Senior Brand Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Brand Designer

Company: Aescape

Location: New York, New York, United States

Job Type: FULL_TIME

Category: Marketing Operations / Brand Marketing

Date Posted: 2026-09-09

Experience Level: 7+ Years

Remote Status: Hybrid

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead the visual identity and creative direction for Aescape, a physical AI and robotics company focused on recovery and wellness.

• Develop and execute creative assets for campaigns, films, social media, web, investor decks, and venue signage, ensuring a high standard of craft and desirability.

• Build and manage the creative pipeline, working with internal teams and external partners to ensure brand consistency and efficient production of high-volume creative output.

• Drive business outcomes by creating compelling creative work that supports table sales and consumer utilization of Aescape’s Adaptive Body Therapy.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the role is Senior Brand Designer, its responsibilities heavily intersect with marketing operations by focusing on pipeline management, external partner coordination, and ensuring brand consistency at scale across various touchpoints. This implies a need for strong operational and project management skills within a creative context. The focus on business outcomes (table sales, consumer utilization) also aligns with GTM operations principles.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Conceptualize and art direct creative campaigns, films, social content, and environmental designs that establish Adaptive Body Therapy as a desirable new category.

• Translate the brand system into practical applications, including typography, color palettes, motion graphics, photography direction, layout logic, and iconography, developing user-friendly brand guidelines.

• Design and art direct hands-on creative work across social media, paid advertising, lifecycle marketing, web assets, presentations, and in-venue materials, managing external production partners through shoots and edits.

• Design physical touchpoints such as signage, wayfinding, and table surrounds within partner venues to convert curious guests into first-time users.

• Maintain brand coherence and quality as the company scales, reviewing partner and co-branded creative, providing toolkits and guardrails for local execution, and clearly briefing external resources.

• Establish and manage a robust creative pipeline, including asset architecture, version control, template libraries, and intake/review processes, to enable marketing to operate at campaign speed.

• Scope and brief external design and production partners, managing freelance capacity to meet evolving demand.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities emphasize a blend of strategic creative leadership and operational execution. The need to "build the pipeline that makes volume possible" and "keep the brand coherent as it scales" highlights a critical operations component, requiring the Senior Brand Designer to think beyond individual creative pieces to the systems that support scaled creative production and brand governance.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is mandated, a strong portfolio demonstrating relevant experience is prioritized over formal education.

Experience: 7+ years in visual or brand design, with a proven track record in campaign development and brand platform creation. Experience in both agency and in-house environments is welcome.

Required Skills:

• A distinct and compelling portfolio showcasing original concepts, art direction, and impactful brand touchpoints.

• Proven ability to define a unique visual identity for new categories, brand launches, or repositioning efforts.

• Strong art direction skills across photography, film, and motion graphics, including experience with casting, briefing, on-set direction, and editing.

• Exceptional craft and aesthetic judgment, capable of creating work that resonates with both creative directors and investors.

• Proficiency in designing within established brand systems and understanding when to push creative boundaries.

• Fluency in Figma and Adobe Creative Cloud.

• Working knowledge of presentation and document design systems.

• Experience collaborating with external brand agencies from a client-side perspective and extending brand systems.

• Demonstrated operational fluency in building creative pipelines and managing scaled production.

• Directness in communication, with the ability to lead with recommendations, defend them with reasoning, and adapt to changing information. Preferred Skills:

• Experience in wellness, fitness, hospitality, sports performance, longevity, or premium consumer hardware sectors.

• Experience in multi-partner or franchise environments where brand expression is managed through third parties.

• Motion graphics, 3D, or CGI capabilities.

• Environmental, retail, or spatial design experience.

• Familiarity with lifecycle and email design systems.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "operational fluency to build a pipeline" and experience in "multi partner or franchise environments" suggests that candidates with experience managing complex creative workflows and brand governance across numerous touchpoints and stakeholders will be highly valued, aligning with operations management principles.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Showcase a distinct point of view with original concepts and art-directed work that demonstrates taste and impact.

• Include examples of defining a visual language for new categories, brand launches, or significant brand repositioning initiatives.

• Present case studies demonstrating strong art direction across photography, film, and motion graphics, detailing your role from concept to execution.

• Highlight projects where you designed and implemented brand systems, showing how you extended established guidelines into practical applications.

• Include examples of work designed for physical spaces, such as signage, wayfinding, or in-venue branding, demonstrating an understanding of spatial design and user discovery moments.

• Demonstrate experience in managing creative production pipelines, including asset architecture, version control, and template libraries. Process Documentation:

• Provide evidence of developing or extending brand guidelines that are clear, actionable, and adopted by users.

• Showcase how you have managed and reviewed creative work from external partners (agencies, freelancers, production houses) to ensure brand consistency.

• Illustrate your approach to scoping, briefing, and managing external creative resources to deliver high-volume output efficiently.

