Marketing Design Director

About Wine Enthusiast

Wine Enthusiast was born from a passion to bring a fine wine experience to the everyday. Our love for wine goes beyond the bottle. We value family and community. We believe wine is a conduit that brings people together and that every pour brings celebration to life’s moments, big and small. We’re a family-owned business with a big heart, led and run by wine lovers working together to create new and better ways for you to explore and enjoy the exciting world of wine.

Role Overview

Wine Enthusiast is seeking a highly creative and detail-oriented Marketing Design Director to lead the visual direction and development of our marketing products across digital and print. This role requires balancing the strategic demands of luxury branding with artistic innovation to deliver stunning campaigns that engage and inspire. The Marketing Design Director will oversee the conception, design and execution of visual elements for print and digital marketing campaigns, ensuring brand cohesion across all touchpoints.

Key Responsibilities

The key focuses of the role are quality editorial output, subscriber growth, brand awareness, and new content packages implemented on budget in alignment with Wine Enthusiast’s mission and core values. Additionally, the magazine director assists with creating brand-appropriate endemic and non-endemic content partnerships; talent acquisition; profitability; and client relations.

• Develop and execute on innovative design concepts for direct mail—brochures, and catalogs, digital display banners, and product packaging—translating brand strategy into compelling visual stories.
• Lead the art direction of all marketing assets from concept through production, including photoshoots, typography and layouts that align with brand standards and design principles. Oversee mood boards, set designs, props and manage photo shoots in person.
• Select and manage photographs, illustrations, and other visual elements used in commerce marketing collateral. Marketing visuals must show off product features and sell a lifestyle.
• Lead and organize all direct mail design meetings; oversee all styling briefs ensuring aesthetic consistency across materials; compile retouching notes as needed.
• Direct and design in-house ads and event display materials and programs
• Collaborate with Brand Creative leads to conceptualize and research innovative ideas and projects that result in high-quality catalogs, postcards, brochures and more marketing assets.
• Ensure all marketing creative products align with the Wine Enthusiast’s brand vision, core values, and marketing objectives.
• Manage timelines, budgets, and resources to ensure the on-time delivery of direct mail and digital campaigns.
• Reduce dependency on freelance services, resulting in significant cost savings.
• Work closely with printers, studios and external vendors to ensure print quality meets luxury brand standards.
• Stay up to date with design, typography and luxury brand trends to keep our mail products fresh and engaging.
• Use analytics and feedback from campaigns to refine creative strategies for future projects.
• Work closely with marketing, product and content teams to align creative output with business goals and customer expectations.
• Manage multiple deadlines simultaneously, balancing creativity with timelines to meet production schedules.

Qualifications

• 5 years in art direction or senior design role, preferably in luxury and/or premium lifestyle brands, with a strong portfolio showcasing skills across print and digital mediums.
• Fluency in design software, namely Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign), and Figma
• Degree or relevant certification in Graphic Design, Visual Arts, Marketing, or a related field.
• Experience designing marketing assets for print and digital mediums (including but not limited to: catalogs, magazines, postcards, digests and digital promotions)
• Proven ability to develop and maintain a cohesive visual identity across print and digital formats.
• Experience managing creative teams and external vendors.
• Exceptional eye for detail and understanding of color theory, typography and layout principles in print and digital contexts.
• Excellent communication, presentation and interpersonal skills. Ability to present concepts and collaborate with stakeholders across various departments.
• Ability to adhere to and interpret style guide/brand guidelines and creative briefs
• Ability to incorporate feedback from multiple stakeholders and revise designs as necessary
• Willingness to take design risks, innovate and experiment
• Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously and adhere to project timelines and deadlines
• Solutions-oriented mindset to innovate around design challenges
• Major bonus points for UX experience
• Photography experience and proficiency with photo-editing software (working with CGI environments is a big plus); Experience in image handling and processing
• Knowledge or passion for wine and wine culture is a plus.

Please provide a link to an online portfolio (including password if necessary) and resume.

Location

This position requires a hybrid work schedule and candidate will come onsite to our Valhalla headquarters.

Benefits

Unlimited PTO, Full Medical, Dental and Vision benefits, 401(K) Match, FSA & Dependent Care FSA, Pet Discount Plan, Employee Discount, GymPass, optional Wine Tasting Class participation, dynamic and collaborative work culture.

Learn more about us

Wine Enthusiast Companies is a Certified B Corporation and the ultimate source of innovation and information around wine. Founded in 1979 by Adam and Sybil Strum, the company is composed of Wine Enthusiast Commerce and Wine Enthusiast Media. Embodying the commerce side, the Wine Enthusiast Shop provides premium wine-lifestyle products, reaching millions of consumers globally via direct mail, an e-commerce site, and a business-to-business division. Representing the media side, Wine Enthusiast magazine is an award-winning print publication and online resource that showcases wine news, food trends, and more than 25,000 ratings and reviews annually. By the end of 2023, WineEnthusiast.com reached 4.5 million monthly page views and is the industry leader with the most traffic of any wine media website. Wine Enthusiast events include the annual premier Wine Star Awards gala. Together, Wine Enthusiast Companies is the indisputable hub for everything wine. We bring wine to life.

Wine Express is the exclusive wine-shop partner of Wine Enthusiast, featuring curated selections from around the globe. WineExpress.com is a wine retail site that offers customers quality wines at value prices.