About Us

As a Fortune 50 company with more than 400,000 team members worldwide, Target is an iconic brand and one of America's leading retailers. Working at Target means the opportunity to help all families discover the joy of everyday life. Caring for our communities is woven into who we are, and we invest in the places we collectively live, work and play. We prioritize relationships, fuel, and develop talent by creating growth opportunities, and succeed as one Target team. At our core, our purpose is ingrained in who we are, what we value and how we work. It’s how we care, grow, and win together.  

Target Creative’s Brand Design Lab is the in-house creative team dedicated to bringing one of the world’s most beloved and recognizable owned brands to life. Our mission is to inspire a sense of joy, wonder and excitement, and to take our guests—and ourselves—somewhere new. We tell a compelling and cohesive brand story. Some of the brands we have built are Good & Gather, Favorite Day, Ever Spring, Hearth & Hand, Cat & Jack, Goodfellow & Co. Operating as one fully integrated team in both the U.S. and India, the team comprises the best and brightest talent to execute market-leading creative strategy, packaging design & brand building. We are proud to say that we have not just one or two, but eleven brands with sales above a billion dollars each. Our owned brands have grown by 18% YOY and contributed to USD 30 billion in sales last year.

About this Opportunity

As a Lead Associate Creative Director, Brand Design Lab, you will lead the creative direction for owned brand identities and packaging design, while working collaboratively with creative teams and with various partners. Target Creative’s Brand Design Lab collaborates with brand management, packaging, and product development teams to create differentiated owned brands across various categories to feed into our core business strategy. The Brand Design Lab brings creative solutions to elevate our owned brands through distinct brand identities, packaging design and messaging.

You will take forward Target’s Brand aesthetic to infuse the work with an unmistakable Target approach. You will also provide the creative vision to guide and inspire the creative team to innovate, conceptualize and execute creative solutions. There is also a need to challenge conventional thinking to meet and exceed business and marketing objectives. One of the core expectations is the ability to multi-task and collaborate with partners across creative and marketing disciplines. You will be responsible for providing clear, actionable, and timely creative feedback and meet all project expectations. You will need to demonstrate a high level of accountability and be comfortable in guiding the work and presenting creative concepts to partners across the organization. Critical to this role is the ability to collaborate across multiple partner group and time zones and being in a constant state of learning. In this position, you’ll ultimately champion Target’s Creative strategies, goals, and objectives while championing our purpose and culture.

Core responsibilities of this job are described within this job description. Job duties may change at any time due to business needs.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Understand brand requirements and deliver to the brief and translate them into design solutions - as an individual as well as leading creative thinking in the working group
• Lead strategic design and brainstorming sessions. Interpret and articulate design strategy for designers in the team
• Manage work and workflows for the assigned category by assessing capacities and bringing up potential resourcing needs
• Collaborate with the Target Creative, Project Management, Packaging & Merchandising across global HQ locations
• Work closely with the copy team to align packaging copy and content requirements
• Work closely with the creative production design team to ensure execution is as per brief
• Drive and see projects through from inception to production
• Help articulate team and TM areas for Improvement/development to help align with future needs
• Help create and drive the roadmap for the Creative team

Leadership Attributes

• Think strategically, critically, and creatively. Having a strong and sophisticated understanding of Design - Brand Strategies, Brand Building, Packaging Design Systems. Strong narrative-based storytelling, strategic communication shaped by a strong visual world and conceptual creative ideas
• Lead creative projects through challenging moments, keeping the group motivated and results focused. By providing the right direction and appropriate timely feedback
• To be a collaborative influencer with a clear POV and ability to establish rapport with peers. Influence & lead projects along with copywriters, photographers, stylists, illustrators, art directors, and creative managers
• Be adept at managing multiple, concurrent, and complex projects 
• Having strong printing & prepress knowledge
• Desire and ability to learn quickly – self-starting, highly motivated, fast working Strong communication, organizational & planning skills
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to interface and align stake holders across the global ecosystem.
• Open to feedback with ability to take direction
• Interpersonally savvy with strong listening skills
• Action oriented with ability to prioritize and drive results
• Having a worldview & global exposure
• Be a lifelong learner

Preferred Experience & Educational Profile

• Minimum 10+ years’ design experience in a branding and packaging design
• A degree in Design
• Strong creative portfolio demonstrating a breadth of design, typography, and photo art direction, particularly in branding & packaging design
• Expert knowledge of all Adobe Creative Tools (InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop)

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