• Include examples of how you have translated brand strategy into tangible creative assets that drive specific business outcomes (e.g., increased conversion, improved brand perception).

📝 Enhancement Note: The role requires a portfolio that not only showcases creative excellence but also demonstrates operational capability in managing scaled creative production and brand governance. Applicants should prepare to discuss the systems and processes they have used or built to ensure brand consistency and efficiency.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: $140,000 - $160,000 annually.

Benefits:

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees.

• Generous coverage for eligible dependents.

• 401(k) with employer matching.

• Flexible time off policy.

• Quarterly Wellness Days for complete unplugging.

• Generous parental leave.

• Complimentary OneMedical membership for enhanced healthcare access.

• Home office budget to support remote work setup.

• Annual stipend for professional development and continuous learning.

• Reimbursement for dinner when working late.

• Complimentary Aescape recovery sessions for personal use, friends, and family.

• Discretionary annual bonus.

• Equity grant commensurate with role and company stage.

Working Hours: Full-time (assumed 40 hours per week), with flexibility noted through "flexible time off" and a "home office budget," indicating a modern work approach. The hybrid nature suggests core office days are expected.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is explicitly provided and falls within the expected range for a Senior Brand Designer in New York City with 7+ years of experience, especially in a tech-forward company. The extensive benefits package, including discretionary bonus and equity, signifies a comprehensive compensation structure for a senior-level role.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Physical AI and Robotics, focused on Health & Wellness, Hospitality, and premium Consumer Services. Aescape is creating a new category: Adaptive Body Therapy.

Company Size: While not explicitly stated in the raw data, the description implies a growing company with a marketing team structure, external agencies, and production partners, suggesting a size that requires structured operations but is not yet a massive enterprise. The role being the "first senior creative inside the company" points to an early-stage, high-impact environment.

Founded: Aescape is a relatively new company, as evidenced by its focus on category creation and building its brand identity from the ground up. This suggests an agile, innovative, and fast-paced environment.

Team Structure:

• The Senior Brand Designer reports to the VP of Growth and Marketing.

• They sit at the "creative center of the marketing organization," working daily with product marketing, integrated marketing, content, and partner operations.

• Externally, they are the design counterpart to brand agencies, video production partners, PR agencies, and a rotating bench of design, motion, and print specialists. Methodology:

• Data-driven decision-making is implied through the focus on "outcomes-driven practice" and accountability for "creative performance against business outcomes."

• Workflow optimization is central to the role, with a focus on building a pipeline that enables high-volume output and efficiency.

• Automation is not explicitly mentioned for design tools, but the concept of repeatable templates and efficient processes points towards a need for streamlined workflows.

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

📝 Enhancement Note: The company culture is likely innovative, fast-paced, and focused on impact, given its position in a nascent category (Physical AI for Recovery). The collaborative environment with both internal marketing functions and external creative partners requires strong communication and operational coordination skills from the Senior Brand Designer.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is a Senior Individual Contributor position, serving as the first dedicated senior creative hire. It offers a significant opportunity for impact and ownership in shaping the visual identity of a new category.

Reporting Structure: The role reports directly to the VP of Growth and Marketing, providing high visibility and direct influence on the company's marketing strategy and creative output. This structure allows for streamlined decision-making and direct feedback loops.

Operations Impact: The Senior Brand Designer's work directly influences key business outcomes:

• Table Sales: By creating authoritative and compelling assets for partner, sales, and investor surfaces.

• Consumer Utilization: By making Adaptive Body Therapy emotionally desirable and recognizable, driving first-session conversion and repeat usage.

• Brand Consistency: Ensuring a singular brand expression across all touchpoints, which is critical for building trust and recognition in a new market.

Growth Opportunities:

• Leadership Development: The opportunity to establish and lead the creative function within marketing, potentially building a team as the company scales.

• Category Creation: The chance to define and shape the visual language of a new industry category, offering unique creative challenges and significant professional recognition.

• Skill Expansion: Deepening expertise in art direction, campaign strategy, and managing complex creative production pipelines, including exposure to various external production partners.

• Cross-functional Influence: Working closely with product marketing, integrated marketing, and partner operations provides a holistic view of the business and opportunities to influence broader GTM strategies.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role offers a unique blend of creative leadership and operational responsibility. The growth path is less about traditional linear progression and more about expanding influence, impact, and potentially building out the creative function, aligning with a GTM operations career trajectory focused on scalable execution and strategic brand building.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Hybrid work model, based out of Aescape’s NYC office in Chelsea. This suggests a need for in-person collaboration, team meetings, and access to office resources, balanced with the flexibility of remote work.

Office Location(s): New York City, specifically Chelsea, which is a well-known hub for creative industries. This location offers access to talent, agencies, and a vibrant professional ecosystem.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Environment: The role requires daily interaction with internal marketing teams (product marketing, integrated marketing, content, partner operations) and regular collaboration with external partners (brand agency, production companies, PR).

