Senior Graphic Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Graphic Designer (Art Director Open) Company: Almedia Location: Berlin, Germany Job Type: Full-Time Category: Marketing / Creative & Media / Art & Design Date Posted: October 18, 2025 Experience Level: 5-10 Years Remote Status: On-site

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead end-to-end creative concept development and execution for high-impact brand campaigns and visual systems.
• Drive the establishment and scaling of Almedia's visual language, ensuring consistency and efficiency across all marketing touchpoints.
• Transition creative work in-house, optimizing workflows and establishing repeatable processes to enhance quality and speed.
• Foster strong cross-functional collaboration with marketing, product, and leadership teams to align creative initiatives with business objectives.
• Develop and own the strategic direction for brand assets, product marketing materials, events, merchandise, and out-of-home advertising.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned for a senior individual contributor or an emerging Art Director, emphasizing ownership and strategic impact. The description highlights a "push harder, get further" mentality, suggesting a demanding yet rewarding environment focused on aggressive growth.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• End-to-End Creative Leadership: Ideate, art direct, and hands-on design for diverse creative projects including marketing campaigns, brand identity systems, product marketing collateral, event branding, merchandise design, and out-of-home (OOH) advertising.
• Visual Language Development & Scaling: Define, document, and implement comprehensive brand guidelines, templates, and quality assurance (QA) processes to ensure visual consistency and operational efficiency across all Almedia's communication channels.
• In-House Capability Building: Spearhead the transition of creative work from external agencies to an internal function, identifying opportunities for workflow improvements and establishing robust, repeatable processes that elevate both creative quality and execution speed.
• Cross-Functional Strategic Alignment: Act as a key creative partner to marketing, product management, and executive leadership, ensuring that all creative outputs are strategically aligned with company growth targets, brand objectives, and user engagement goals.
• Campaign Concept to Execution: Take ownership of campaign concepts from initial ideation through to final asset delivery, ensuring that creative direction translates into tangible business impact and measurable results.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities clearly indicate a need for a candidate who can not only design but also strategize, build processes, and manage stakeholders. The emphasis on "owning way more, way earlier" suggests a proactive approach is expected, beyond just executing assigned tasks.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is mandated, a strong portfolio demonstrating advanced design principles and strategic thinking is paramount. Equivalent practical experience will be highly valued.

Experience: 5-10 years of progressive experience leading brand and campaign work end-to-end, ideally within agency settings or at high-growth consumer brands.

Required Skills:

• Brand & Campaign Leadership: Proven ability to lead the conceptualization and execution of compelling brand campaigns and visual systems from start to finish.
• Design Software Proficiency: Strong command of industry-standard design tools, including Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, After Effects) and Figma for collaborative design and prototyping.
• Visual System Design: Expertise in establishing and scaling visual languages, brand guidelines, and design toolkits that ensure consistency and efficiency across diverse platforms.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Excellent communication, presentation, and stakeholder management skills, with a demonstrated ability to align creative vision with marketing, product, and leadership teams.
• Process Optimization: Experience in improving creative workflows, building repeatable processes, and transitioning work in-house to enhance quality and speed.
• Portfolio Demonstration: A robust portfolio showcasing refined aesthetic taste, strategic thinking, and tangible business impact from previous creative leadership roles.

Preferred Skills:

• Motion Graphics & Environmental Design: Ability to brief and direct motion graphics designers and environmental design applications when required.
• Fintech/Advertising Experience: Prior exposure to the fintech industry or advertising technology sectors.
• AI-Assisted Creative Workflows: Familiarity with leveraging AI tools to enhance creative ideation, production, and efficiency.

📝 Enhancement Note: The experience level and the open "Art Director" title suggest that candidates with leadership potential, strategic vision, and the ability to mentor others will be highly regarded. The bonus skills indicate areas where candidates can differentiate themselves.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• End-to-End Case Studies: Showcase at least 2-3 comprehensive case studies detailing projects from initial concept and strategic brief through to final execution and demonstrable results. Highlight your role in ideation, art direction, and hands-on design.
• Brand System Development: Include examples of brand guidelines, style guides, or design systems you have created or significantly contributed to, demonstrating your ability to establish and scale visual consistency.
• Campaign Impact Examples: Present campaigns (digital, OOH, social, etc.) where your creative leadership directly contributed to measurable business objectives such as user acquisition, brand awareness, or engagement.
• Process Improvement Initiatives: If possible, include examples or descriptions of how you have optimized creative workflows, built repeatable processes, or transitioned work in-house, illustrating your efficiency-driving capabilities.

