Creative & Brand Design Manager

Zymo Research Corporation•Tustin, CA

1d•$100,000 - $115,000•Onsite

About The Position

Zymo Research is seeking a Creative & Brand Design Manager to lead a three-person creative team, own the company’s brand design and visual identity, and contribute directly through a substantial ongoing graphic design workload. This player-coach role focuses primarily on corporate brand programs and company-wide initiatives. Working with Marketing and Commercial leadership, the manager translates the company’s brand strategy, voice, and philosophy into a consistent visual identity, develops practical brand standards, guides the team’s work, and personally creates materials that establish the brand’s quality and direction. The role oversees creative team development, work assignment, art direction, hiring support, brand identity across channels, hands-on design, brand guidelines and templates, creative operations, asset management, quality review, and collaboration with internal partners. The manager also works with Marketing, Commercialization Managers, scientific and technical contributors, and Web teams to make communication clear and visually accessible while preserving accuracy. Zymo Research provides scientific research tools and products and describes itself as a growing, collaborative workplace recognized as a Top Workplace by the Orange County Register in 2021 and 2022 and as a Top Workplace USA in 2023. The position is onsite at the company’s Tustin, California location. The estimated annual base compensation range is $100,000–$115,000.

Requirements

At least five years of experience in graphic design, brand design, visual identity, or art direction, including direct experience managing and developing creative team members.
A strong portfolio demonstrating personal design work, excellent typography and layout, visual hierarchy, and consistent brand execution across digital and print.
Experience developing brand guidelines, templates, visual systems, or design standards.
Hands-on proficiency in Adobe Creative Cloud, particularly Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop.
Strong presentation design skills.
Ability to translate brand strategy and communication objectives into practical visual principles and finished creative work.
Strong creative review skills and ability to coach designers, explain design decisions, and provide clear, actionable feedback.
Ability to balance individual design projects with people management, creative direction, and competing deadlines.
Strong organization, communication, and collaboration skills across creative, scientific, marketing, and commercial teams.

Nice To Haves

Experience in life sciences, biotechnology, healthcare, technical B2B, or another complex industry.
Experience leading an in-house creative team and working with project managers.
Experience directing photography, video visuals, or campaign imagery.
Familiarity with Figma, web and UX design systems, and their connection to a broader brand identity.
Experience using AI or emerging creative tools to support visual exploration and production efficiency.

Responsibilities

Manage, coach, and develop the creative team through clear expectations, regular feedback, performance reviews, and professional development.
Assign work according to priorities, capacity, and individual strengths, and coordinate timelines and workloads with project managers and Marketing leadership.
Provide art direction and constructive design feedback to strengthen team members’ judgment, skills, and creative independence.
Foster collaboration and encourage creative team members to contribute ideas and work directly with internal partners throughout projects.
Support hiring and onboarding as the team evolves.
Own and refine the company’s visual identity across digital, print, social media, email, presentations, events, product collateral, and other brand touchpoints.
Translate brand strategy into visual principles for typography, layout, color, imagery, iconography, and visual hierarchy.
Lead brand-design reviews to ensure major creative assets are clear, polished, consistent, and aligned with company brand direction.
Develop creative concepts and produce finished graphic design, primarily for corporate brand programs and company-wide initiatives.
Design corporate presentations, company overviews, brand campaigns, event materials, internal communications, and other company-representative materials.
Take assigned design projects from brief and concept development through revisions, production, and final delivery.
Create flagship brand assets and reusable examples that establish design direction for the creative team.
Maintain an active design workload while balancing team leadership, creative reviews, and brand development.
Lead the development and maintenance of the brand guide as a practical system for everyday design decisions.
Create and refine templates for presentations, social media, email, brochures, product sheets, events, and internal communications.
Make brand standards understandable and usable by creative team members, internal partners, and external vendors.
Audit existing materials, identify inconsistent or outdated designs, and prioritize updates with Marketing leadership.
Partner with project and operations leads to improve creative briefs, project intake, review cycles, approvals, and delivery workflows.
Maintain organized asset libraries, approved templates, source files, and version control.
Review work for visual clarity, brand consistency, and production quality, and ensure files meet the requirements of their intended channels.
Use project delivery, stakeholder feedback, and adoption of brand standards to identify improvements in creative quality and team effectiveness.
Work with Marketing, Commercialization Managers, scientific and technical contributors, and Web teams to translate communication objectives into effective visual design.
Involve designers early in project planning and collaborate with subject matter experts to make complex information clear and visually accessible while preserving accuracy.
Provide visual direction for photography, video, campaign imagery, and website assets in partnership with the teams responsible for those channels.