Senior Graphic Designer

AECOM
Full-time$75k-100k/year (USD)Philadelphia, United States

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Graphic Designer

Company: AECOM

Location: Tampa, Florida, United States (Hybrid)

Job Type: Full-time

Category: Marketing Operations / GTM Support

Date Posted: March 03, 2026

Experience Level: 5-10 years

Remote Status: Hybrid

🚀 Role Summary

  • This role is critical for supporting AECOM's business development and operations teams by creating compelling visual assets for client pursuits and communications.

  • The Senior Graphic Designer will be responsible for translating complex technical information and strategic messaging into high-impact graphics for proposals, presentations, and interview materials.

  • This position requires a strong command of design software and an understanding of proposal development processes within the A/E/C industry.

  • The role emphasizes collaboration with cross-functional teams, including proposal managers, capture managers, and subject matter experts, to ensure visual consistency and effectiveness.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the title is "Senior Graphic Designer," the responsibilities clearly indicate a role heavily focused on supporting Go-To-Market (GTM) functions, specifically within the proposal development lifecycle for a large infrastructure consulting firm. This positions it within the broader "Marketing Operations" or "GTM Support" category, rather than pure creative design. The hybrid nature and specific tools mentioned are typical for operations-adjacent roles.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

  • Design advanced graphics and multimedia content for large, complex, and high-stakes client proposals, Statements of Qualifications (SOQs), and other client-facing materials.

  • Collaborate closely with proposal managers, capture managers, and regional business development teams on strategic pursuits, alternative delivery projects, and regional/state priorities.

  • Lead storyboarding sessions and content planning for proposal narratives, presentations, and interview materials, ensuring clear visual communication of themes and discriminators.

  • Develop and produce visually engaging print and digital documents, adhering to AECOM's brand guidelines and templates, while also creating custom graphics and illustrations.

  • Create custom illustrations and diagrams to visually explain technical information, processes, charts, and tables for subject matter experts and authors.

  • Participate actively in the proposal pursuit team, contributing to planning, storyboarding, and review sessions (e.g., Pink and Red reviews).

  • Ensure consistent quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) across all marketing and proposal materials, maintaining meticulous attention to detail.

  • Provide technical and logistical support for presentations, video conferences, and key review meetings.

  • Manage and process comments and edits on graphic elements, coordinating with authors and subject matter experts for finalization.

  • Contribute to the marketing organization by providing input on best practices, template development, and the adoption of new design tools and technologies.

  • Regularly participate in focused teams, such as marketing best practices and graphics roundtables, to share knowledge and provide constructive feedback.

  • Oversee and support the finalization, production, packaging, and shipping of documents for submission.

  • Handle challenging interpersonal situations with peers and internal clients diplomatically, exercising discretion with confidential information.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a strong operational component focused on deadline-driven proposal production and cross-functional coordination, typical of roles supporting GTM efforts. The emphasis on "must-win pursuits" and "alternative delivery projects" points to a strategic contribution beyond basic graphic design.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education:

Experience:

  • Minimum of 4 years of relevant graphic design experience, with a preference for 6+ years.

Required Skills:

  • Highly proficient in Adobe Creative Suite: InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop for professional layout and graphic creation.

  • Skilled in creating interactive PDFs using Adobe Acrobat.

  • Experienced in developing compelling presentations using PowerPoint or similar tools.

  • Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, Outlook).

  • Solid understanding of graphic design and marketing best practices, procedures, and workflows.

  • Ability to visually convey messages, themes, discriminators, and responses to evaluation criteria clearly and effectively in proposals and presentations.

  • Proven ability to work collaboratively with diverse teams, including proposal managers and subject matter experts.

Preferred Skills:

  • Familiarity with the A/E industry, including an understanding of AECOM's business lines, clients, projects, and competitors.

  • Experience with digital illustration and diagramming software.

  • Knowledge of video editing or multimedia production tools.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on specific Adobe Suite proficiency, PowerPoint, and collaborative tools like Teams and SharePoint are key operational and technical skills. The preference for A/E industry knowledge and proposal experience makes this role highly specialized within the GTM operations context.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

  • A comprehensive portfolio is mandatory, demonstrating a strong ability in layout design, graphic creation, and presentation development. This can be submitted as a link or PDF samples.