• Operations Tools & Technology: Fluency in Figma and Adobe Creative Cloud is required. Proficiency in presentation and document systems is also necessary. The role will likely involve using project management and asset management tools to support pipeline operations.

• Team Interaction: The hybrid model and cross-functional collaboration mean opportunities for both focused individual work and dynamic team engagement.

Work Schedule: While a standard full-time schedule is implied (40 hours/week), the company culture emphasizes flexibility (flexible time off, wellness days) and provides support for working late (dinner reimbursement), indicating a results-oriented environment where dedication is recognized.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid environment in a creative hub like NYC, coupled with cross-functional collaboration and a focus on operational efficiency, points to a dynamic work setting. The expectation to manage both remote and in-office work, alongside external partnerships, requires strong self-management and communication skills.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: Likely a review of your portfolio and resume by a recruiter or hiring manager to assess alignment with core requirements and creative vision.

• Portfolio Presentation: A dedicated session where you present your portfolio, focusing on original concepts, art direction, brand system development, and experience in managing scaled creative production. Be prepared to discuss your process, decision-making, and impact.

• Cross-functional Interviews: Meetings with the VP of Growth and Marketing, and potentially other key marketing team members (product marketing, content, partner operations) to assess strategic thinking, collaboration style, and operational fluency.

• Creative/Technical Assessment: This might involve a creative challenge or a deep dive into your technical skills (Figma, Adobe CC, motion design). The focus will be on your ability to execute high-quality work and manage creative projects.

• Final Round: Potentially a meeting with senior leadership to discuss vision, cultural fit, and long-term impact.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate Strategically: Select 3-5 of your strongest projects that best demonstrate your ability to define new categories, art direct campaigns, manage brand systems, and handle scaled production.

• Showcase Process & Impact: For each project, clearly articulate the brief, your role, your creative process, key decisions, challenges faced, and the measurable business impact (e.g., conversion rates, sales influence).

• Highlight Operational Skills: Include examples of how you’ve built creative pipelines, managed external partners, or ensured brand consistency at scale. Use case studies to demonstrate your ability to translate brand strategy into actionable creative assets.

• Tailor to Aescape: Emphasize any experience relevant to wellness, hospitality, or category creation. Frame your work in terms of driving business outcomes like table sales and consumer utilization.

• Prepare for Discussion: Be ready to discuss your design philosophy, your approach to art direction, how you push creative boundaries, and your experience working with external agencies.

Challenge Preparation:

• Creative Brief Interpretation: If given a creative challenge, thoroughly analyze the brief, identify key objectives, target audience, and any brand constraints.

• Strategic Approach: Outline your strategic approach, considering how your creative solution will drive Aescape's business goals (sales, utilization).

• Process Articulation: Be prepared to articulate your design process, from ideation to execution, and how you would manage production and ensure brand consistency.

• Concise Presentation: Practice presenting your solution clearly and concisely, focusing on the strategic rationale and visual execution within a limited timeframe.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process will heavily scrutinize both creative vision and operational execution. Candidates must be prepared to demonstrate how their creative output directly contributes to business objectives and how they can effectively manage scaled creative production and brand governance.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: Essential for UI/UX design, prototyping, and collaborative design workflows. Expected to be used for web assets, presentations, and potentially brand system templates.

• Adobe Creative Cloud: Including Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and After Effects. Crucial for graphic design, photo editing, layout, and motion graphics.

• Presentation Software: Fluency in tools like Google Slides or PowerPoint is required, as decks and documents play a significant role in communicating with stakeholders and investors.

Analytics & Reporting: While not a primary focus for this role, an understanding of how creative performance is measured (e.g., conversion rates, engagement metrics) will be beneficial for demonstrating impact. Familiarity with tools that track campaign performance may be advantageous.

CRM & Automation: Not directly managed by this role, but an understanding of how creative assets are deployed through marketing channels (paid social, email, web) and potentially integrated with CRM systems for tracking is helpful.

Asset Management: Experience with Digital Asset Management (DAM) systems or establishing asset architecture and template libraries is crucial for managing scaled creative production and ensuring brand consistency.

📝 Enhancement Note: The technology stack emphasizes core design tools and presentation software. The need for "asset architecture, version control, template libraries" points to an operational requirement for efficient digital asset management and scalable creative workflow systems.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Craft: A paramount focus on quality, pushing executions beyond the "safe version" to achieve a high standard that makes people desire the service.

• Consistency: Maintaining a singular brand expression across all controlled and influenced surfaces, ensuring every touchpoint reads as one cohesive brand.

• Impact-Driven: Creative work is a direct input to measurable business outcomes – table sales and consumer utilization – requiring accountability for performance.

