Senior Graphic Designer

Fulcrum; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 84,000 - 91,000; Full time

Job summary

Canberra arts, culture and heritage organisation is seeking a senior designer to lead creative direction for its flagship print title, spanning print, digital, social and retail assets. You will own concepts from an open brief and collaborate with a multidisciplinary team, sourcing outside talent as needed.

You will work within a close-knit creative group, manage multiple projects with autonomy, and liaise with external suppliers to deliver high-quality campaigns across channels.

Qualifications

• A strong design background with conceptual thinking and execution ability.
• Confidence proposing and defending creative direction beyond briefs.
• Experience across print and digital design; editorial experience valued.
• Comfort working with ambiguity and evolving team structures.
• Strong stakeholder skills to build relationships across a large organisation.
• Collaborative approach within a multidisciplinary creative team.

Responsibilities

• Lead design and creative direction for the flagship print title, from concept to production.
• Develop concepts and campaigns beyond supplied content in open briefs.
• Design across formats: static social, digital assets, print collateral and web.
• Partner with marketing, digital, retail and public programme teams and originate briefs.
• Contribute to creative direction and standards across the organisation.
• Manage multiple concurrent projects with high autonomy and deadlines.
• Liaise with external suppliers, printers and contributors from concept to delivery.
• Bring a commercial lens to design decisions for customer-facing print and retail work.

Skills

Creative direction

Portfolio - editorial

Stakeholder management

Cross-disciplinary collaboration

Ambiguity tolerance

Open-brief concepting

Job description

We've partnered with a well-established arts, culture and heritage organisation in Canberra that engages audiences through exhibitions, public programmes and its own in-house creative output. The organisation is investing in a more connected way of working between its creative team and the rest of the business, and this role sits at the centre of that shift.

The role

This is a senior design role for someone who wants to bring ideas to the table, not just execute someone else's brief. You will lead design and creative direction on the organisation's most significant print title, working just as comfortably across digital and social assets, retail collateral and campaign work for the wider organisation.

The clearest signal of what this role needs: some of the most visible creative work you'll lead is genuinely open brief. The team wants someone who can take a loose idea or a piece of source material and turn it into a strong, considered visual concept, sourcing outside creative talent where it serves the idea, rather than someone who waits to be told exactly what to design. It is design with real ownership, sitting within a close-knit creative team that spans photography, video, editorial and web, and working across an organisation that touches marketing, digital content, retail and public programming.

What you'll do

• Lead design and creative direction for the organisation's flagship print title, from concept through to production, shaping how each edition looks and feels

• Develop concepts and campaigns rather than simply laying out supplied content, proposing the strongest creative response even from an open or loosely defined brief

• Design across a broad mix of formats, including static social and digital assets, exhibition and retail collateral, standard print collateral and website assets

• Partner directly with marketing, digital, retail and public programme teams, often originating the brief yourself rather than waiting to be briefed

• Contribute to the team's creative direction and standards, helping shape how design is used across the organisation

• Manage multiple concurrent projects and competing deadlines with a high degree of autonomy

• Liaise with external suppliers, printers and contributors, managing production from concept through to delivery

• Bring a commercial lens to design decisions on customer-facing print and retail work, where design has to perform, not just look right

What you'll bring

• A strong design background from agency, in‑house or studio environments, with a portfolio that shows conceptual thinking as well as finished execution

• Confidence proposing and defending creative direction, not just delivering against a brief

• Experience across print and digital design; long‑form or editorial design experience is highly regarded but not essential

• Comfort working with ambiguity and an evolving team structure, rather than a fully defined process

• Strong stakeholder skills, with the ability to build relationships and generate your own briefs across a large organisation

• A genuinely collaborative approach; this is a team of specialists who work across each other's projects, not in isolation

This role is for you if:

• You want ownership of creative direction, not just production

• You are energised by carrying one idea across multiple touchpoints, from print through to social and retail

• You want to be judged on the strength of the idea rather than the speed of the turnaround

• You want to help build a studio's future way of working, not maintain what already exists

This role is not for you if:

• You want a fully defined process and clear briefs from day one

• You prefer to specialise in a single channel or format

• You want to work independently with limited stakeholder contact

Why you'll love working here

• Genuine creative ownership of the organisation's most significant print title, not just execution of someone else's concept

• Direct exposure across marketing, digital, retail and public programme teams, well beyond a standard studio brief

• Time and trust to develop ideas properly, in contrast to the fast‑turnaround volume typical of agency environments

• A close‑knot, multidisciplinary creative team, not a solo design function

• The chance to help shape a growing creative function as it builds its future operating model

The details

• Location: Canberra, ACT. Hybrid working. We are talking to designers already in Canberra and to people considering a move from interstate. If that is you, mention it when you apply and we'll talk through what the move actually involves

• Package: $118,000 to $129,000 total package, inclusive of superannuation

• Process: an initial video screening, followed by interview with the hiring team