Associate Art Director - Continental Mills, Inc.

We’re looking for a passionate Associate Art Director with a consumer-first mindset and a strong understanding of packaging, brand systems, and food styling to join our Brand Creative team at The Krusteaz Company. In this role, you’ll lead design initiatives within an engaged team that values collaboration and shares a goal of creative excellence. This is a hands-on design role, developing end-to-end creative solutions for consumer-facing packaging, campaign assets, digital commerce, and corporate communication initiatives. If you’re a strategic thinker who is big on talent but low on ego, with a bias for problem-solving, optimism, and curiosity, we’d love to meet you!

What you’ll do:

• Translate business objectives and consumer insights into high-performing design outcomes for complex packaging and brand initiatives.
• Work collaboratively and interactively with designers, freelancers, and agency partners.
• Invite diverse inputs and expertise to inform human-centered, data-driven solutions.
• Be a champion for the consumer and the brand to drive creative work.
• Present to stakeholders and leaders with confidence, articulating a clear design rationale and a point-of-view (POV) to influence decision-making.
• Develop engaging materials that work across print and digital mediums and channels.
• Manage multiple projects in a fast-paced, deadline-oriented environment.
• Develop/direct the approach, treatments, talent, and styling for photo shoots.
• Work with studios and stylists to create on-brand, mouth-watering food visuals.
• Create 3-D renders, evaluate color proofs, and attend press checks when needed.
• Ensure consistent application of brand and quality standards for every execution.
• Evolve brand books and style guidelines to ensure they are current and relevant.
• Lead creative projects with external design partners and vendors, providing strategic direction and effectively communicating feedback to guide successful iterations.

Who you are:

• A strategic designer who knows how to leverage creative impact to drive business results.
• An expert at crafting and operationalizing brand and design systems across touchpoints.
• Experienced at achieving brand consistency across mediums/channels.
• A holistic problem-solver who thinks broadly and has a high attention to detail.
• Skilled at active listening and engaging in productive dialogue about creative work.
• Self-motivated with a bias for action, accountability, and exceptional time management.
• An expert at navigating ambiguity in a dynamic, fast-paced environment.
• Positive, empathic, and team-oriented, maintaining professionalism under pressure.
• Open to feedback, demonstrate humility, and facilitate direct, honest conversations.
• Someone with a strong aptitude for learning and applying new technologies and tools.
• A composed, dynamic presenter who can articulate how design delivers on the brief.

Education and/or Experience:

• Bachelor’s or Graphic Design Degree/Certification or equivalent experience/training.
• Minimum 8 years of experience working in a design role within a creative team, demonstrating increased responsibility and leadership over time.
• Minimum 2 years of experience working on CPG or food & beverage brands.
• In-depth understanding of branding and design systems and packaging best practices.
• A portfolio of previous work that demonstrates expertise in packaging design, image styling/direction, digital campaigns, brand systems, and leveraging consumer insights.
• Mastery of Adobe Creative Suite and experience with the Microsoft 365 platform, particularly Teams, Outlook, and PPT.
• Skilled in color correction, compositing images, and manipulation of digital imagery.
• Knowledgeable about print methods, substrates, and optimizing files for various outputs.
• Bonus skills (not required): motion graphics, brand architecture, product naming, digital design, illustration, copywriting, presentation design, and environmental design.

Physical Demands and Work Environment:

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to stand, sit, talk, hear, and use hands and fingers to operate a computer and telephone along with reaching. Specific vision abilities include close vision requirements due to computer work. Moderate noise, ability to work in a confined area, and ability to sit at a computer for an extended period of time are also included.

The policy of The Krusteaz Company is to hire, train, and promote all persons in all job groups in accordance with law, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital or military status, national origin, gender identity, the presence of any sensory, mental or physical disability, genetic information, or any other status or characteristic protected by local, state, or federal law.

Get to know us:

• A people-focused company that cares: We're a 90-year-old company with the entrepreneurial spirit of a startup and a focused eye on the future. As a midsized, privately held company with a portfolio of beloved food and beverage brands, our people are the most important ingredient in our success.
• A valued and supported workforce: We place tremendous value in our employees and provide competitive pay and comprehensive benefits to ensure our employees can create the best life for themselves. Benefits include a top-tier health insurance plan with lower-than-average employee cost share, generous PTO, 401(k) match, and more.
• An engaged and energized culture: At The Krusteaz Company, collaboration and ingenuity drive our fierce commitment to creating extraordinary product experiences that people love.
• A place to grow and make a difference: An entrepreneurial spirit has been at the core of our company since the beginning, attracting self-starters who are curious and love to learn and to share ideas.

Hybrid Work Model: At The Krusteaz Company, we have in-office "core days" of Tuesdays and Wednesdays where all corporate employees are expected to be onsite. Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays are flexible remote days to allow for work/life balance. You may be asked to come in outside of a core day from time to time, based on business needs. We have found aligning our scheduled in-office days provides an opportunity for employees to build connections and collaborate together. 

Benefits: We are proud to offer generous benefits including comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance (starting at $50/month for employee-only coverage on the PPO Plan or starting at $25/month for employee-only coverage on the HDHP), 401(K) matching, 3 weeks of paid vacation, 10 paid holidays, 1 paid personal holiday, company provided life insurance and disability insurance, flexible spending account, healthcare saving account, voluntary accident insurance, voluntary critical illness insurance, and tuition reimbursement.

Salary Information: An employee in this position can expect a salary range between $100,524 and $165,851. We typically pay out between $113,000 and $144,000. The actual salary offered will carefully consider a wide range of factors, including internal equity, experience, education, certification, training, and location. All positions are eligible for additional incentives based on business performance.

We hope you'll take the time to get to know us!

The Krusteaz Company is not sponsoring new applicant employment authorization at this time and please, no third-party recruiters.