Senior Designers within the Crain Design Hub create sophisticated, audience-focused visual experiences that strengthen Crain's brands and elevate marketing initiatives across digital, print, and emerging platforms. They bring advanced design expertise, independent creative judgment, and a high level of craftsmanship while helping establish and maintain creative excellence across projects. Working within a centralized creative organization, this role primarily partners with the Corporate Marketing team to lead the design and execution of integrated marketing campaigns. Senior Designers collaborate with marketing leaders, Design Hub leaders, and cross-functional partners to solve complex design challenges and elevate the overall quality of design across the organization.
Responsibilities
● Lead the design and execution of integrated marketing campaigns across digital, email, social media, web, print, and experiential channels.
● Develop thoughtful visual solutions that support strategic marketing initiatives and business objectives.
● Execute complex design projects independently while balancing multiple priorities, deadlines, and stakeholders.
● Translate marketing strategies into compelling visual experiences that strengthen Crain's brands across customer touchpoints.
● Help evolve brand standards, templates, design systems, and production workflows to improve consistency and efficiency.
● Present design solutions and articulate design rationale to marketing leaders and cross-functional partners while incorporating feedback throughout the design process.
● Serve as a trusted design resource by providing guidance, constructive feedback, and informal mentorship to designers.
● Collaborate with creative directors and marketing leaders to solve complex design challenges and continuously elevate the quality of the team's work.
● Identify opportunities to improve workflows, streamline processes, and strengthen collaboration across the Design Hub.
● Contribute to Design Hub initiatives by participating in creative critiques, sharing best practices, and supporting the adoption of emerging design technologies and AI-assisted workflows.
● Stay current on design trends, marketing best practices, and emerging technologies to continually raise the quality and effectiveness of the team's work.
Qualifications
● Bachelor's degree in graphic design, visual communication, or a related field.
● 5+ years of professional design experience supporting marketing, branding, agency, publishing, or media organizations.
● Exceptional portfolio demonstrating advanced creative thinking and execution across multiple platforms.
● Advanced understanding of typography, layout, branding, visual hierarchy, and design systems.
● Expert proficiency in Adobe Creative Cloud, including InDesign, Photoshop, and
Illustrator. Experience with Figma and collaborative design workflows.
● Strong communication, presentation, project management, and stakeholder
collaboration skills.
● Demonstrated ability to independently lead projects while mentoring and supporting other designers.
Preferred qualifications
● Experience leading the design of integrated, multi-channel marketing campaigns from concept through execution.
● Experience developing or evolving brand standards, templates, and creative systems across multiple brands or business units.
● Experience creating motion graphics, social video, multimedia, or interactive content that enhances audience engagement.
● Experience collaborating directly with senior stakeholders, presenting creative work, and translating business objectives into compelling visual solutions.
● Demonstrated ability to mentor designers, provide constructive creative feedback, and contribute to the growth of a collaborative creative team.
● Curiosity for emerging creative technologies, AI-assisted workflows, and evolving marketing trends, with a commitment to continuously elevating creative quality and team capabilities.
Pay Transparency Disclosure:
The estimated salary range for this position is $85,000 to $110,000.
The final salary offering will take into account a wide range of factors, including experience, accomplishments and location. The salary range provided should not be considered as a salary limit or cap. In addition to base salary, Crain also offers competitive benefits including retirement plan savings contributions and bonus opportunities based on individual and company performance.
This position is exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act and is not eligible for overtime pay.
#full-time
#US
#journalism
#associate
#LI-SH1
About Crain Communications:
Crain Communications is a leading business news and information company with a portfolio of 24 media brands that provide indispensable coverage and data for professionals globally and across sectors, including advertising, automotive, finance, healthcare, staffing, and workforce solutions. Many of Crain’s brands are the most influential media properties in the industries and communities they serve, including Ad Age, Automotive News, Pensions & Investments, Modern Healthcare, Staffing Industry Analysts, as well as Crain’s regional business brands. For more than a century, our dedication to deep sector expertise and journalistic integrity has enabled us to provide trusted insights across all our platforms, empowering today’s business leaders to make industry-shaping decisions. To learn more about Crain Communications, visit crain.com.
Environmental Demands
Where you work matters. The job posting will provide specific information on where and when your amazing work would be performed. Employee work location is determined by the needs of the specific team and may include on-site, hybrid or remote. Employee work location is subject to change.
- An “in-office” role would require the employee to come into the office most days with occasional flexibility to work remotely if tasks can be performed elsewhere and if the manager approves.
- A “remote” role would allow an employee to work from a home office that is in one of the states Crain does business in. We can only employ a remote / "work from home" employee if they reside in one of these states: AZ, CA, CO, FL, GA, IL, MD, MA, MI, MN, NV, NY, NC, OH, OR, TN, TX, VA, WA, WI, and Washington, DC.
- A “hybrid” role would be a mix of in-office and remote work. There may be a specified schedule for coming into the office or it could be at the discretion of the employee with the manager’s approval, subject to change.
- Employees who live within a reasonable commute distance from a Crain office are expected to work on-site 3 days per week.
Many positions will also include work done in “the field.” Depending on the role, this may include conducting in-person interviews, attending work-related events, meeting with sources or clients. Specifics will be noted in the job posting but are subject to change as a role evolves. Employees may be exposed to adverse environmental conditions, specifically during field work. Other typical job functions are performed under conditions such as those found in general office work.
Travel to cover news stories/events, meetings with clients, and to our geographically separated offices may be required. It is the nature of many positions to experience non-standard working hours and be on-call when needed for responding to email, meeting with clients, attending work-related events, story development or breaking news. Most employees perform work Monday through Friday, although early-morning, evening or weekend shifts may be required. Work schedule and travel requirements are subject to change as a role and needs evolve over time.
Physical Demands
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of many Crain jobs and are subject to change.
Physical activities will include frequent in-person or virtual interactions. For most positions, it is essential to be able to remain at a desk/computer workstation for prolonged periods, perform computer-related tasks, and create/maintain documents within filing systems. Must have close visual acuity to perform an activity, such as preparing and analyzing reports and information, transcribing, viewing a computer terminal, or extensive reading. The typical physical requirements are light work—exerting up to 25lbs of force occasionally and/or up to 10lbs of force frequently and may include climbing, pushing, standing, hearing, walking, reaching, grasping, kneeling, stooping, and repetitive motion. Some positions will have additional physical requirements, including exerting up to 50lbs of force to move and/or carry equipment, supplies, files, or other materials as the role requires.
Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential job functions and meet the environmental and physical demands of the role.
Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities The contractor will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information. 41 CFR 60-1.35(c)
Crain Communications Chicago, Illinois, USA Office
Chicago, United States
Similar Jobs
What you need to know about the Chicago Tech Scene
Key Facts About Chicago Tech
- Number of Tech Workers: 245,800; 5.2% of overall workforce (2024 CompTIA survey)
- Major Tech Employers: McDonald’s, John Deere, Boeing, Morningstar
- Key Industries: Artificial intelligence, biotechnology, fintech, software, logistics technology
- Funding Landscape: $2.5 billion in venture capital funding in 2024 (Pitchbook)
- Notable Investors: Pritzker Group Venture Capital, Arch Venture Partners, MATH Venture Partners, Jump Capital, Hyde Park Venture Partners
- Research Centers and Universities: Northwestern University, University of Chicago, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Illinois Institute of Technology, Argonne National Laboratory, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
