Lead Designer

Design Lead

Why choose us? Are you ready to take the next step in your career? Join us for an exciting opportunity at Albertsons Companies, where innovation and customer service go hand-in-hand!

At Albertsons Companies, we are looking for someone who's not just seeking a job, but someone who wants to make an impact. In this role, you'll have the opportunity to lead, innovate, and contribute to the growth of a company that values great service and lasting customer relationships. This position offers the chance to work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment that's constantly evolving.

The Design Lead plays a critical role in shaping and elevating the Albertsons brand through exceptional creative execution and hands-on leadership. This role balances design excellence, creative direction, and team mentorship, ensuring delivery of high-impact, customer-centric design across all touchpoints. You will partner closely with cross-functional teams while actively contributing to concept development and execution—setting the creative bar and guiding others to meet it.

Main responsibilities:

• Lead Creative Vision & Execution
  • Lead the conceptualization, design, and execution of creative assets across digital, print, retail, and omnichannel touchpoints.
  • Set the creative standard through hands-on design work and direction, ensuring high-quality, brand-aligned outputs.
  • Translate brand strategy into compelling visual storytelling that resonates with customers.
  • Ensure consistency across all creative deliverables while evolving and modernizing the visual identity.
• Drive Brand Consistency & Innovation
  • Uphold and evolve brand guidelines, systems, and templates for scalability across banners and channels.
  • Facilitate ideation sessions to generate innovative concepts and solutions.
  • Stay current on design trends, tools, and technologies to continuously elevate creative output.
  • Champion experimentation and fresh thinking to keep the brand competitive and relevant.
• Enhance Customer Experience Through Design
  • Translate marketing strategies and customer insights into impactful design solutions.
  • Create visually engaging experiences that improve in-store, digital, and promotional engagement.
  • Incorporate shopper behavior and performance insights into design development.
  • Partner with stakeholders to evaluate creative effectiveness and optimize outcomes.
• Mentor & Elevate the Design Team
  • Provide day-to-day creative direction, feedback, and coaching to designers.
  • Act as a mentor and role model, fostering a collaborative and high-performing team culture.
  • Support skill development by sharing best practices, tools, and techniques.
  • Help guide prioritization and workload balancing across projects.
• Drive Execution Excellence
  • Manage design workflows and ensure timely delivery of high-quality creative assets.
  • Partner with project managers and stakeholders to align on timelines, scope, and priorities.
  • Maintain visibility into project progress and proactively resolve challenges.
  • Balance speed-to-market with creative quality and attention to detail.
• Collaborate Cross-Functionally
  • Partner with marketing, digital, retail, merchandising, and product teams to deliver integrated campaigns.
  • Clearly communicate design concepts and rationale to both creative and non-creative stakeholders.
  • Align creative output with business objectives, campaigns, and seasonal initiatives.

We are looking for candidates who possess the following:

• Core Experience
  • 6–10 plus years of professional design experience, preferably in retail, CPG, eCommerce, or agency environments
  • Proven experience delivering integrated, omnichannel creative (digital, print, in-store, social, and campaign work)
  • Strong portfolio demonstrating high-quality brand storytelling and campaign execution across multiple touchpoints
• Leadership & Mentorship
  • Experience leading creative workstreams or acting as a design lead on key projects, with increasing ownership of outcomes
  • Demonstrated ability to mentor, guide, or informally manage designers (even without direct reports)
  • Track record of providing clear creative direction, feedback, and design standards
• Brand & Systems Thinking
  • Experience working within and evolving established brand systems, guidelines, or design frameworks
  • Ability to scale creative across multiple brands, formats, or business units (highly relevant for Albertsons banners)
  • Familiarity with design systems, templates, and repeatable assets that enable efficiency and consistency
• Cross-Functional Collaboration
  • Experience working within and evolving established brand systems, guidelines, or design frameworks
  • Ability to scale creative across multiple brands, formats, or business units (highly relevant for Albertsons banners)
  • Familiarity with design systems, templates, and repeatable assets that enable efficiency and consistency
• Technical/Tools
  • Expert proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign)
  • Experience with modern tools such as Figma, Adobe XD, or similar collaborative platforms
  • Working knowledge of design for digital platforms (web, mobile, email, social)
• Additional (Relevant) Experience
  • Experience in multi-brand or enterprise retail environments
  • Motion, video, or content creation experience
  • Experience contributing to or building design systems at scale
• Education: Bachelor's degree required (preferably in graphic design)

We also provide a variety of benefits including:

• Competitive wages paid weekly
• Access to up to 50% of your earned wages before payday, via our partnership with Stream
• Associate discounts
• Health and financial well-being benefits for eligible associates (Medical, Dental, 401k and more!)
• Time off (vacation, holidays, sick pay). For eligibility requirements please visit myACI Benefits
• Leaders invested in your training, career growth and development
• An inclusive work environment with talented colleagues who reflect the communities we serve

A copy of the full job description can be made available to you.