Job Description

Job Summary:

Zymo Research is seeking a Creative & Brand Design Manager to lead our creative team, own the company's brand design and visual identity, and contribute directly as a graphic designer. This is a player coach role that combines management of a team of three with a substantial, ongoing individual design workload, primarily focused on corporate brand programs.

Working closely with Marketing and Commercial leadership, this person will translate Zymo Research's brand strategy, voice, and philosophy into a consistent visual identity. The manager will develop practical brand standards, guide the team's creative work, and personally design materials that establish the quality and direction of the brand.

Join us in making a meaningful impact!

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Creative Team Leadership

• Manage, coach, and develop the creative team through clear expectations, regular feedback, performance reviews, and professional development.
• Assign work based on priorities, capacity, and individual strengths. Coordinate timelines and workloads with project managers and Marketing leadership.
• Provide art direction and constructive design feedback that strengthens the team's judgment, skills, and creative independence.
• Build a collaborative environment where creative team members contribute ideas and work directly with internal partners throughout projects.
• Support hiring and onboarding as the team evolves.

Brand Design and Visual Identity

• Own and refine Zymo Research's visual identity across digital, print, social media, email, presentations, events, product collateral, and other brand touchpoints.
• Translate brand strategy into clear visual principles for typography, layout, color, imagery, iconography, and visual hierarchy.
• Serve as the lead reviewer for brand design, ensuring that major creative assets are clear, polished, consistent, and aligned with the company's brand direction.

Hands On Graphic Design

• Personally develop creative concepts and produce finished graphic design, with primary emphasis on corporate brand programs and company-wide initiatives.
• Design corporate presentations, company overviews, brand campaigns, event materials, internal communications, and other materials that represent Zymo Research as a company.
• Take assigned design projects from brief and concept development through revisions, production, and final delivery.
• Create flagship brand assets and reusable examples that establish a clear design direction for the broader creative team.
• Maintain an active design workload while balancing team leadership, creative reviews, and brand development responsibilities.

Brand Guidelines and Design Systems

• Lead development and maintenance of the brand guide, expanding it beyond logos and colors into a practical system for everyday design decisions.
• Create and refine templates for presentations, social media, email, brochures, product sheets, events, and internal communications.
• Make brand standards easy for creative team members, internal partners, and external vendors to understand and apply.
• Audit existing materials, identify inconsistent or outdated designs, and prioritize updates with Marketing leadership.

Creative Operations and Quality

• Partner with project and operations leads to improve creative briefs, project intake, review cycles, approvals, and delivery workflows.
• Maintain organized asset libraries, approved templates, source files, and version control so teams can find and reuse current materials.
• Review work for visual clarity, brand consistency, and production quality before delivery. Ensure files meet the requirements of their intended channels.
• Use project delivery, stakeholder feedback, and adoption of brand standards to identify improvements in creative quality and team effectiveness.

Cross Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with Marketing, Commercialization Managers, scientific and technical contributors, and Web teams to translate communication objectives into effective visual design.
• Involve designers early in project planning and work with subject matter experts to make complex information clear and visually accessible while preserving accuracy.
• Provide visual direction for photography, video, campaign imagery, and website assets in partnership with the teams responsible for those channels.

Education and Experience:

• Five or more years of experience in graphic design, brand design, visual identity, or art direction, including experience directly managing and developing creative team members.
• A strong portfolio demonstrating personal design work, excellent typography and layout, visual hierarchy, and consistent brand execution across digital and print.
• Experience developing brand guidelines, templates, visual systems, or design standards.
• Hands-on proficiency in Adobe Creative Cloud, particularly Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop, and strong presentation design skills.
• Ability to translate brand strategy and communication objectives into practical visual principles and finished creative work.
• Strong creative review skills and the ability to coach designers, explain design decisions, and give clear, actionable feedback.
• Ability to balance individual design projects with people management, creative direction, and competing deadlines.
• Strong organization, communication, and collaboration skills across creative, scientific, marketing, and commercial teams.

Preferred

• Experience in life sciences, biotechnology, healthcare, technical B2B, or another complex industry.
• Experience leading an in-house creative team and working with project managers.
• Experience directing photography, video visuals, or campaign imagery.
• Familiarity with Figma, web and UX design systems, and their connection to a broader brand identity.
• Experience using AI or emerging creative tools to support visual exploration and production efficiency.

About Us:

Since its inception in 1994, Zymo Research has been proudly serving the scientific community by providing innovative, reliable, and high-quality research tools and products. Whether it's DNA, RNA, epigenetics, microbiomics, protein, or yeast-based research, our philosophy remains the same: To provide the highest quality products in the industry while ensuring they are both simple to use and reliable in their performance.

Recognized as a Top Workplace by the Orange County Register in 2021, 2022, and named a Top Workplace USA in 2023, Zymo Research continues to be a vibrant community where employees thrive, feel connected, and are inspired by their work. If you are passionate about contributing to scientific advancement and want to be part of an exceptional team in a dynamic, growing company, we'd love to hear from you!

Compensation, Benefits, and Perks:

The estimated base compensation range for this position is $100,000-115,000 annually at the time of posting. Actual compensation details will be provided in writing at the time of offer, if applicable, and is based on several factors we believe fairly and accurately impact compensation, including geographic location, experience, knowledge, skills, abilities, and other job permitted factors.

Zymo Research also offers competitive benefits and perks including:

• Medical, Dental, Vision, and Life Insurance Coverages
• EAP Sessions
• Vacation Time plus Company Holidays
• Paid Sick Leave
• Generous 401(K) with matching
• Employee Referral Bonus
• Complimentary fruit, snacks, and beverages
• Complimentary catered lunches on Thursdays
• Complimentary EV Charging
• Cell phone stipend

Equal Employment Opportunity Employer:

Zymo Research welcomes candidates of all backgrounds. These include sex, age, color, race, religion, marital status, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, physical & mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, military and veteran status, or any other protected status as defined by federal, state, or local law.

Location:

Onsite – Zymo Research – 2961 Dow Ave, Tustin, CA, 92780

Disclaimer: At Zymo, we take the integrity of our hiring process seriously. Please be aware of fraudulent recruitment activities that may use our name to deceive job seekers. We will never ask for payment, sensitive personal information, or financial details during the recruitment process.

All legitimate communications will come from an official Zymo or TriNet Hiring email address. If you are contacted by anyone claiming to represent us using a free email service (e.g., Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail) or asking for payment, please treat this as fraudulent and report it immediately to [email protected]