Seasonal Graphic Designer

Job description

Adventure is our Culture. Join a team that celebrates a lifestyle as bold as the terrain we love. At Backcountry, we are rooted in adventure, recognition, and wellbeing on and off the mountain. We spotlight employee stories, celebrate milestones, and offer exclusive outdoor perks. Whether you are at HQ, in a retail store, or remote, you will be part of a team that thrives on energy, exploration, and connection. **Reports to:** Design Manager **Location:** Salt Lake City, Utah (Hybrid - 3x/week in-office) ### About the Role Backcountry's internal creative team owns the visual direction for our portfolio brands — Backcountry, Competitive Cyclist, and Steep & Cheap. We need a graphic designer for the holiday season who can step in, contribute immediately, and help shape creative across digital, email, social, print, and retail channels. As **Seasonal Graphic Designer**, you will conceptualize and produce design work that supports marketing campaigns and cross-functional initiatives across multiple brands. Success in this role means delivering polished, on-brand assets on deadline while using AI tools to accelerate repeatable workflows and concept development. This is a lean team. You will own a lot, move fast, and make decisions with full end-to-end responsibility. ### What You'll Do - Conceptualize and develop creative solutions for marketing and cross-functional campaigns across the Backcountry portfolio, delivering against brand and financial goals. - Design for a broad range of media including print, digital, social, email (static and motion), web, and retail signage. - Interpret brand strategy into functional design systems — templates, icons, typography standards, and select imagery. - Use generative AI platforms to build, create, and enhance deliverables (concepting, image generation, photography retouching, background swaps), keeping all output on-brand and production-ready. - Leverage AI to accelerate repeatable processes such as resizing and versioning assets across channels, template-driven builds, and rapid concept iterations. - Evaluate emerging AI tools and capabilities, sharing prompts, best practices, and quality standards that help the team produce better work. - Partner with web developers to ensure the quality of executions matches the creative vision. - Collaborate with the production and operations team to deliver creative on time and at the quality level expected at Backcountry. - Contribute to creative discussions and provide recommendations to the design manager on direction and differentiation. ### Required Qualifications - Academic background in graphic design or a related field, or 3+ years of equivalent professional experience. - Strong online portfolio exhibiting clean visual design sensibilities (must be included with your application). - Proficiency in Figma. - Demonstrated experience using generative AI tools (such as Higgsfield, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or similar) to improve creative workflows; examples of AI-assisted work in your portfolio are encouraged. - Strong judgment on when and how to use AI, with a sharp eye for quality control, brand consistency, and responsible use (image rights, licensing, and likeness). - Proven ability to apply design fundamentals — typography, ideation, color theory, photography, and illustration — in visual layout development. - Clear understanding of digital platforms and the creative requirements of different channels. - Proficiency across all stages of design: concept, development, and hand-off for production. - Ability to take constructive feedback and work collaboratively with designers, web developers, and copywriters. ### Preferred Qualifications - Proficiency in Photoshop, Illustrator, and the broader Adobe Creative Suite. - Motion design capabilities. - Retail and print production experience. - Interest in or connection to the outdoor industry. ### Why Join The people who do best here are builders. They take ownership, move fast, and want to see the direct impact of their work. - **Cross-Functional Impact:** Your design work will span multiple brands, channels, and teams — from email and social to retail stores — giving you broad visibility across the portfolio. - **AI-First Skill Building:** Work on a creative team that actively integrates generative AI into its design process. You will sharpen skills that are defining the next era of creative production. - **Own Your Work:** From concept through final asset delivery, you will own projects end-to-end and see your creative in market across Backcountry, Competitive Cyclist, and Steep & Cheap. - **Competitive Benefits:** Paid time off policies, 401(k) match, medical/dental/vision and a variety of supplemental policies, and employee discounts across our portfolio of brands. ### Interview Process 1. **Recruiter Screen** - A 30-minute conversation with our recruiting team to align on the role, your background, and what you are looking for. 2. **Hiring Manager Interview** - Conversation with the Design Manager focused on your design approach, portfolio walkthrough, and AI workflow experience. 3. **Portfolio Review / Case Discussion** - A deeper dive into select portfolio pieces, your creative process, and how you use AI tools in practice. 4. **In-Person Interview** - We'd like to meet you at our Salt Lake City office. Details and logistics will be arranged with your recruiter. 5. **Reference Checks** - Conducted in parallel with the final stages where possible. 6. **Offer** - We move quickly for the right candidate. *Interview process is subject to change. Any updates will be communicated promptly and clearly.* ### Please Note - Part of our interview process is a **mandatory in-person interview** with someone on our team prior to an offer. Candidates that are unwilling or unable to meet for an in-person interview will be removed from consideration immediately.