivalent practical experience and a deep understanding of design principles is paramount. A degree in Graphic Design, Visual Communication, Fine Arts, or a related field is advantageous.

Experience: 6+ years of professional design experience, with a significant portion focused on digital environments, fast-paced tech companies, or creative agencies. Proven experience in developing campaign identities, key visuals, and digital-first creative across various platforms.

Required Skills:

• Visual Concept Development: Ability to translate brand strategy and marketing objectives into compelling and distinctive visual concepts.

• Campaign Ideation & Execution: Proven experience in developing and designing integrated campaign assets for digital advertising, social media, CRM, and landing pages.

• Generative AI Proficiency: Hands-on experience with generative AI tools for image, motion, and video asset creation, including prompt engineering and art direction for AI outputs.

• Art Direction: Strong ability to guide AI outputs and traditional design processes to achieve specific creative visions that are on-brand and of high quality.

• Scalable Design Systems: Experience in creating flexible visual frameworks and key visuals that can be adapted across multiple formats, channels, and markets.

• Brand Design System Management: Ability to contribute to and maintain brand guidelines, ensuring visual consistency and brand integrity.

• Digital Design Fluency: Expertise in designing for digital platforms, understanding nuances of social media, paid media, CRM, and web design.

• Visual Sharpeness: A keen eye for composition, color, typography, lighting, and overall aesthetic appeal, with a strong sense of visual storytelling.

• Cross-functional Collaboration: Excellent communication and interpersonal skills to work effectively with marketing, product, and category teams.

• Portfolio Demonstrating AI-Assisted Production: A portfolio that clearly showcases examples of AI-assisted creative work, visual systems, and campaign development.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience in the e-commerce, auction, or collectibles industry.

• Familiarity with motion graphics or video editing software.

• Understanding of UX/UI principles as they relate to visual design.

• Experience working in a scale-up or high-growth technology environment.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "6+ years of experience" and the specific portfolio requirements (Key Visuals, digital-first creative, AI-assisted production) indicate this is a senior-level role. The "AI-Native Creative" requirement suggests a need for practical, hands-on experience with AI tools, not just theoretical knowledge.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Key Visuals & Campaign Identities: Demonstrate the development of strong, scalable visual concepts that form the foundation of marketing campaigns.

• Digital-First Creative: Showcase a range of digital assets, including social media ads, paid media banners, CRM graphics, and landing page designs, highlighting adaptability across platforms.

• AI-Assisted Creative Production: Include specific examples where generative AI tools were used to conceptualize, prototype, or produce visual assets, detailing the process and impact.

• Scalable Visual Systems: Present examples of visual frameworks or design systems that effectively maintain brand consistency while allowing for efficient variation and adaptation across different applications.

• Brand Communication: Illustrate how design has been used to communicate brand messages effectively and consistently across various touchpoints.

Process Documentation:

• AI Workflow Design: Document the process of translating creative briefs into structured AI workflows, including prompt engineering, parameter selection, and iteration strategies.

• Art Direction for AI: Showcase how art direction principles are applied to AI-generated outputs to ensure they meet quality, brand, and aesthetic standards.

• System Implementation: Detail how visual systems and brand guidelines are implemented and scaled across different channels and markets, emphasizing efficiency and consistency.

• Performance Integration: If possible, include examples where creative assets were designed with specific marketing performance objectives in mind, demonstrating an understanding of how design impacts campaign results.

📝 Enhancement Note: The portfolio requirements are heavily weighted towards demonstrating practical application of AI in design and the ability to create scalable systems. This suggests that candidates will need to articulate their design process, especially concerning AI integration and system design, with clear examples of their impact.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Based on the role's seniority (6+ years of experience), hybrid work model, and location in the Netherlands (Amsterdam), a competitive salary range for a Senior Brand Designer is estimated to be between €60,000 and €85,000 gross per year. This range can vary based on the candidate's specific experience, skills, and the final assessment during the interview process.

Benefits:

• Catavoucher: €100 Catavoucher upon joining and a €50 Catavoucher on your birthday.

• "Pursue Your Passion" Day: An extra day off each year dedicated to personal interests.

• Additional Leave: Extra days off for key work anniversaries and significant life events.

• Learning & Development: Access to initiatives, clear development plans, and mentorship programs.

