Lead Graphic Designer

Cedar•Austin, TX

7h•Onsite

About The Position

Help reinvent how housing gets designed, permitted, and built in America. Cedar is building the operating system for urban housing delivery. We combine architectural expertise with software, automation, and data systems to dramatically accelerate how projects move from land acquisition to approved designs and construction. The result: faster timelines, higher quality, lower risk, and more housing in the cities that need it most. Our team blends architects, engineers, and product builders. We design beautiful, responsive housing — and we build the software systems that make great architecture scalable. As Cedar grows, how we show up visually and culturally is a strategic priority — not an afterthought. We're building something that doesn't really exist yet: a national brand at the intersection of architecture, technology, and housing that carries real weight. Not a prop-tech company with a nice logo. A company with a genuine point of view on cities, design, and how people live — one that architects, developers, investors, and policymakers pay attention to. That brand doesn't happen by accident. It gets built — deliberately, carefully, across every single surface. That's this role. You'll be the person responsible for how Cedar looks, feels, and communicates. Your first major project will be leading a brand evolution alongside an external agency, shaping a visual identity and positioning that can hold up on a national stage. From there, you own it: every deck, every publication, every pixel that goes out the door. The work is equal parts design craft and brand stewardship. You'll make key materials yourself — investor presentations, research publications, marketing assets — and you'll set the standard that ensures Cedar never shows up looking like anything less than what it is. The bar is premium, smart, and unmistakably intentional. We want Cedar's brand to be the strongest in the built environment — the kind of presence where people pay attention when we publish something, where our materials get shared because they're genuinely good, where the design signals that the thinking behind it is just as rigorous. This role is how we get there.

Requirements

A strong graphic designer with sharp visual taste and real range
You care deeply about typography, layout, and the details that separate good from excellent
Comfortable working across formats — presentations, editorial layouts, web graphics, brand systems — and making all of them feel cohesive
You can take a loosely defined idea and turn it into something clear, compelling, and polished
Organized and disciplined — you keep brand systems tight and consistent because you understand that's how quality scales
You want to be close to the company's identity, not just executing someone else's vision

Nice To Haves

Experience in architecture, design, real estate, or urban topics — you understand the audience
Experience partnering with branding agencies or leading rebrand efforts
Editorial design chops — reports, essays, publications
Motion or lightweight animation skills

Responsibilities

Lead Cedar's brand evolution, partnering with an external agency to build a visual identity and positioning worthy of a national stage
Define and maintain the design system and visual language that holds it all together
Own the brand across every touchpoint — website, presentations, reports, product marketing, social, and events
Design materials for developers, investors, and partners that feel sharp, confident, and distinctly Cedar
Create visual storytelling for Cedar's thought leadership — articles, research pieces, and housing insights that people actually want to read and share
Work with the product team to make sure marketing and product visuals feel like one company, not two
Raise the floor. Everything that leaves Cedar should look like it came from a company that cares deeply about design
Build the kind of brand presence that earns Cedar a seat in the architecture, real estate, and technology conversations that matter