Senior Packaging Designer

Bakery Agency•Austin, TX

10h•Onsite

About The Position

Bakery is looking for a Senior Designer to Make Things people Want. We've worked with ambitious brands like Nike, Diageo, Shiner Beer, and Grillo's Pickles — building brand identities, campaigns, and packaging that make people pay attention. We're seeking a Senior Packaging Designer who shares a passion for FMCG, CPG, and brand design at its best — someone equally fluent in the creative and the technical sides of the craft. You'll need a sharp eye for brand storytelling and structural design in equal measure: comfortable moving between flat layout work in Illustrator and Photoshop and thinking in three dimensions about how a shape, fold, or container actually performs on shelf. You should know your way around print production — CMYK, Pantone, foil, finishes — well enough to design with the realities of manufacturing in mind, not just the polish of a comp. At Bakery, our Senior Designers work closely with Strategists and the Client Services team while supporting our Creative and Design Directors. You'll have the chance to inspire our design team, mentoring junior designers and helping them sharpen their craft. Your creative instinct will show up in how you turn strategy into ideas that stand out on shelf and hold up across every touchpoint a brand lives in. Must be employable in the USA and work on-site in Austin, TX.

Requirements

At least 6 years of packaging design experience
Skilled at creating holistic packaging and brand concepts, from idea through final production
A portfolio with real examples of work on iconic FMCG or CPG brands
Strong grasp of structural packaging design — how shape, fold, and container form work in three dimensions, and how a design needs to hold up physically as well as visually on shelf
Proficiency in Adobe Creative Cloud (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign) for flat design, plus working knowledge of 3D visualization tools like ArtiosCAD or Cinema 4D to see a design as a real object before it's produced
Working knowledge of print production — CMYK, Pantone matching, foil stamping, and special finishes — and how different substrates (paper, plastic, metal) affect how a design actually prints and reads
An eye for consumer psychology — what makes a shopper stop and pick something up in the first three seconds on shelf
Awareness of regulatory and labeling requirements (ingredients, barcodes, safety warnings, recycling symbols) and how to design around them without compromising the work
Experience managing multiple creative projects at once, with the judgment to edit toward the strongest idea
A genuine drive to produce world-class work — in concept and in craft
A natural instinct for storytelling through design
The ability to move fluidly between creative thinking and technical execution
Comfortable using AI tools to speed up your process, but your portfolio should show what you can make with your own mind and hands — not a book of AI comps
Real enthusiasm for design, identity, and brand experience as a discipline, not just a job

Responsibilities

Work on iconic consumer brands, shaping packaging that carries real shelf presence and cultural relevance
Create holistic concepts and design solutions that build on a brand's identity and give it a genuine point of difference across every touchpoint
Demonstrate a clear understanding of how to connect strategy to craft
Quickly edit and refine concepts to land on the strongest idea, not just the safest one
Manage relationships with vendors and production partners — printers, structural engineers, prototypers — to make sure the work holds up from final file to finished package
Collaborate with internal teams and client expertise to arrive at better creative solutions than either side would reach alone
Operate with the integrity, reliability, and openness that earns trust from clients and colleagues alike
Act as a creative partner to clients, building long-term trust rather than one-off approval
Push back on and interpret feedback where needed to protect the integrity of the brand
Bring design expertise and point of view to client conversations, including productive provocation when the work calls for it
Look for opportunities to deepen and extend client relationships over time
Deliver strong pitches and client presentations that move the work forward
Communicate clearly and confidently across all levels, adapting style to audience while staying consistent in message
Encourage collaborative, cross-functional ways of working across the studio