• Efficiency & Scalability: Building pipelines and processes that enable high-volume output without compromising quality or brand integrity, critical for a growing company.

• Collaboration: Working effectively with internal marketing teams and a diverse range of external partners to achieve unified creative goals.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-functional Integration: Daily collaboration with product marketing, integrated marketing, content, and partner operations teams to align creative with broader marketing strategies.

• External Partnership Management: Acting as the primary design counterpart to brand agencies, production partners, PR agencies, and freelance resources, requiring clear communication, effective briefing, and constructive feedback.

• Knowledge Sharing & Feedback: A culture that likely encourages sharing best practices and providing constructive feedback to ensure continuous improvement in creative quality and process efficiency.

📝 Enhancement Note: The culture values high-quality creative output that directly drives business results, emphasizing both artistic excellence and operational efficiency. Collaboration is key, both internally and externally, requiring strong communication and partnership management skills.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Category Creation: Establishing a distinct and desirable visual identity for a new category (Adaptive Body Therapy) in a competitive wellness market.

• Scaling Creative Production: Building and managing a pipeline that can consistently deliver high-quality creative assets across numerous platforms and touchpoints as the company grows.

• Brand Consistency Across Partners: Ensuring a unified brand experience when working with multiple external partners and co-branding within various venues.

• Balancing Craft and Speed: Delivering exceptional creative work efficiently to meet the demands of a fast-paced marketing organization and campaign schedules.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Strategic Brand Building: Gaining deep experience in shaping the visual identity and brand narrative of a pioneering company in a new industry.

• Creative Leadership: Opportunity to establish and potentially build out the creative function within the marketing department.

• Partnership Management: Developing advanced skills in managing external creative agencies and production partners to optimize output and quality.

• Cross-functional Acumen: Broadening understanding of product marketing, integrated marketing, and operations by working closely with these teams.

📝 Enhancement Note: The primary challenges revolve around pioneering a new brand and category while scaling creative operations. The growth opportunities are significant, offering a chance to shape a brand from its formative stages and develop leadership in both creative and operational domains.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you were responsible for defining the visual language for a new category or brand launch. What was your process, and what were the key outcomes?" (Focus on your ability to create distinct visual identities and articulate strategic rationale).

• "How would you approach building a creative pipeline at Aescape to ensure high-volume output while maintaining brand consistency across multiple partners and platforms?" (Emphasize your operational thinking, experience with asset management, and workflow optimization).

• "Walk me through a campaign you art directed. What was the strategy, how did you brief external partners, and what was the measurable impact on business objectives like sales or utilization?" (Demonstrate your end-to-end creative leadership and focus on results). Company & Culture Questions:

• "What excites you about Aescape's mission and the physical AI/robotics space? How do you see your creative contributions aligning with our business goals?" (Show genuine interest and an understanding of the company’s strategic direction).

• "How do you balance the need for creative excellence with the demands of rapid production and scaling in a startup environment?" (Address your approach to efficiency, prioritization, and managing stakeholder expectations).

• "Describe your experience working with external brand agencies and production partners. How do you ensure they deliver work that is on-brand and high-quality?" (Highlight your partnership management and quality control skills). Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Narrative Arc: Structure your portfolio presentation with a clear narrative, highlighting your journey, your core strengths, and how your experience directly maps to Aescape's needs.

• Focus on Impact: For each project, clearly articulate the business problem, your creative solution, your specific role (especially art direction and operational management), and the quantifiable results or impact.

• Demonstrate Scalability: Be ready to discuss how you've managed creative processes for scale, including examples of building templates, guidelines, or pipelines.

• Articulate Your Vision: Clearly communicate your point of view on brand design, art direction, and how you envision Aescape’s brand evolving.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview preparation should focus on demonstrating a blend of creative vision, strategic thinking, and practical operational skills. Candidates must be ready to articulate how their creative work drives business outcomes and how they can manage scaled production and brand governance effectively.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Senior Brand Designer position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on Ashby.

• Curate Your Portfolio: Select 3-5 of your most impactful projects that showcase your ability to define new categories, art direct campaigns, manage brand systems, and handle scaled creative production. Ensure each project clearly articulates the brief, your role, your process, and the business impact.

• Tailor Your Resume: Highlight your 7+ years of experience, specific skills in Figma and Adobe Creative Cloud, art direction capabilities, and any experience in wellness, hospitality, or category creation. Quantify achievements where possible.

• Prepare Your Presentation: Practice walking through your portfolio, focusing on your strategic approach, creative execution, and operational management of creative pipelines. Be ready to discuss how your work drives business outcomes like table sales and consumer utilization.

• Research Aescape: Understand their mission, product (Adaptive Body Therapy), target audience, and current market position. Familiarize yourself with their existing brand presence to articulate your vision for its evolution.

⚠️ 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.