Merchandise Design Manager

Catface•Austin, TX

1d•$90,000 - $95,000•Onsite

About The Position

Catface is a YouTube entertainment company with a family of channels reaching more than 25 million combined subscribers and an average of 300 million views per month. The Merchandise Design Manager leads the internal Merchandise Concept Design and Design tracks, translating stories, characters, and memorable moments into product concepts and production-ready artwork. The role owns creative quality, output planning, approval governance, resourcing, and team development, while ensuring products are appropriate for their audience and delivered on schedule. The manager sets creative standards and approval gates; plans schedules and team capacity; reviews major concept, artwork, and packaging packages; and balances internal work with contractor artist support. The position manages and develops 3 to 6 designers and partners with Merchandise Production, Content, Licensing, Marketing, E-commerce, and Executive Leadership. The role reports to the Director of Merchandise. Product strategy, assortment direction, licensing commitments, and budget decisions are made with or escalated to the Director of Merchandise.

Requirements

8+ years of experience in consumer product, merchandise, or packaging design, including 2+ years directing or leading designers.
A portfolio demonstrating character-driven merchandise, product graphics, and retail packaging systems, including the thinking behind the work, not only finished images.
Experience with product approval workflows and corporate-environment artwork review.
Expert proficiency with Adobe Creative Suite.
Strong working knowledge of production art, dielines, and print and manufacturing requirements.
Demonstrated ability to plan creative capacity and deliver against a development calendar.
Comfort giving direct creative feedback and ability to turn conflicting input into one clear direction.
Strong presentation skills and ability to defend creative decisions to executives in commercial terms.
Genuine interest in developing designs and designers, not only reviewing output.

Nice To Haves

Experience leading both concept pitches and design deliverables functions.
Experience managing freelance rosters, external artists, or agency relationships.
Background across plush, collectibles, apparel, accessories, stationery, and/or home décor.
Familiarity with creator-led brands, fandom-driven products, or licensed entertainment merchandise.
Genuine curiosity about the Aphmau universe, or willingness to become a fast student of it; story accuracy matters as much as craft.

Responsibilities

Support annual, seasonal, and project-level expectations for concept output, final artwork, and packaging deliverables, aligning creative milestones to the product development calendar.
Assign work across the Concept Design team based on level, capability, workload, product category, and development goals.
Set creative quality standards and define approval gates from sketch exploration through Content and Licensing review, vendor release, sampling, and production.
Own ideation and art schedules, monitoring status, revision rounds, approval dependencies, and delivery risks.
Balance internal assignments with contractor artist support and recommend additional resourcing when demand exceeds capacity.
Review major concept, artwork, and packaging packages before presentation to Content, Licensing, Merchandise Leadership, or executives.
Prevent incomplete, inaccurate, or insufficiently approved artwork from progressing to vendors, sampling, or production.
Track recurring artwork errors and implement corrective training or process changes.
Manage hiring, onboarding, coaching, performance feedback, capacity assessment, and development plans for 3 to 6 designers.
Develop team craft in story translation and concept ideation, as well as cohesive design development across multiple product forms.
Determine which designers are ready for more complex, visible, or ambiguous assignments and mentor them for success.
Partner with Merchandise Production, Marketing, and E-commerce on creative handoff and launch readiness.
Partner with Licensing, Production, and Executive Leadership when approval decisions are escalated.