• Hybrid Work Model: Flexibility combining office-based and remote work, with a minimum of two days per week in the office.

• Global Impact: Opportunity to work for a global organization with a diverse customer base.

• Inclusive Culture: A queer-friendly and inclusive work environment with over 60 nationalities represented.

Working Hours: The role is full-time, likely around 40 hours per week. The hybrid work arrangement offers flexibility in how these hours are structured, balancing office presence with remote work.

📝 Enhancement Note: Salary is estimated based on industry benchmarks for Senior Brand Designers in the Netherlands, considering the company's scale-up nature and the hybrid work model. The provided benefits are directly extracted from the job description, emphasizing unique perks like Catavouchers and the "Pursue Your Passion" day.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Online Marketplace / E-commerce / Collectibles / Luxury Goods Auction. Catawiki operates in a unique niche, focusing on the auctioning of special, unique, and often extraordinary objects across a wide range of categories.

Company Size: 800+ employees. This indicates a well-established scale-up environment, offering opportunities for impact and growth while maintaining a dynamic, agile culture.

Founded: While the founding date isn't explicitly stated, Catawiki is a scale-up, implying it has moved past its startup phase and is in a growth trajectory, likely founded in the last 10-15 years.

Team Structure:

• The Brand Design team is likely part of a larger Marketing or Creative department.

• This role reports into a Creative Lead or Head of Brand, with direct collaboration with Brand Managers, Performance Marketers, and CRM specialists.

Methodology:

• Data-Driven Impact: The company values taking ownership and driving impact, suggesting a data-informed approach to creative decision-making and performance measurement.

• Agile & Adaptive: Openness to change and feedback is a core value, indicative of an agile environment where processes and strategies can evolve quickly.

• Mission-Oriented: Passion for the company's mission of becoming the world's most popular destination for special objects drives the team's efforts.

• AI Integration: A progressive approach to adopting new technologies, specifically generative AI, as a creative partner to enhance velocity and explore new visual territories.

Company Website: https://www.catawiki.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: The company culture is built on three core values: ownership & impact, openness to change & feedback, and passion for the mission. The "scale-up" nature suggests a fast-paced environment where individuals can see the direct impact of their work. The integration of AI into creative processes points to an innovative and forward-thinking culture.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: Senior Brand Designer. This level implies significant autonomy, a high degree of creative ownership, and the ability to mentor junior designers. The role is expected to contribute strategically to brand development and campaign execution, with a focus on innovation through AI.

Reporting Structure: The Senior Brand Designer will likely report to a Creative Director, Head of Brand, or Marketing Director, working within a broader marketing or creative team. Collaboration will extend across various departments, including performance marketing, product, and category management, requiring strong stakeholder management skills.

Operations Impact: The role's output directly influences brand perception, customer acquisition, engagement, and conversion rates through compelling visual communication. By leveraging AI, the designer can also drive operational efficiency in creative production, enabling marketing teams to execute campaigns faster and at a larger scale. This role bridges creative vision with marketing operations by ensuring brand consistency and optimizing creative asset delivery.

Growth Opportunities:

• Specialization: Deepen expertise in AI-driven creative production, becoming a go-to specialist within the organization.

• Leadership: Potential to move into a Creative Lead or Art Director role, managing a team of designers and overseeing larger creative projects.

• Strategic Contribution: Influence brand strategy and creative direction at a higher level, shaping the visual identity of Catawiki.

• Cross-functional Development: Gain broader marketing and product understanding through close collaboration with other departments.

• Industry Influence: Become an early adopter and thought leader in AI-assisted brand design within the e-commerce and auction space.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Senior" title, combined with the emphasis on AI and scalable systems, suggests a role with significant growth potential beyond individual contribution, potentially into leadership or strategic advisory roles within the creative and marketing operations functions.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Catawiki operates vibrant, inspiring offices designed to foster collaboration. The Amsterdam office serves as a primary hub.

Office Location(s): Amsterdam, The Netherlands is the specified location for this role.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Hub: The office environment is designed for interaction, encouraging spontaneous collaboration and team synergy, essential for cross-functional projects.

• Technology-Enabled: As a tech-forward company, expect access to modern design tools and technology, including the necessary infrastructure to support AI-driven creative workflows.

• Diverse Team Interaction: Opportunities to engage with a diverse international team, fostering a rich exchange of ideas and perspectives.

