Senior Designer

Apparent; Sydney; On-site; AUD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Dog-friendly HQ

Summer Fridays leave

Job summary

Apparent in Sydney seeks an experienced designer to lead and craft high-end visual identities across branding, motion, and digital campaigns. You will shape concepts, storyboard, and guide a team of creatives to deliver engaging outputs for diverse clients.

You will mentor junior and mid-weight designers, champion typography and layout, and collaborate with writers, UX designers, and strategists. This role values work-life balance and ongoing learning in a dog-friendly HQ.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of design experience in a creative agency or design studio with a relevant tertiary degree (and a portfolio focused on storyboarding/motion concepts).
• Exceptional visual concepting ability and an uncompromising eye for aesthetic detail.
• Strong graphic, brand, and UI design fundamentals.
• Experience managing or mentoring designers.
• A hunger to push boundaries, experiment with next-gen tools, and continue to grow.
• Strong creative, problem solving and organisational skills.
• Positive, flexible, self motivated attitude with a willingness to learn and adapt on the fly.
• Ability to generate key design concepts - taking jobs from storyboard concept to rollout, through to finished work with a high level of attention to detail applied throughout.
• Collaborative approach to design, storytelling, and ideating.
• High-level typography and layout skills - you treat type as a core design element and deeply understand its impact on brand feeling and hierarchy.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, especially in articulating complex narrative and design decisions.
• Natural storytelling instincts, with a portfolio that demonstrates an innate understanding of how to structure an engaging narrative arc.
• A deep mastery of branding fundamentals and a strong conviction in your design choices, backed by a solid creative rationale.
• Expert knowledge of Figma and Adobe Creative Suite applications, including Illustrator and Photoshop.
• Fundamental understanding of motion graphics/animation pipelines (knowing how to prepare assets for After Effects is essential).
• Ancillary skills or experimentation with node-based AI workflows and tools (like Figma Weave or ComfyUI) are a huge bonus.

Responsibilities

• Push and evolve client brand guidelines across branding, social, event design, and motion graphics.
• Hands-on creating outputs from storyboards and style frames to hype videos, launch campaigns, digital experiences, branding, and campaign visuals.
• Take a lead on projects and mentor junior and mid-weight team members along the way.
• Develop and champion strong visual concepts, pairing aesthetics with a clear strategic rationale.
• Elevate design craft and push boundaries of design for motion and visual design.
• Collaborate with writers, animators, UX designers, and strategists to ideate for multiple brands, videos, and campaigns.
• Create sub-brand identities, guidelines, design systems, and design documentation.
• Deconstruct user interfaces and reconstruct them into engaging animated stories and social content.
• Direct specialist creatives to bring storyboard visions to life.

Skills

Storyboarding

Motion design

Brand design

UI design

Typography

Art direction

Mentoring

Collaboration

Education

Relevant degree or equivalent

Tools

Figma

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Photoshop

After Effects

Adobe Creative Suite

Job description

We're an independent agency of 200+ thinkers, creators, and solution-makers. We exist for one reason: to give our clients a competitive edge. Its why we're trusted by global giants across tech and automotive, alongside iconic local brands and startups.

That edge comes from the standard we set for ourselves - the craft in every detail and the thought we put into every room we enter. We like to think our visual design team is one of Sydney's best-kept secrets; a tight-knit collective of the kindest, coolest design nerds in town who genuinely love making beautiful things together. We don't settle for 'good enough' because we care enough to make it great. If you're looking for a place where your craft is deeply respected and the ego is left at the door, you've found it.

It's an exciting time to join us at our brand-new, dog-friendly HQ in Eveleigh. We believe in high standards, but never at the expense of your life outside the office. It's a culture our team actually advocates for; 99% of our people recommend Apparent as a great place to work.

What you can look forward to:

• Extra leave: Enjoy paid Summer Days for you and Reproductive Health Leave.
• Sustainable culture: A genuine focus on work-life balance and preventing burnout.
• Growth and mentorship: Access to training, development, coaching, and industry events.
• Progressive support: Gender-neutral paid parental leave and a commitment to genuine pay equity.
• Community impact: Opportunities to get involved in pro-bono programs and volunteer work.
• Wellbeing programs: Physical and mental health initiatives, including an EAP and RUOK? Day activities.

We're also leaning into what's next by actively embracing AI across our roles, using it to enhance our expertise and keep both our agency and our clients at the forefront of the industry.

We have an entrepreneurial spirit, and we know the best work doesn't always fit into neat, tidy boxes. Neither should you. If you're a pro at your craft (or looking for a mentor who is) and a genuine collaborator ready to deliver something undeniable, let's talk.

The role

• Finding new and exciting ways to push and evolve our client's brand guidelines across branding projects, social, event design, and motion graphics.
• You will be hands-on creating a range of outputs, from high-level storyboards and style frames to hype videos, launch campaigns, digital experiences, branding, and campaign visuals.
• Taking a lead on projects and mentoring our junior and mid-weight team members along the way.
• Developing and championing strong visual concepts, pairing a refined sense of aesthetics with the ability to clearly articulate the strategic rationale behind your choices.
• Responsible for ensuring we elevate our standard of design craft at every opportunity. You will constantly be pushing the boundaries of design for motion, visual design.
• Collaborating with writers, animators, UX designers, and strategists to come up with idea-led designs that will be scaled across brands, videos, and campaigns.
• Creation of sub-brand identities, guidelines, design systems, and design documentation.
• Deconstructing user interfaces, reconstructing them into compelling, animated stories, visual identities and dynamic feature highlights.
• You will also collaborate with the wider creative, production, strategy and account service teams.
• Deconstructing user interfaces, breaking them apart, and reconstructing them into compelling, animated stories, visual identities and social communications.
• Directing specialist creatives, including motion designers, animators, 3D artists and illustrators to bring your storyboard visions to life.

Desired Skills and Experience

• 5+ years of design experience in a creative agency or design studio with a relevant tertiary degree (and a portfolio focused on storyboarding/motion concepts).
• Exceptional visual concepting ability and an uncompromising eye for aesthetic detail.
• Strong graphic, brand, and UI design fundamentals.
• Experience managing or mentoring designers.
• A hunger to push boundaries, experiment with next-gen tools, and continue to grow.
• Strong creative, problem solving and organisational skills.
• Positive, flexible, self motivated attitude with a willingness to learn and adapt on the fly.
• Ability to generate key design concepts - taking jobs from storyboard concept to rollout, through to finished work with a high level of attention to detail applied throughout.
• Collaborative approach to design, storytelling, and ideating.
• High-level typography and layout skills - you treat type as a core design element and deeply understand its impact on brand feeling and hierarchy.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, especially in articulating complex narrative and design decisions.
• Natural storytelling instincts, with a portfolio that demonstrates an innate understanding of how to structure an engaging narrative arc.
• A deep mastery of branding fundamentals and a strong conviction in your design choices, backed by a solid creative rationale.
• Expert knowledge of Figma and Adobe Creative Suite applications, including Illustrator and Photoshop.
• Fundamental understanding of motion graphics/animation pipelines (knowing how to prepare assets for After Effects is essential).
• Ancillary skills or experimentation with node-based AI workflows and tools (like Figma Weave or ComfyUI) are a huge bonus.