Process Documentation:

• Workflow Design & Optimization: Be prepared to discuss how you approach designing and optimizing creative workflows to ensure speed, quality, and collaboration.
• System Implementation & QA: Demonstrate understanding of how to implement design systems and establish quality assurance checks to maintain brand integrity and consistency.
• Measurement & Performance Analysis: Articulate how you measure the success of creative initiatives and use data to inform future design decisions and improve performance.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "business impact" and "scalable systems" in the job description implies that the portfolio review will go beyond aesthetics to assess strategic contribution and process-oriented thinking. Candidates should be ready to articulate the "why" and "how" behind their creative decisions and their impact on Almedia's growth.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Based on industry benchmarks for a Senior Graphic Designer/Art Director in Berlin with 5-10 years of experience, and considering Almedia's high-growth, high-reward culture, a competitive salary range would likely be between €60,000 - €85,000 annually. This estimate considers the cost of living in Berlin and the company's stated ambition to reward intensity and ownership.

Benefits:

• Equity: All Berlin-based employees receive equity in Almedia, fostering a sense of ownership and direct participation in the company's success.
• Transport Subsidy: Financial assistance for commuting to the central Berlin office.
• On-site Meals: Provided breakfasts and lunches, contributing to a collaborative and cost-effective work environment.
• Language Learning: Opportunities and support for employees to learn new languages, potentially enhancing communication and professional development.
• Urban Sports Club: Access to a wide range of sports and fitness facilities, promoting employee well-being.
• Career Growth: Opportunities to scale with the company and advance within a profitable, fast-growing startup.

Working Hours: The company operates with an expectation of intensity, suggesting that while a standard 40-hour work week might be the baseline, employees are expected to "push harder" and may work beyond traditional hours to achieve ambitious goals. Flexibility outside of core on-site hours may be available, but the emphasis is on delivering results.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary estimate is based on research from various German job boards and industry salary reports for senior creative roles in major German cities. The inclusion of equity and the "push harder" culture suggest a significant total compensation package for high performers.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Marketing Technology (MarTech) / Advertising Technology (AdTech), with a focus on user engagement and advertiser solutions. Almedia is disrupting traditional advertising by rewarding users for engagement, creating a unique value proposition.

Company Size: Almedia is described as Europe's #3 fastest-growing company (FT1000), with a community of over 50 million users. While the exact employee count isn't specified, its rapid growth and ambition ("Germany's second bootstrapped unicorn") suggest a dynamic, potentially rapidly scaling team.

Founded: The founding date is not explicitly stated, but its current status as a rapidly growing European company implies a relatively recent but established presence.

Team Structure:

• Operations Focus: The role will likely operate within a lean, high-performing marketing or creative team, reporting to a Creative Director or Head of Marketing.
• Reporting Structure: Expect a direct reporting line, with significant autonomy and responsibility delegated early. The structure is likely flat, facilitating rapid decision-making and execution.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Close collaboration with marketing, product development, sales, and leadership teams is essential. This role will be a key interface between creative vision and business strategy.

Methodology:

• Data-Driven Growth: Almedia emphasizes rewarding users for engagement, suggesting a strong reliance on data analytics to optimize campaigns and user experiences.
• Agile & Iterative: The "move fast" and "raise the bar" values point towards an agile, iterative approach to creative development and problem-solving.
• High-Ownership Culture: Expect processes that empower individuals to take full ownership of their work and its outcomes.