Work Schedule: The role operates on a hybrid setup, requiring a minimum of two days per week in the Amsterdam office. This model balances the benefits of in-person collaboration and team connection with the flexibility of remote work, allowing for focused design time.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid model is a key aspect of the work environment, requiring candidates to be comfortable with a blend of office and remote work. The emphasis on collaboration in the office space suggests that team dynamics and in-person brainstorming sessions are highly valued.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A review of your CV and Cover Letter, with a strong emphasis on your portfolio.

• Portfolio Presentation & Discussion: Expect to walk through your portfolio, discussing your design process, key projects, and specifically your experience with AI in creative production. Be prepared to articulate your art direction approach for AI-generated assets.

• Skills Assessment: Potential for a design challenge or case study focused on developing a visual concept or campaign idea, possibly incorporating AI elements, to assess conceptual thinking, design execution, and problem-solving skills.

• Cross-functional Interviews: Meetings with key stakeholders from Brand, Marketing, and potentially Product teams to assess collaboration style, communication, and strategic alignment.

• Final Interview: Typically with a senior leader (e.g., Head of Brand, Marketing Director) to discuss cultural fit, long-term career aspirations, and overall suitability for the role.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate Strategically: Select projects that best demonstrate your core skills relevant to the job description, especially AI-assisted work, campaign development, and scalable systems.

• Tell a Story: For each project, clearly articulate the brief, your role, your process (including AI usage), the challenges, the solution, and the impact or outcome.

• Highlight AI Integration: Dedicate specific slides or sections to showcase how you've used AI as a creative partner. Explain your prompts, iteration process, and how you applied art direction to refine AI outputs.

• Demonstrate Scalability: Show examples where your designs have been adapted across multiple platforms or markets, or explain how you would approach scaling a concept.

• Visual Clarity & Craft: Ensure your portfolio is visually polished, well-organized, and easy to navigate. High-quality visuals are paramount.

• Tailor to Catawiki: Research Catawiki's brand and current campaigns. Consider how your work aligns with their aesthetic and mission.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand the Brief: If given a design challenge, thoroughly analyze the brief, identify key objectives, and ask clarifying questions.

• Embrace AI: If appropriate, consider how generative AI could be used to accelerate your ideation or asset creation process during the challenge.

• Focus on Concept & Strategy: Beyond aesthetics, be prepared to explain the strategic thinking behind your design choices and how they address the business objectives.

• Presentation Skills: Practice presenting your work concisely and compellingly, anticipating potential questions about your process and rationale.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on AI in the interview process is critical. Candidates should be ready to demonstrate not just proficiency but also strategic thinking around AI's role in the creative workflow, including its limitations and how to overcome them with strong art direction.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Adobe Creative Suite: Proficiency in Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign is fundamental for design execution.

• Generative AI Platforms: Hands-on experience with tools such as Midjourney, DALL-E, Stable Diffusion, or similar AI image/video generation platforms. Familiarity with prompt engineering and AI art direction techniques.

• Prototyping/Design Tools: Experience with tools like Figma, Sketch, or Adobe XD for digital design, wireframing, and prototyping.

Analytics & Reporting:

CRM & Automation:

• Experience designing for CRM platforms and email marketing tools (e.g., Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Mailchimp, HubSpot) is highly relevant, understanding how to create engaging email templates and campaign assets.

📝 Enhancement Note: The specific mention of "generative AI tools" as a core requirement points to a need for candidates to be proficient with current AI platforms, rather than just general design software. This is a key differentiator for this role.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Ownership & Impact: Taking responsibility for projects and driving tangible results that contribute to Catawiki's growth and mission.

• Openness to Change & Feedback: Embracing new technologies like AI, adapting to evolving strategies, and actively seeking and providing constructive feedback.

• Passion for Mission & Customers: A genuine interest in unique objects and a commitment to creating exceptional experiences for Catawiki's users.

• Innovation & Experimentation: A culture that encourages exploring new creative avenues, particularly through AI, to push boundaries and discover novel solutions.

• Collaboration & Inclusivity: Working effectively in a diverse, international team, fostering a supportive and inclusive environment where everyone's contributions are valued.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-functional Partnership: Actively partnering with marketing, product, and category teams to ensure creative solutions are strategically aligned and effectively executed.

