Merchandise Design Director - Lead Fan Gear & Innovation

CatFace; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Excellent Medical, Dental and Vision

401(k) contribution

Flexible time off

Lunch, snacks and drinks in the office

Pets in the office once a month

Onsite fitness center

Learning Stipend

Relocation assistance for Austin

Job summary

Catface in Austin, TX is seeking a Merchandise Design Manager to lead internal content development for character-driven merchandise. You will own both the Concept Design track and the design track that delivers final artwork for production.

This creative leadership role requires setting quality gates, managing team capacity for 3–6 designers, and collaborating with Licensing, Production, Content, Merchandise Leadership, and executives to ensure timely product delivery.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in consumer product, merchandise, or packaging design, including 2+ years directing or leading designers.
• Portfolio demonstrating character driven merchandise and packaging systems, including the thinking behind them.
• Experience with product approval workflows and artwork review.
• Expert Adobe Creative Suite proficiency and knowledge of production art, dielines, and print/manufacturing requirements.
• Demonstrated ability to plan creative capacity and deliver against a development calendar.
• Comfort giving direct creative feedback and turning input into one clear direction.
• Strong presentation skills to defend a creative decision to executives.

Responsibilities

• Own creative quality, output planning, approval governance, resourcing, and team development across Merchandise Concept Design track.
• Assign work across the Concept Design team based on level, capability, workload, product category, and goals.
• Set creative quality standards and define approval gates from sketch exploration through Content and Licensing review.
• Own front-end ideation and art schedule, monitoring status, revision rounds, dependencies, and delivery risk.
• Balance internal assignments with contractor artist support and recommend resourcing when demand exceeds capacity.
• Review major concept, artwork, and packaging packages before presenting to Content, Licensing, or executives.
• Prevent incomplete or unapproved artwork from progressing downstream to vendors or production.
• Track recurring artwork errors and implement corrective training or process changes.
• Manage hiring, onboarding, coaching, and development plans for 3 to 6 designers.
• Develop craft in story translation and design development; mentor designers for more complex assignments.
• Partner with Merchandise Production, Marketing, and E-commerce on handoff and launch readiness.

Skills

Merchandise design

Staff leadership

Character merchandising

Product packaging

Adobe Creative Suite

Capacity planning

Executive presentation

Tools

Dielines

Vendor approvals

Freelance management

Job description

Catface in Austin, TX is seeking a Merchandise Design Manager to lead internal content development for character-driven merchandise. You will own both the Concept Design track and the design track that delivers final artwork for production.

This creative leadership role requires setting quality gates, managing team capacity for 3–6 designers, and collaborating with Licensing, Production, Content, Merchandise Leadership, and executives to ensure timely product delivery.