Company Website: https://www.almedia.co/

📝 Enhancement Note: Almedia positions itself as an environment for ambitious individuals who thrive on rapid growth and significant responsibility. The culture is described as intense and rewarding, aiming for unicorn status.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is positioned as a Senior Graphic Designer, with an open invitation for Art Directors. This signifies a mid-to-senior level position demanding significant experience, strategic input, and leadership capabilities within the creative function. It's a role where individual contribution is highly valued, but also where the potential to shape and lead internal creative capabilities exists.

Reporting Structure: The Senior Graphic Designer will likely report to a Creative Director, Head of Marketing, or a similar senior leadership role within the marketing or brand department. The emphasis on "owning way more, way earlier" suggests a degree of autonomy and direct interaction with higher-level stakeholders, even within a defined reporting structure.

Operations Impact: The Senior Graphic Designer will have a direct impact on Almedia's brand perception, user acquisition strategies, and overall marketing effectiveness. By replacing agency work with in-house capabilities, improving creative workflows, and shipping high-impact campaigns, this role will be instrumental in driving growth, enhancing brand recognition, and contributing to the company's ambitious goals. The role is critical for translating business objectives into compelling visual narratives that engage a massive user base.

Growth Opportunities:

• Leadership Development: Potential to grow into an Art Director role or lead the internal creative function as Almedia scales. This includes mentoring junior designers and establishing best practices.
• Strategic Influence: Opportunity to shape Almedia's brand identity and visual strategy, influencing key business decisions and marketing direction.
• Skill Expansion: Exposure to diverse creative challenges across product, marketing, events, and OOH, allowing for broad skill development. Potential to gain experience in new areas like AI-assisted creative workflows.
• Company Growth: As a fast-growing, profitable startup aiming for unicorn status, Almedia offers significant opportunities for career acceleration and professional development aligned with the company's trajectory.

📝 Enhancement Note: The role is designed for individuals who are not only skilled designers but also strategic thinkers eager to build and lead. The growth path is tied to the company's rapid expansion, offering significant potential for those who can contribute to that growth.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Almedia offers a modern, fully-stocked office specifically designed for collaboration. This environment is intended to foster the "energizing momentum" required for their high-intensity work culture.

Office Location(s): The office is centrally located in Berlin, Germany, ensuring accessibility for employees commuting from various parts of the city.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Hub: The office is positioned as a central point for teamwork, idea exchange, and focused work, supporting the 5-day-a-week in-office requirement.
• Resource-Rich Environment: Fully stocked with amenities and designed to facilitate productive work, including potentially advanced design tools and technology.
• Team Integration: The in-office policy is designed to maximize direct interaction, brainstorming, and rapid feedback loops among team members, crucial for their fast-paced operational style.

Work Schedule: The company emphasizes intensity and rewards "intensity." While a standard work week is implied, the expectation is for employees to be fully present and dedicated, potentially working beyond typical 9-5 hours to achieve ambitious targets. The 5-day-a-week in-office policy underscores a commitment to in-person collaboration and team momentum.

📝 Enhancement Note: The strict 5-day in-office policy is a key aspect of their culture, emphasizing in-person collaboration and building team momentum. Candidates must be comfortable with this requirement and the associated "push harder" ethos.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Application & Portfolio Review: Your application, including a strong portfolio, will be the first stage. The hiring team will assess your aesthetic taste, strategic thinking, and demonstrated business impact.
• Screening Call: A preliminary call to discuss your experience, motivations, and alignment with Almedia's high-growth, high-intensity culture.
• Creative Challenge/Case Study: You may be asked to complete a design challenge or present a detailed case study from your portfolio. This will assess your end-to-end creative process, problem-solving skills, and ability to articulate your vision and results.
• Stakeholder Interviews: Interviews with key team members, potentially including marketing, product leads, and leadership, to evaluate your cross-functional collaboration skills and strategic alignment.
• Final Interview: A concluding discussion to assess cultural fit, long-term potential, and address any remaining questions.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate Strategically: Select 2-3 of your strongest, most relevant projects that demonstrate end-to-end ownership, strategic thinking, and measurable business impact. Prioritize work that aligns with Almedia's fast-growing, disruptive brand positioning.
• Tell a Story: For each project, clearly articulate the challenge, your role, the strategic approach, the creative process, your hands-on contributions, and the quantifiable results. Use visuals effectively to support your narrative.
• Showcase Systems Thinking: Highlight examples of brand systems, style guides, or toolkits you've developed, demonstrating your ability to create scalable and consistent visual assets.
• Explain Your 'Why': Be prepared to discuss the strategic rationale behind your design decisions, showcasing your business acumen and understanding of marketing objectives.
• Highlight Process Improvement: If you have examples of optimizing workflows or building in-house capabilities, be ready to present them clearly.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand Almedia's Brand: Research Almedia's current marketing, user engagement model, and competitive landscape. Understand their ambition to be a "bootstrapped unicorn" and their focus on user rewards.
• Focus on Impact: For any hypothetical challenge, frame your approach around delivering measurable business impact and aligning with Almedia's growth objectives.
• Demonstrate Speed & Efficiency: Show how you would approach a task quickly and efficiently, potentially leveraging your understanding of process optimization and repeatable workflows.
• Articulate Vision: Be ready to present your ideas clearly and confidently, demonstrating your ability to lead creative vision and communicate effectively with stakeholders.

