Brand Designer Job Opportunities

Kaldi's Coffee Roasting Co. is looking for two Brand Designers to join the Marketing team in St. Louis, MO.

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Brand Designer Job Description

Reports to: Head of Marketing
Openings: Two
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
Position type: Full-time, in-office
Travel: Occasional travel for brand and photography needs (1-2 times yearly)

The Brand Designer is a hands-on creative partner responsible for the daily design and visual needs of our coffee and tea brands. Very similar to the traditional Graphic Designer position, the role turns clear creative direction into polished work across packaging, cafés, ecommerce, email, advertising, social media, merchandise, and seasonal campaigns. We are hiring two Brand Designers who will share the same title and core responsibilities while bringing complementary strengths to the team.

How the Two Roles Work

Both Brand Designers must be strong graphic designers who can take meaningful ownership, work across different brand identities, and follow projects through completion. Brand assignments and specialty responsibilities will be shaped by business needs, actual workload, and the strengths of the two people selected.

At least one of the two hires must bring advanced food, beverage, and product photography skills. Candidates without advanced photography remain eligible when their strengths in brand design, packaging, campaigns, copy, or digital execution complement the other hire. Both designers should be comfortable selecting, editing, and using photography well.

The Role

Each Brand Designer will serve as the primary day-to-day designer for an initial group of brands, with flexibility to help elsewhere when workload, timing, or a specialized skill requires it. Brand assignments represent primary ownership rather than fixed boundaries, and they will be reviewed as the portfolio changes.

Primary Responsibilities

Brand Design and Campaign Execution

• Learn the positioning, audience, voice, products, locations, and visual system of each assigned brand.

• Create graphical work that feels specific to each brand rather than applying the same aesthetic across the portfolio.

• Develop and extend visual concepts for seasonal campaigns, product launches, promotions, merchandise, and other important brand moments.

• Design packaging, labels, email graphics, ecommerce pages, landing pages, digital advertising, social assets, menus, café signage, point-of-sale materials, presentations, event materials, and print collateral.

• Present work clearly, explain creative choices, and respond thoughtfully to critique.

Production and Project Ownership

• Manage assigned work from the initial brief through revisions, final delivery, and organized file storage.

• Maintain a reliable view of deadlines, open questions, next steps, and dependencies in Basecamp or the team’s current project system.

• Estimate effort, identify conflicts early, and bring recommended tradeoffs to the Creative Lead.

• Prepare accurate files for print and digital production, review proofs, and resolve production questions with internal teams and outside vendors.

Photography and Image Development

Photography responsibility will be allocated according to the strengths of the two hires. One Brand Designer will serve as the team’s primary photography resource while retaining the same title and core design responsibilities.

• Plan and execute professional-quality food, beverage, product, menu, lifestyle, café, and campaign photography when assigned as the photography lead.

• Build practical shot lists, references, schedules, and production plans around the needs of the campaign or channel.

• Use lighting, styling, composition, framing, color, and retouching to produce natural images that fit the brand and the product.

• Select, edit, crop, retouch, and prepare images for print and digital use.

Copy and Brand Voice

• Draft or refine routine headlines, calls to action, short product descriptions, email modules, promotional copy, signage, and supporting campaign language.

• Adjust writing for the voice, audience, channel, and purpose of each brand.

• Treat words and design as parts of the same customer experience and flag copy that does not fit the visual idea or the brand.

• Partner with the Creative Lead and functional owners on longer, strategic, sensitive, or highly technical messaging.

• Confirm product facts, pricing, dates, legal language, and claims with the appropriate business owner before release.

Collaboration and Growth

• Receive priorities, art direction, feedback, and coaching from the Creative Lead and Head of Marketing.

• Work closely with social media, loyalty, app, ecommerce, events, local marketing, retail, wholesale, coffee, production, and operational partners.

• Learn the business purpose behind the work and use customer behavior and campaign results to improve future execution.
  
  

• Support the other Brand Designer during major launches, uneven workloads, absences, and portfolio-wide initiatives.

• Contribute to a team culture built on curiosity, thoughtful debate, dependable follow-through, shared learning, and respect for the work.

Experience and Skills

• Three to five years of professional experience in graphic design, brand design, or a related creative role, or an equivalent portfolio demonstrating mid-to-high level ability.

• A strong portfolio showing thoughtful brand work and polished execution across several customer touchpoints.

• Professional proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite, especially Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign.

• Strong command of typography, composition, color, visual hierarchy, image selection, file preparation, and production details.

• Experience carrying a campaign idea or visual system across multiple formats.

• Experience working within established brand systems while contributing ideas that help those systems improve.

• The organization and communication skills to manage several brands and concurrent projects without constant follow-up.

• Confidence offering a creative point of view and the maturity to improve it through critique.

• A willingness to work full time from the St. Louis office and travel occasionally when the work requires it.

Complementary Experience We Value

• A portfolio of professional-quality food, beverage, product, retail, or lifestyle photography.

• Packaging and print-production experience, including dielines, specifications, proofs, vendors, or multi-SKU systems.

• Experience with Shopify or another ecommerce platform, email design, and accessible digital design.

• Experience with consumer packaged goods, food and beverage, retail, hospitality, or multi-location brands.

• Strong instincts for short-form copywriting, editing, campaign language, and brand voice.

• Experience working across more than one brand or visual identity.

• Knowledge of specialty coffee or a genuine interest in learning about coffee, cafés, customers, and the people behind the product.

Application Materials

Please submit a résumé and portfolio at the link above that demonstrate strong design craft, brand thinking, and the ability to carry an idea across multiple customer touchpoints. Include packaging, ecommerce, retail, hospitality, photography, or multi-brand work when applicable. 

Candidates seeking consideration as the photography lead should include a substantial food, beverage, product, or lifestyle photography portfolio and identify their role in each project.