  • Showcase examples of high-impact graphics and multimedia content used in proposal or client-facing materials.

  • Include case studies or examples of how visual design effectively communicated complex technical information or project themes.

Process Documentation:

  • Highlight experience in contributing to or managing the visual aspects of proposal development processes, from initial concept to final submission.

  • Provide examples of workflow optimization related to graphic production or presentation creation, demonstrating efficiency gains.

  • Showcase ability to adhere to quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) processes for design deliverables.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a role like this, the portfolio is critical for demonstrating practical application of design skills in a business context. It should emphasize not just aesthetic quality but also the effectiveness of the design in supporting business objectives, such as winning proposals.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range:

Benefits:

  • Comprehensive benefits package including:
    • Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance
    • Life Insurance and Accidental Death & Dismemberment (AD&D) coverage
    • Disability benefits
    • Paid Time Off (PTO) and Leaves of Absence
    • Voluntary benefits and Perks
    • Well-being resources and Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
    • Business Travel Insurance
    • Service Recognition Awards
    • Retirement Savings Plan

Working Hours:

  • Standard full-time hours, typically 40 hours per week, with flexibility expected due to the nature of proposal deadlines and client demands.

📝 Enhancement Note: The provided salary range aligns with a Senior Graphic Designer role in a major metropolitan area like Tampa, FL, considering the required experience and responsibilities within a Fortune 500 company. The extensive list of benefits reflects typical offerings for large, established organizations.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Infrastructure Consulting (Architecture, Engineering, Construction - A/E/C)

Company Size: Fortune 500, over 50,000 employees globally.

Founded: AECOM was established through various mergers and acquisitions, with its modern iteration dating back to the mid-20th century, evolving into a global leader in infrastructure consulting.

Team Structure:

  • The Senior Graphic Designer will be part of the "East Design Studio Team."

  • This team works closely with business development and operations teams across the East Region.

Methodology:

  • AECOM emphasizes a "better world" through infrastructure solutions, focusing on client needs and long-term impact.

  • The design studio likely operates with a project-based methodology, often under tight deadlines for pursuits.

  • Core principles include collaboration, innovation, technical excellence, and a commitment to sustainability and resilience.

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

📝 Enhancement Note: AECOM's status as a global infrastructure leader and Fortune 500 company implies a structured, performance-driven environment. The "Design Studio Team" suggests a centralized support function for sales and operations, emphasizing efficiency and quality in client-facing materials.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: Senior Individual Contributor. This role is experienced-level, expected to take initiative and work independently on complex assignments, while also contributing to team best practices.

Reporting Structure: The role reports to a manager within the East Design Studio Team, with close collaboration and project direction from business development and proposal management teams.

Operations Impact: The graphic design output directly influences the success of AECOM's pursuits, impacting revenue generation by enhancing the persuasive power of proposals and presentations. Effective visuals are crucial for winning "must-win" projects.

Growth Opportunities:

  • Skill Advancement: Deepen expertise in proposal graphics, technical illustration, and multimedia design within the A/E/C sector. Opportunity to learn new design software and technologies.

  • Leadership Potential: Develop into a lead designer role, mentoring junior designers, or specializing in specific areas like data visualization or interactive design for proposals.

  • Cross-Functional Exposure: Gain deeper understanding of business development, capture strategy, and the full project lifecycle within infrastructure consulting.

  • Industry Specialization: Become a recognized expert in visual communication for the infrastructure and engineering industry.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Senior" title suggests a path towards leadership or specialized expertise. Growth within AECOM's marketing and operations functions is likely tied to contributing to successful client pursuits and demonstrating a strong understanding of the company's business.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Hybrid work model. This role will involve a combination of remote work and in-office presence.

Office Location(s): The position can be based in various AECOM offices across the East Region, including Miami, FL; Tampa, FL; Orlando, FL; Arlington, VA; Atlanta, GA; Philadelphia, PA; New York City, NY; Raleigh, NC; Boston, MA. The primary listed location is Tampa, FL.

Workspace Context:

  • The role requires a dedicated remote workspace with reliable internet access for remote days.