• Feedback-Driven Iteration: Engaging in a continuous cycle of feedback and iteration with peers and stakeholders to refine creative concepts and assets.

• Knowledge Sharing: Willingness to share expertise, especially regarding AI tools and techniques, to elevate the team's overall creative capabilities.

• Proactive Communication: Maintaining clear and consistent communication regarding project status, challenges, and creative rationale.

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's core values are deeply integrated into the team's operational approach, emphasizing a proactive, collaborative, and innovative mindset, particularly in adopting new technologies like AI.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Rapidly Evolving AI Landscape: Staying abreast of the fast-paced developments in generative AI and integrating new tools and capabilities effectively into the workflow.

• Maintaining Brand Consistency with AI: Balancing the creative exploration enabled by AI with the need for strict brand consistency and quality control.

• Cross-functional Alignment: Ensuring creative output meets the diverse needs and strategic objectives of various departments (e.g., Performance Marketing, CRM, Product).

• Scalability Under Pressure: Developing creative systems and assets that can be efficiently scaled to meet the demands of a global marketplace with a high volume of auctions.

• Art Direction for AI Outputs: Mastering the skill of guiding AI to produce precisely the desired visual outcomes, which requires a strong understanding of AI capabilities and limitations.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• AI Tool Mastery: Gaining deep expertise in the latest generative AI tools and becoming a leader in their application for brand design.

• Strategic Brand Development: Contributing to the evolution of Catawiki's visual identity and brand strategy.

• Cross-functional Acumen: Developing a comprehensive understanding of marketing operations, performance marketing, and product development through close collaboration.

• Mentorship: Potential to mentor junior designers and contribute to the team's skill development.

• Industry Exposure: Engaging with industry trends in design, AI, and e-commerce to bring fresh perspectives and innovative ideas to the role.

📝 Enhancement Note: The primary challenge and growth area revolve around the effective and strategic implementation of AI in creative processes, a key differentiator for this role in the current job market.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe your process for translating a marketing brief into a visual concept, and how you would incorporate generative AI into that process for a campaign like [example campaign for Catawiki]." (Focus on strategic thinking, AI integration, and process clarity).

• "How do you ensure brand consistency and maintain high creative quality when using AI tools that can produce a wide range of outputs?" (Focus on art direction, quality control, and brand guidelines).

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What excites you about Catawiki's mission and its unique marketplace model?" (Demonstrate genuine interest and research).

• "How do you approach receiving and giving feedback, especially in a fast-paced scale-up environment?" (Align with company values of openness and feedback).

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• AI Case Studies: Dedicate 2-3 slides to a specific project where you heavily utilized AI. Detail your prompts, the iterative process, the art direction applied, and the final output. Explain the benefits (e.g., speed, creativity) and any challenges overcome.

• Scalable System Example: Present a project that demonstrates your ability to create flexible visual frameworks. Explain how it was designed for adaptation and consistency.

• Campaign Walkthrough: Choose a strong campaign example and explain the strategic objectives, your role, the creative concept, and how various assets were executed.

• Concise Storytelling: For each project, focus on the problem, your solution, and the outcome. Be prepared to answer questions about your decision-making process.

• Interactive Elements: If possible, have a live demo of a tool or a brief interactive element that showcases your skills, particularly with AI.

📝 Enhancement Note: Preparation should heavily emphasize the AI component, showcasing practical experience, strategic thinking about its role, and the ability to articulate complex AI workflows and art direction decisions.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Senior Brand Designer position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on Greenhouse.

• Customize Your Resume: Highlight keywords from the job description, such as "Generative AI," "Visual Concept Development," "Scalable Creative Systems," "Art Direction," and "Digital Design." Quantify achievements where possible (e.g., "Increased campaign engagement by X% through innovative visual design").

• Prepare Your Portfolio: Ensure your portfolio is up-to-date, well-organized, and clearly showcases projects demonstrating your skills in AI-assisted creative production, campaign development, and scalable design systems. Include specific case studies that detail your process.

• Craft a Compelling Cover Letter: Briefly explain why you are a strong fit for this role, specifically addressing your experience with generative AI and your passion for Catawiki's mission.

• Research Catawiki: Familiarize yourself with their current brand aesthetic, recent campaigns, and their unique marketplace offerings to tailor your responses and portfolio selection.

⚠️ 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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