Associate Creative Director _ CPG

Overview

Aquent is partnering with an iconic global consumer goods brand, renowned for its household, personal care, and oral health products, to expand their dynamic design team.

Are you a visionary creative leader passionate about shaping the visual identity of beloved consumer products? We are seeking an Associate Creative Director to drive the creative development and execution of groundbreaking packaging and brand design programs across a diverse portfolio of Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) brands. In this pivotal role, you will transform strategic business objectives and consumer insights into innovative, commercially successful creative solutions that elevate brands, captivate consumers, and drive significant growth. This is an incredible opportunity to make a tangible impact, mentor talented designers, and lead projects from concept to market success.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the development of strategic creative concepts for new product launches, portfolio extensions, seasonal programs, and brand refreshes.
• Translate consumer insights, marketing strategies, and business objectives into compelling visual solutions that differentiate brands in competitive retail environments.
• Lead brainstorming sessions, concept workshops, and collaborative ideation exercises to foster innovation.
• Present creative concepts and strategic rationale to executive leadership and cross-functional teams, securing alignment and buy-in.
• Oversee the creative execution of packaging, branding, merchandising, and integrated marketing assets, ensuring exceptional craftsmanship in typography, layout, color, photography, illustration, and visual storytelling.
• Maintain brand consistency across product portfolios while championing innovative design approaches.
• Collaborate with production teams to ensure creative integrity from ideation through final manufacturing.
• Provide day-to-day creative leadership to designers and production artists, offering mentorship, feedback, and coaching for professional development.
• Conduct design critiques and foster a positive, inclusive, and high-performing creative environment that encourages continuous learning.
• Partner closely with Marketing, Brand Management, Innovation, Consumer Insights, Packaging Engineering, Project Management, Creative Operations, and Production teams.
• Collaborate with external partners including photographers, illustrators, freelancers, and agencies.
• Lead packaging design from concept through production, developing systems that balance creativity, manufacturability, sustainability, and consumer appeal.
• Ensure designs are optimized for shelf impact, usability, and brand recognition, reviewing mockups, proofs, and production samples for quality and accuracy.
• Stay current on design trends, retail environments, consumer behavior, and packaging innovation, identifying opportunities to evolve brands through creative thinking and emerging technologies.
• Champion consumer-centered design solutions that strengthen brand equity and drive purchase intent.
• Partner with Project Management and Creative Operations to prioritize creative work, allocate resources, and manage creative workload effectively.
• Balance multiple concurrent projects while maintaining high creative standards, ensuring projects are delivered on time, within budget, and aligned with business objectives.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design, Packaging Design, Visual Communications, Fine Arts, or a related discipline.
• 8–12+ years of creative experience, with significant expertise in CPG packaging and brand design.
• Demonstrated experience leading creative teams and mentoring designers.
• Proven success developing innovative packaging for retail brands, showcased through a strong portfolio highlighting strategic thinking, conceptual development, and exceptional execution.
• Experience presenting creative work to senior leadership and cross-functional stakeholders.
• Exceptional concept development and visual storytelling abilities.
• Strong understanding of branding, consumer behavior, retail environments, and packaging strategy.
• Ability to translate business objectives into innovative creative solutions.
• Expertise in typography, color theory, layout, photography, illustration, and packaging systems.
• Experience across multiple CPG categories, including food and beverage, beauty, personal care, household products, health and wellness, or pet care.
• Strong mentoring, coaching, and team development skills, with the ability to inspire creativity while maintaining high standards of quality.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills, comfortable leading creative discussions and facilitating decision-making.
• Expert proficiency in Adobe Creative Cloud (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign).
• Experience using AI specifically for image generation/ideation.
• Experience with Figma and collaborative design platforms.
• Strong knowledge of print production, packaging specifications, color management, and manufacturing processes.
• Understanding of creative operations, project workflows, and production timelines.
• Ability to balance creativity with budget, schedule, manufacturing, and business objectives.
• Strong organizational and decision-making skills in a fast-paced environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience collaborating with consumer insights and innovation teams.
• Knowledge of sustainable packaging and emerging design technologies.
• Experience directing photography, illustration, CGI, and video production.