  • In-office days will likely involve collaboration within the Design Studio team and with other departments, utilizing office resources and meeting spaces.

Work Schedule:

  • Standard 40-hour work week. However, flexibility is crucial, especially during proposal deadlines, client interview preparation, and critical project phases, which may require extended hours or weekend work.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid model offers flexibility, but candidates must be prepared for the demands of a deadline-driven environment, which often transcends standard working hours. The variety of potential office locations suggests a decentralized regional team structure.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

  • Initial Screening: Review of resume and portfolio to assess qualifications and experience.

  • Technical Assessment: Likely involves a design challenge or a portfolio review session with the hiring manager and/or senior design team members. This will focus on assessing design skills, software proficiency, and problem-solving abilities.

  • Behavioral/Situational Interviews: Questions will assess collaboration, communication, ability to handle pressure, and understanding of the proposal process.

  • Team/Stakeholder Interviews: Meetings with proposal managers, capture managers, or other key stakeholders to evaluate fit and ability to work effectively in a cross-functional team.

Portfolio Review Tips:

  • Curate Strategically: Select 5-7 strong examples that best showcase your skills relevant to proposal and presentation design, especially within a professional services context.

  • Highlight Impact: For each project, clearly articulate the objective, your role, the challenges you faced, your design process, and the outcome or impact of your work (e.g., "contributed to winning a $X million proposal").

  • Showcase Technical Skills: Include examples that demonstrate mastery of InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, and PowerPoint for layout, graphics, and presentations. Visualizations of complex data or technical processes are highly valuable.

  • Demonstrate Process: Explain your approach to storyboarding, gathering input, iterating on designs, and adhering to brand guidelines and client requirements.

  • Be Ready to Discuss: Prepare to walk through your portfolio, explain your design choices, and answer questions about your workflow, problem-solving, and collaboration.

Challenge Preparation:

  • Design Challenge: If a design challenge is provided, focus on interpreting the brief accurately, delivering a visually compelling solution within the given constraints (time, tools), and clearly explaining your rationale.

  • Presentation Skills: Practice articulating your design concepts, process, and the business value of your work concisely and effectively. Be prepared to present your portfolio or challenge solution.

  • Company Research: Understand AECOM's business, its services, and its mission. Familiarize yourself with their existing branding and marketing materials to demonstrate alignment.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on portfolio review and potential design challenges underscores the practical, results-oriented nature of this role. Candidates should prepare to demonstrate not just creative talent but also an understanding of how design serves business objectives in a competitive GTM environment.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

  • Adobe Creative Suite:

    • InDesign: Essential for layout, document design, and proposal production. High proficiency required.
    • Illustrator: For creating vector graphics, logos, icons, and complex illustrations.
    • Photoshop: For image editing, manipulation, and creating raster graphics.
  • Presentation Software:

    • Microsoft PowerPoint: Critical for creating client presentations, interview materials, and proposal graphics. Proficiency expected.
    • Other presentation tools may be beneficial.
  • Adobe Acrobat: For creating and managing interactive PDFs, essential for proposal submissions.

Analytics & Reporting: (Less direct, but understanding how visual assets contribute to proposal success is key)

  • While not a primary analytics role, understanding how to present data visually in charts, graphs, and diagrams for reporting and proposals is crucial.

CRM & Automation: (Indirect relevance)

Collaboration & Project Management:

  • Microsoft Teams: For communication and team collaboration.

  • SharePoint: For document sharing, version control, and project management within AECOM's ecosystem.

  • Microsoft Office Suite: Word, Excel, Outlook for general business operations.

📝 Enhancement Note: Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite and PowerPoint is non-negotiable. Understanding how these tools integrate into a proposal production workflow (often managed via SharePoint and communicated through Teams) is key to success in this role.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

  • Excellence & Quality: A commitment to producing high-quality, polished deliverables that reflect AECOM's professional standards.

  • Collaboration: Working effectively with diverse, cross-functional teams to achieve common goals, particularly winning new business.

  • Client Focus: Understanding client needs and developing visual solutions that resonate and persuade.

  • Efficiency & Agility: Ability to work effectively under pressure and meet tight deadlines inherent in proposal cycles.

  • Innovation: Seeking creative solutions to visually represent complex information and enhance AECOM's messaging.