📝 Enhancement Note: Candidates should prepare to not only showcase design skills but also strategic thinking, process optimization, and a proactive, ownership-driven mindset. The interview process is likely to be rigorous, reflecting the company's high standards and ambitious goals.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Adobe Creative Suite: Essential for comprehensive graphic design, illustration, photo editing, and layout (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign).
• Figma: Critical for collaborative design, prototyping, UI/UX design, and building design systems. Its collaborative features are key for a fast-paced, integrated team.
• Motion Graphics Software (e.g., Adobe After Effects): Beneficial for creating animated assets, explainer videos, social media content, and dynamic campaign elements.
• Prototyping Tools: Beyond Figma, familiarity with other prototyping tools for user flows or interactive elements can be advantageous.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Data Visualization Tools: While not a primary design tool, understanding how to interpret and potentially contribute to data visualizations (e.g., in Tableau, Power BI, or even advanced Excel/Google Sheets) can help align creative with performance metrics.
• Web Analytics (e.g., Google Analytics): Familiarity with how website performance is tracked will help in designing for user engagement and conversion.

CRM & Automation:

• Marketing Automation Platforms (e.g., HubSpot, Marketo): Understanding how marketing campaigns are automated and tracked can inform the design of assets for these platforms.
• Project Management Software (e.g., Asana, Jira, Trello): Essential for managing creative projects, tracking tasks, and collaborating with cross-functional teams.

📝 Enhancement Note: Proficiency in Adobe CC and Figma is non-negotiable. Experience with motion graphics and an understanding of how creative assets perform within marketing automation and analytics platforms will be highly valued, demonstrating a holistic approach to creative impact.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Own Everything: A deep commitment to taking full responsibility for brand, craft, and results from concept to delivery. This translates to a proactive mindset and accountability for outcomes.
• Raise the Bar: A drive for excellence, constantly seeking to generate innovative, talk-worthy ideas and setting high standards for taste and execution through sharp feedback and continuous improvement.
• Move Fast: An emphasis on rapid iteration, tight collaboration, and continuous process refinement to achieve impactful results with speed. This reflects an agile and dynamic operational approach.
• Intensity & Reward: A culture that highly rewards dedication and high performance, suggesting a fast-paced environment where hard work is recognized and compensated.

Collaboration Style:

• Intense & Direct: Collaboration is expected to be fast-paced, iterative, and highly integrated, especially given the 5-day in-office policy. Expect direct feedback and a focus on collective problem-solving.
• Cross-Functional Integration: The role requires close partnership with marketing, product, and leadership, emphasizing alignment and shared goals.
• Process-Oriented: Collaboration will likely involve refining workflows and establishing repeatable processes to enhance efficiency and quality, reflecting a structured approach to creative operations.

