Senior Packaging Designer

Tjarks and Tjarks Design Group; Reading; Hybrid; GBP 40,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

Tjarks and Tjarks is seeking a Senior Packaging Designer with a strong background in FMCG packaging. The role requires a passion for conceptual design and a proven track record in creating commercial food packaging.

You’ll work closely with Creative Directors to develop standout concepts and ensure timely delivery in a fast-paced environment. The role offers a hybrid setup: 4 days in the Purley studio and 1 day from home, with a focus on quality, collaboration, and delivering impact across

Qualifications

• 5+ years’ experience in packaging design.
• Outstanding portfolio of commercial food packaging design.
• Fluent in Adobe Creative Suite/CC (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign).
• Ability to take ownership from brief to final presentation.
• Able to mentor junior designers.

Responsibilities

• Drive standards of design within the department.
• Roll out style guide-based range extensions.
• Collaborate with Creative Directors to ensure high quality and commercial work.
• Create highly creative concepts and extensions for a large range of brands.
• Own design projects from briefing to presentation and ensure on-time delivery.

Skills

Packaging design

Photoshop

Illustrator

InDesign

Typography

Team collaboration

Mentoring juniors

Time management

Tools

Photoshop

Illustrator

InDesign

Job description

Our story so far

At

HYBRID ROLE AFTER PROBATION.

4 DAYS IN OFFICE, 1 FROM HOME.

Our story so far

At Tjarks and Tjarks, creativity meets craft. For over 35 years, we’ve been shaping bold, distinctive brands that don’t just sit on the shelf, they stand out and get chosen.

Trusted partners to our clients across decades, we help navigate the ever-evolving world of shoppers and retail, designing packaging that connects, competes, and converts. From big ideas to flawless execution, we deliver a true 360° design-to-artwork approach. Efficient, precise, and globally consistent.

We don’t just collaborate, we create as one. Our team of experts blend imagination with technical excellence to bring brands to life in a seamless, truly integrated way.

About The Role

As a senior packaging designer, you will be experienced in FMCG and will be able to demonstrate your passion and experience in conceptual design, within this industry.

About You

• 5+ years’ experience in packaging design
• Ability to take ownership and responsibility to take your design projects from initial brief through to final presentation
• An outstanding portfolio of commercial food packaging design
• Highly competent in Photoshop, specifically working with stock imagery to create photo-realistic serving suggestion compositions.
• Working to tight deadlines, you know how choose the best process and tools to deliver on time and in budget
• Strong typographical and illustration skills
• Experience of working with style guides
• Able to collaborate creatively across teams
• Able to assist and mentor junior designers
• Ability to cope with shifting priorities
• Fluent in Adobe Creative Suite/CC (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign)
• Conscientious, reliable, good attendance and timekeeping standards
• Excellent attention to detail and works with precision
• Effective project manager, able to manage workload
• Honest, trustworthy, and able to work unsupervised
• Demonstrates initiative, is creative and contributes ideas
• Pragmatic approach to problem solving without cutting corners
• Friendly, approachable, respectful and a positive team player
• Flexible, adaptable, calm whilst working under pressure
• Professional with excellent communication skills
• Proactive, takes ownership of daily tasks with a can-do attitude
• Must be able to work flexibly to meet the needs of the business

The day to day

• You are passionate about design and proactive in driving the standards of design within the department forward.
• You will be a specialist in food packaging design and be comfortable with strategic and conceptual design, as you are rolling out style guide-based range extensions.
• You will work alongside the Creative Directors to ensure that work is of the highest quality, whilst being commercial.
• Working collaboratively, you’ll create highly creative, and exciting concepts and extensions for a large range of brands. These will be outstanding designs that hold their own in a competitive global arena.
• Take complete ownership of all assigned design projects from initial briefing through to final presentation.
• Check and proof read designs to ensure a consistent, high level of precision and accuracy.
• Work with style guides and brand guidelines to ensure brand compliance.
• Liaise directly with Account Managers to ensure full understanding of the client’s brief.
• Present designs on brief, on time, in budget, in line with the company’s values and to client satisfaction in a fast paced environment.
• Ensure that all deadlines are met within project budgets.
• Attend design and project briefings.
• Act as role model and/or line manager for junior members of the design team, inspiring, directing and mentoring at all stages of projects. Assist junior members of staff to ensure that designs are presented on brief, on time and in line with the company’s values.
• Champion our high standards.

Our team & our values

We’re a vibrant, creative crew who care as much about our culture as the work we make. Our values aren’t just posters on the wall, they were crafted by our team and guide everything we do.

Be Innovative – Think Ahead

Be collaborative – Succeed together

Be Supportive – Lift each other up

Be All In – Show up with purpose

We’re always looking for talented, passionate people to join our growing squad in our Purley studio. If you’re ready to collaborate, create, and be part of something truly awesome, this is your playground.

We’re an international, family-owned, tech-enabled brand, packaging design and artwork agency, bringing vision to life, without compromise. Our passionate team of creative collaborators helps brands grow through impactful creative solutions that connect with consumers and drive lasting value.

Three decades in, and we’re still breaking the mould. We create bold brand and packaging solutions that don’t just look good – they perform: visually, strategically and commercially. By fusing real consumer insight with fearless creativity and technical know-how, we help brands cut through, connect, and thrive. It’s a process we’ve made seamless.