Senior Designer, Illustration + AI Focus

Overview

About the Role

A large e-commerce retailer is looking for a talented contract Senior Designer with strong illustration skills and hands-on experience with AI-powered creative workflows to join their in-house creative studio.

The studio is a fast-moving, agile creative team that works in two-week sprints and uses AI, automation and scalable design systems to produce high-quality creative efficiently. This role will primarily support the brand content and editorial teams, bringing ideas to life across a variety of illustration-forward projects, including greeting cards, stickers, infographics, social content and other engaging customer experiences.

AI is an integral part of how this role works. The team currently uses an AI model trained on the brand’s proprietary illustration style to accelerate illustration development, and continues to build new AI-powered workflows that help the team move faster while maintaining a high bar for craft and brand consistency.

The ideal candidate is both a strong visual designer and illustrator and someone who is excited to experiment with emerging creative technology. You should be comfortable using AI as part of your everyday creative process, from generating and refining concepts to editing AI-generated illustrations and developing repeatable workflows that improve how work gets done.

What You’ll Do

• Concept, design and illustrate engaging creative across greeting cards, stickers, infographics, social content and other illustration-heavy experiences.
• Use AI-powered tools and workflows to accelerate concepting, illustration and production while maintaining the brand’s creative standards.
• Work with and refine AI-generated illustrations, applying strong illustration fundamentals and craft to ensure final work feels intentional, polished and on-brand.
• Help develop and evolve scalable AI-driven creative workflows that improve speed, consistency and efficiency.
• Work within established templates and design systems while identifying opportunities to make them smarter and more scalable.
• Manage multiple projects simultaneously within fast-paced, two-week sprint cycles.
• Partner closely with creative, copy and cross-functional teams to keep projects moving from concept through final execution.
• Navigate ambiguity, make smart creative decisions with incomplete information and proactively solve problems rather than waiting for perfect direction.
• Stay current on emerging AI and creative technologies and identify new ways they can improve workflows and creative output.

What You’ll Bring

• Strong portfolio demonstrating exceptional visual design and illustration skills.
• Hands-on experience incorporating generative AI into professional creative workflows.
• Ability to edit, refine and finish AI-generated illustration, not simply generate imagery.
• Strong understanding of composition, typography, color, visual hierarchy and brand systems.
• Experience working in fast-paced, high-volume creative environments with competing deadlines.
• Exceptional attention to detail and a high bar for creative quality.
• Self-starter mentality with the ability to learn new tools quickly and independently solve problems.
• Comfort experimenting, iterating and working in areas where the process or solution has not been fully defined.
• Positive, collaborative approach and the ability to keep work moving under pressure.

Nice to Have

• Experience with Krea, Figma Weave or similar generative creative platforms.
• Experience developing node-based or repeatable AI workflows.
• Experience training, working with or refining custom AI models/LoRAs.
• Experience building scalable creative systems, templates or automation workflows.
• Experience working in agile or sprint-based creative teams.

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About Aquent Talent:

Aquent Talent connects the best talent in marketing, creative, and design with the world’s biggest brands.

Our eligible talent get access to amazing benefits like subsidized health, vision, and dental plans, paid sick leave, and retirement plans with a match. We also offer free online training through Aquent Gymnasium. More information on our awesome benefits!

Aquent is an equal-opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, and other legally protected characteristics. We’re about creating an inclusive environment-one where different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives are valued, and everyone can contribute, grow their careers, and thrive.