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's stated values ("Own Everything," "Raise the Bar," "Move Fast") are central to its operational philosophy and hiring criteria. Candidates should be able to demonstrate how they embody these principles in their work and collaborative style.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Building In-House Capabilities: Transitioning creative work from agencies requires establishing new processes, potentially managing external vendors, and building internal creative infrastructure from the ground up.
• Balancing Speed and Quality: In a fast-growth environment, maintaining high creative standards while meeting aggressive deadlines will be a continuous challenge.
• Cross-Functional Alignment: Aligning diverse stakeholder needs and visions (marketing, product, leadership) to a cohesive creative strategy requires strong communication and negotiation skills.
• Scaling Visual Identity: As Almedia grows rapidly, ensuring the brand's visual language remains consistent, relevant, and impactful across an expanding range of touchpoints will be a significant undertaking.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Strategic Brand Leadership: Opportunity to define and evolve the brand identity of a rapidly scaling, ambitious company.
• Process & System Design: Develop expertise in building and optimizing internal creative operations, workflows, and design systems.
• Cross-Disciplinary Exposure: Work across various creative domains (campaigns, product marketing, events, OOH) and collaborate closely with product and marketing teams, broadening your skill set.
• Industry Trends: Potential to explore and integrate emerging technologies like AI into creative workflows, staying at the forefront of design innovation.
• High-Impact Environment: Accelerate career growth in a demanding, high-reward setting that values intensity and ownership.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges presented are inherent to a high-growth startup environment focused on building internal capabilities. These challenges also represent significant opportunities for professional development and impact.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you led the end-to-end creative process for a major brand campaign. What were the key challenges, your strategic approach, and the measurable business impact?" (Focus on ownership, strategy, and results).
• "How would you approach building a comprehensive visual design system for a fast-growing company like Almedia? What steps would you take to ensure adoption and consistency?" (Highlight process, scalability, and collaboration).
• "Imagine Almedia needs to launch a new user acquisition campaign with a tight deadline. How would you collaborate with marketing and product teams to ideate, design, and deliver impactful creative assets rapidly?" (Emphasize speed, collaboration, and efficiency).

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What interests you most about Almedia's mission and our approach to user engagement?" (Show research and alignment with company values).
• "How do you embody our core values of 'Own Everything,' 'Raise the Bar,' and 'Move Fast' in your daily work?" (Provide specific examples from your experience).
• "Describe your experience working in high-intensity, fast-paced environments. How do you manage your workload and maintain high standards under pressure?" (Address the company's culture of intensity and reward).

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure for Impact: For each case study, use a clear narrative: Problem/Objective -> Your Role & Strategy -> Creative Process & Execution -> Results & Learnings.
• Quantify Achievements: Whenever possible, present metrics (e.g., conversion rates, engagement lift, brand recall improvements) that demonstrate the business impact of your creative work.
• Showcase Systems Thinking: Dedicate a section or slide to demonstrating your ability to create scalable brand guidelines, design systems, or toolkits.
• Articulate Your 'Why': Be prepared to deeply explain the strategic thinking and rationale behind your creative choices, not just the aesthetic execution.
• Engage and Discuss: Treat the portfolio review as a collaborative discussion, inviting questions and showing genuine interest in how your work aligns with Almedia's goals.

📝 Enhancement Note: Candidates should prepare to discuss not only their design skills but also their strategic thinking, process optimization capabilities, and how they align with Almedia's high-intensity, ownership-driven culture. Portfolio presentations should emphasize business impact and strategic rationale.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Senior Graphic Designer position:

• Submit your application via the provided link (https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/almedia/a6e1d641-6325-4bdb-ac4f-11815008fa9d).
• Curate Your Portfolio: Select 2-3 of your most impactful projects that demonstrate end-to-end creative ownership, strategic thinking, and measurable business results. Prioritize work that showcases brand system development and campaign execution.
• Tailor Your Resume: Highlight experience and skills directly relevant to leading brand and campaign work, proficiency in Adobe CC and Figma, process optimization, and cross-functional collaboration. Use keywords from the job description.
• Prepare Your Case Studies: Be ready to articulate the strategy, process, your specific contributions, and the quantifiable outcomes for each project in your portfolio. Practice presenting these cases clearly and concisely.
• Research Almedia: Understand their business model, target audience, current brand presence, and ambitious growth trajectory. Prepare to discuss how your creative vision can contribute to their goals.

⚠️ 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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