Brand Design Director - CookUnity
New York City, NY
About the Job
CookUnity is a chef-to-you marketplace connecting talented chefs with consumers, revolutionizing meal delivery. We bring small-batch, restaurant-quality meals to eaters nationwide, crafted by a diverse collective of all-star chefs. With over 100 inspired chefs from cities like NYC, LA, Austin, and more, our weekly subscription offers a wide range of hand-crafted meals to cater to various palates and dietary preferences.
By delivering over 1 million meals per month, we're also empowering working chefs, tripling their income, and supporting their growth. CookUnity believes in fueling stronger communities, partnering with Food Bank For New York City to combat food insecurity across all five boroughs.
About the Team:
At CookUnity, the Brand Marketing team is responsible for developing and executing world-class marketing activations and experiences that drive brand awareness and earn loyalty beyond reason. This team sets the vision and strategy for the brand and brings it to life with strategic rigor, creative excellence, and cultural relevance. Through insight-inspired, data-informed brand storytelling and experiences, CookUnity's Brand Marketing team will build a category-defining brand loved by an entire generation of foodies.
The role:
CookUnity is seeking a passionate Brand Design Director to elevate our creative vision and boldly differentiate the CookUnity brand. In this role you will oversee the development and expression of the brand visual identity across all consumer touch points, both online and offline, while managing a team of 5 talented, ambitious designers.
Through your leadership and vision, you will help build and scale a world-class brand design function with customer obsession and creative excellence at its core. In addition to a mastery of design craft, the ideal candidate will bring original thinking, emotional intelligence, the ability to inspire and operationalize design solutions across the brand experience.
Reporting to the VP of Brand Marketing, this role is uniquely positioned to create an impact that helps CookUnity resonate emotionally and grow commercially in unprecedented ways.
Responsibilities:
- Develop and evangelize an inspiring creative vision for the future of CookUnity and help the organization make progress towards achieving its full potential.
- Lead the Brand Design team to bring the essence of CookUnity to life through a differentiated design system and visual storytelling across website, app, social media, advertising, CRM, and an growing ecosystem of packaging.
- Own, refine, and continue to build on the CookUnity brand identity and visual system as a living resource that evolves with new learnings and insights to better support the needs of the customer and company.
- Partner with teammates, peers, & key stakeholders to proactively identify opportunities or challenges and take a leadership role in bringing tangible solutions to our customers.
- Assume a strong company presence as an internal standard bearer of category-defining creativity, building trust, alignment, and influence among others to bring our vision to life.
- Lead regular creative reviews of all ongoing design work to provide timely feedback, coaching, and ensure pixel-perfect execution in all design deliverables.
- Lead the routing, feedback, and approval process for brand design deliverables to executive staff and Founder as needed for high visibility, high impact initiatives.
- Bring principles of design thinking, a solution-oriented mindset, and an entrepreneurial spirit to achieving impactful results without depending on significant resources.
- Actively participate in bi-annual company planning, leading the development of an actionable plan to achieve key outcomes including timelines, resources, and dependencies.
- Mentor and motivate a small but mighty team of talented designers, building a culture of trust, openness, accountability, and a relentless pursuit of design excellence.
Minimum Requirements:
- 12+ years experience in brand design; experience in leading consumer brands and/or startups is a plus
- 4+ years managing other designers
- A respected brand design leader with a track record of shipping excellent work and a portfolio demonstrating a mastery of design craft across multiple disciplines of design
- Passion for insights and performance data in shaping creative work and a commitment to building a culture that embraces these essential inputs
- A leader who leads by doing and has mastered the suite of tools required (Adobe Creative Suite, Figma, etc) to roll up their sleeves and work alongside their team
- Experience operating in a fast-paced growth environment, including dealing with ambiguity, shifting priorities & rapid iteration
- Very detail oriented, well organized, and a proven ability to effectively manage multiple projects, work streams, or initiatives simultaneously
- Highly collaborative in nature with ability to partner across various functions throughout a company and demonstrate flexible decision-making based on new insight or feedback
- A genuine passion for design and a love of the creative process
- Proficiency in English at an advanced level
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent in Graphic Design, Visual Communications, or a related field is a plus
Benefits
Health Insurance coverage
401k Plan
We grow, you grow: Stock Options Plan granted on Day 1
Eligible for a bi-annual performance bonus
⛱ PTO policy and paid sick days / Unlimited PTO
️ 5- year Sabbatical: After 5 years with CookUnity, you get a 4-week paid sabbatical
Family leave: ****12 weeks for primary caregiver and 6 weeks for secondary caregiver, fully paid
Compassionate Leave: 3-5 days each time the need arises
A generous amount of CookUnity credits to enjoy our amazing meals, added to your account, monthly
♀️ Wellness perks: access to a nutritional coach and fitness subsidies to build a healthy lifestyle
Personalized Spanish coach
Awesome opportunity to join a company that is looking to change how we eat and how chefs work!
Compensation
All final pay rates will be determined by candidates experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities of the applicant, internal equity, and alignment with market data.
If you're interested in this role, please submit your application and if we think you might be a fit, we'll get in touch with you. Thank you for your time!
CookUnity is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are dedicated to creating a community of inclusion and an environment free from discrimination or harassment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, citizenship status, protected veteran status, genetic information, or physical or mental disability.
