City Centre Graphic Designer and Planner

Auckland Council; Waiheke; On-site; NZD 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Auckland Council’s Tātaki Auckland Unlimited unit seeks a seasoned City Centre Graphic Designer and Planner to lead city centre branding campaigns. You will own briefs from concept to delivery, balancing creativity with brand impact while collaborating with a small, high‑performing in‑house team.

You’ll manage client relationships, guide junior designers, and coordinate production across channels, ensuring on-brand outcomes.

Qualifications

• Seven years' or more relevant experience delivering high‑quality graphic design and creative solutions.
• Demonstrated ability to manage workflows, client relationships and meeting deadlines with quality outputs.
• A tertiary qualification in Graphic Design or a related discipline, ideally.
• Strong experience managing client relationships from initial brief through to final delivery.
• Demonstrated experience developing creative concepts, design and art direction across multiple channels and platforms.
• Advanced capability across Adobe Creative Suite, particularly InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator.
• Experience with After Effects and motion graphics would be an advantage.
• Experience working with internal and external designers, freelancers, agencies and creative suppliers.
• Strong project, workflow and time‑management skills, with the ability to prioritise competing deadlines.
• Excellent communication and relationship‑building skills, including the confidence to present and champion creative concepts with stakeholders.
• A collaborative approach and the ability to thrive within a fast‑paced, dynamic creative environment.

Responsibilities

• Manage and create design for high-profile city centre campaigns and experiences
• Own projects from brief through to delivery, balancing creativity, brand and impact
• Join a collaborative in-house Brand and Creative team
• Take briefs and turn ideas into compelling, on-brand visual solutions across channels
• Take ownership of design projects from initial brief through final delivery
• Coordinate workflow across internal design team and external freelancers
• Provide guidance to internal teams, agencies, suppliers and partners to ensure consistency
• Lead on projects when appropriate and manage multiple briefs and deadlines

Skills

Stakeholder management

Time management

Communication

Collaboration

Education

Graphic Design degree

Tools

Adobe Creative Suite

InDesign

Photoshop

Illustrator

After Effects

Job description

City Centre Graphic Designer and Planner

• Manage and create design for high-profile city centre campaigns and experiences
• Own projects from brief through to delivery, balancing creativity, brand and impact
• Join a collaborative in-house Brand and Creative team

Tātaki Auckland Unlimited is looking for an experienced City Centre Graphic Designer and Planner to join our Brand and Creative team.

This is a unique Fixed-term opportunity to combine hands‑on graphic design with client liaison, project leadership and studio workflow management, delivering creative work that supports the vibrancy and visibility of Auckland's city centre.

Working closely with our city centre marketing teams, you'll take briefs and turn ideas into compelling, on‑brand visual solutions across a diverse range of channels. Your work could span out‑of‑home advertising, digital campaigns, signage and wayfinding, events and activations, publications, exhibitions, reports and marketing collateral.

You'll take ownership of city centre design projects from initial brief through to final delivery, while working closely with the Studio Manager to manage workflow across the internal design team and external freelancers. You'll know when to roll up your sleeves and design yourself, when to collaborate, and when to bring in additional creative expertise to get the best result.

As part of a small, high‑performing in‑house creative studio, you'll also play an important role in championing our brands and visual identities. You'll provide guidance to internal teams, agencies, suppliers and partners to ensure our creative work remains consistent, distinctive and best‑in‑class.

You'll be an experienced graphic designer who is equally comfortable creating outstanding design work, and managing the people, briefs and priorities behind it. You may have run your own freelance design business, or trafficked work through a studio. Your design skills and your ability to plan and organised production and delivery of quality design outcomes will be valuable.

You'll bring strong creative judgement, excellent stakeholder management skills and the confidence to take the lead on projects in a busy environment. You're highly organised, pragmatic and comfortable juggling multiple briefs and deadlines without compromising the quality of your work.

You'll ideally bring:

• Seven years' or more relevant experience delivering high‑quality graphic design and creative solutions.
• Demonstrated ability to manage workflows, client relationships and meeting deadlines with quality outputs.
• A tertiary qualification in Graphic Design or a related discipline, ideally.
• Strong experience managing client relationships from initial brief through to final delivery.
• Demonstrated experience developing creative concepts, design and art direction across multiple channels and platforms.
• Advanced capability across Adobe Creative Suite, particularly InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator.
• Experience with After Effects and motion graphics would be an advantage.
• Experience working with internal and external designers, freelancers, agencies and creative suppliers.
• Strong project, workflow and time‑management skills, with the ability to prioritise competing deadlines.
• Excellent communication and relationship‑building skills, including the confidence to present and champion creative concepts with stakeholders.
• A collaborative approach and the ability to thrive within a fast‑paced, dynamic creative environment.

You'll be someone who keeps close to emerging creative and design trends and enjoys finding smart, practical solutions to design challenges. Most importantly, you'll bring a genuine passion for great design and understand how strong creative work can contribute to the experience and identity of a city.

This is an opportunity to use your creative expertise on work that is highly visible across the heart of Tāmaki Makaurau.

You'll join a talented and supportive Brand and Creative team and work across a diverse portfolio of city centre campaigns, events, activations and experiences. Few in‑house design roles offer the same breadth of work or the opportunity to see your creative mahi come to life throughout the city.

As part of our Auckland Council Group, you will gain access to manybenefitsand discounts, including discounted financial services and insurance, entertainment, lifestyle discounts and more.

In addition, you will be joining a team of dedicated and respected experts working collaboratively across the region to contribute to Auckland’s growth and development. We are committed to diversity and have a culture built on trust and valuing individual and collective contributions.

Tātaki Auckland Unlimited is an equal opportunity employer (EOE) and we are committed to providing a working environment that embraces and values diversity and inclusion. If you have any support or access requirements, we encourage you to advise us at the time of application to assist you through the recruitment process.

Employees in receipt of salary protection and/or on the predecessor TātakiAuckland Unlimited terms and conditions of employment, please note that the salary protection and/or predecessor TātakiAuckland Unlimited terms and conditions, including relocation, apply to your current position. Should you change to a new position (other than any secondment) you will be issued with a new employment letter of offer with current Auckland Unlimited terms and conditions.

Please note: We expect to be in touch with candidates regarding next steps from the week of 5 October