Senior Designer - Beauty

ZURU Edge; Auckland; On-site; NZD 80,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

ZURU Edge in Auckland is seeking a Senior Designer to lead creative direction across their Beauty Cosmetics portfolio. The role involves building visual identity and managing campaigns for new beauty brands.

The ideal candidate has 5-8 years of design experience, a strong background in beauty and consumer brands, and mastery of Adobe Creative Suite. This role requires excellent communication and leadership skills to mentor a growing design team and collaborate across functions.

Qualifications

• 5–8 years' professional design experience in a creative or design leadership role.
• Proven ability to lead and inspire a design team.
• Strong understanding of beauty and personal care brand aesthetics.

Responsibilities

• Set the creative standard for the portfolio, providing clear direction.
• Own the art direction of beauty cosmetics brands and lead campaign development.
• Build detailed brand guidelines covering tone of voice and visual aesthetic.

Skills

Adobe Creative Suite mastery

Leadership and mentorship

Creative direction

Brand development

Communication skills

Job description

About The Role

ZURU Group is seeking a highly motivated and talented Senior Designer to join our Beauty Vertical design team, leading creative direction across the Beauty Cosmetics portfolio. This role is responsible for building the visual identity, brand world, and creative output for a portfolio of exciting new beauty brands, from early‑stage development through to market launch. This role requires a strong understanding of beauty, lifestyle, and consumer brand aesthetics, with the ability to translate cultural trends, consumer insights, and category codes into distinctive, best‑in‑class creative.

Roles & Responsibilities

Leadership & Direction

• Set the creative standard for the portfolio, providing clear direction, feedback, and support to drive professional growth.
• Champion strong creative decision‑making, ensuring each brand has a clear and distinctive visual point of view.
• Lead creative brainstorming sessions, elevating brand representation across brands.
• Lead, direct, and mentor the junior team members, fostering a collaborative and creative environment.

Design & Campaign Creation

• Own the art direction of the beauty cosmetics brands, setting visual strategy and direction across all non‑packaging brand touchpoints.
• Lead end‑to‑end 360 campaign development for brand launches, from creative concept and visual strategy through to photography direction, social, digital, and retail assets.
• Create, manage, and organize brand assets across campaign, social, digital, e‑commerce, and advertising.
• Commission photographers, content creators, and agencies for campaigns.
• Manage multiple projects simultaneously, taking work from concept to final execution within deadlines.
• Identify new methods, techniques, and creative formats to enhance design and content execution.
• Other tasks as management may deem appropriate from time to time.

Brand Development

• Build detailed brand guidelines from scratch for each brand, covering tone of voice, visual aesthetic, content principles, and photography style.
• Create distinctive, ownable brand worlds for the brands—ensuring they feel relevant, differentiated, and commercially compelling.
• Ensure visual consistency and brand integrity across all communications as each brand progresses toward market.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Understand marketing initiatives, strategic positioning, and target audience across the beauty portfolio.
• Present and articulate creative concepts, brand worlds, and strategies to brand managers and senior leadership.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with internal and external partners to drive successful project outcomes.
• Collaborate across the wider Edge design team, BAU support, and cross‑functional partners—including marketing, product, packaging, and content—to ensure cohesive, on‑brand consumer touchpoints.

What You Will Bring

• 5–8 years’ professional design experience in a creative or design leadership role, ideally across beauty, lifestyle, wellness, fashion, FMCG, or consumer brand launches.
• Proven ability to lead, mentor, and inspire a design team while driving creative direction across multiple brands simultaneously.
• Strong understanding of beauty and personal care brand aesthetics, visual identity, content, and consumer‑facing creative.
• Mastery of Adobe Creative Suite, particularly InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, and Figma.
• Experience building brands from early‑stage development through to market launch.
• Ability to interpret marketing briefs and translate them into aligned, inventive, and commercially relevant creative solutions.
• Strong communication skills and a collaborative approach when working with internal teams, stakeholders, and external creatives.
• Excellent attention to detail, file management, task prioritization, and timeliness, with the ability to self‑manage across multiple concurrent projects.
• Experience directing beauty‑focused photography, campaign shoots, content creation, and external creative partners.