Collaboration Style:

  • The role requires a highly collaborative approach, working closely with proposal managers, subject matter experts, and other members of the pursuit team.

  • Open communication, active listening, and constructive feedback are essential.

  • The ability to translate technical jargon into clear visuals and to manage stakeholder expectations is paramount.

📝 Enhancement Note: The culture emphasizes delivering high-quality, impactful client deliverables within a structured, deadline-driven framework. Collaboration is not just about teamwork but also about effectively translating diverse inputs into a cohesive visual narrative.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

  • Tight Deadlines: Managing multiple high-priority pursuits simultaneously, each with demanding deadlines and review cycles.

  • Translating Complexity: Visually representing highly technical or abstract concepts from various engineering disciplines into clear, compelling graphics.

  • Stakeholder Management: Balancing feedback and requirements from diverse stakeholders with varying opinions and priorities.

  • Brand Consistency: Maintaining AECOM's brand integrity while creating unique, tailored visuals for each pursuit.

  • Adapting to New Technologies: Keeping pace with evolving design software and collaboration tools.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

  • Specialized Design Skills: Advanced training in proposal design, data visualization, technical illustration, and potentially animation or interactive media.

  • Industry Knowledge: Deepening understanding of AECOM's services, projects, and the A/E/C industry's visual communication needs.

  • Process Improvement: Contributing to the refinement of AECOM's design and proposal production workflows.

  • Mentorship: Opportunities to learn from and potentially mentor junior designers or collaborate with senior marketing and business development professionals.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role presents challenges typical of high-stakes GTM support functions, requiring resilience, adaptability, and strong problem-solving skills. The growth path focuses on specialization within the industry and contribution to operational efficiency.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

  • "Describe a time you had to design graphics for a complex technical proposal. What was the challenge, and how did you approach it visually?" (Focus on process, problem-solving, and outcome.)

  • "How do you ensure visual consistency and brand adherence across multiple proposal documents and presentations?" (Highlight QA/QC, template usage, and attention to detail.)

  • "Walk me through your process for storyboarding a client presentation or a key proposal section." (Demonstrate strategic thinking and collaboration.)

Company & Culture Questions:

  • "What do you know about AECOM's work in infrastructure and how can graphic design support our business development efforts?" (Show research and understanding of the company's mission.)

  • "How do you prioritize tasks when working on multiple high-pressure deadlines simultaneously?" (Assess time management and organizational skills.)

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

  • Tell a Story: For each portfolio piece, frame it as a mini case study: the client/project context, the problem/objective, your role and approach, the solution (your design), and the result/impact.

  • Quantify Impact: Where possible, mention the value of the proposal won, the size of the project, or how your design helped clarify a complex message.

  • Showcase Technical Proficiency: Be ready to briefly explain the tools and techniques used to achieve specific visual effects or layouts.

  • Highlight Collaboration: Mention how you worked with authors, SMEs, or proposal managers to achieve the final deliverable.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview preparation should focus on demonstrating both creative talent and operational effectiveness. Candidates need to articulate their process, problem-solving skills, and how their design work directly contributes to AECOM's business objectives and winning new projects.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Senior Graphic Designer position:

  • Submit your application through the AECOM careers portal.

  • Customize Your Resume: Tailor your resume to highlight experience in proposal design, presentation development, Adobe Creative Suite proficiency, and any A/E/C industry exposure. Use keywords from the job description.

  • Prepare Your Portfolio: Ensure your portfolio is up-to-date, easily accessible (link or PDF), and showcases your strongest relevant work, especially examples related to professional services, proposals, and complex information visualization.

  • Practice Your Pitch: Be ready to articulate your design process, problem-solving approach, and the impact of your work during interviews and portfolio reviews.

  • Research AECOM: Understand the company's mission, key projects, and its role in the infrastructure consulting industry. Familiarize yourself with their brand guidelines if possible.

⚠️ 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.

Application Requirements

Minimum requirements include a Bachelor's degree plus 4 years of relevant graphic design experience, or equivalent experience, with high proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite (InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop) and presentation tools like PowerPoint. Candidates must demonstrate strong knowledge of design best practices and the ability to visually convey complex messages effectively in proposals and presentations.