Associate Graphic Designer

Associate Graphic Designer

For nearly three decades, 686 has been developing, testing and engineering technical outerwear and apparel with the goal to build the best performance products with our active-minded community. We foster community and experiences through our products all in the spirit of innovation and independence.

We are looking for an Associate Graphic Designer to join our creative team. The role focuses on translating raw assets into high-quality, on-brand static and animated creative assets throughout all marketing channels under the creative vision established by the Art Director & SVP Marketing. This person will have experience working in outdoor, action, fashion or adjacent brand and industry within a team driven atmosphere. This role will be heavily digital focused with an emphasis on current trends and emerging technologies.

This is a hybrid role, based three days a week at our main office in Gardena, CA. May also consider contract graphic designers. You will have an opportunity to indicate your primary interest in the application process.

What you will do:

• Design on brand visual assets across multiple channels including web & PDP, newsletter, paid media, social, events, out of home, catalog and other forms of campaign and marketing rollouts in alignment with Art Director vision
• Support the development of seasonal campaigns, including layout design, asset resizing, and production design
• Create and maintain PDP layouts and marketing graphic needs that follow established style guides
• Light video editing including gifs, 3-8 second banners and ads and social clips
• Retouch and prepare photography for web and print use
• Contribute to and help evolve brand identity and guidelines, including typography, color, layout systems, and visual tone
• Collaborate cross-functionally with marketing, e-commerce, sales and product teams to ensure all assets are accurate, cohesive, and delivered on time.
• Be a self-starter and have a strong handle on brand vision in order to lead and lift others as needed.
• Stay up to date with emerging tools and technologies including AI
• Support photoshoot needs through design prep, post-production, and asset organization
• Contribute to moodboards and creative exploration under direction of Art Director
• Manage multiple projects with speed, precision, and style - execute efficiently and under tight deadlines, balancing speed with a high bar for craft and consistency
• Share ideas and support your teammates to keep the creative flow strong
• Pitch in wherever needed—because great teams lift each other up

Requirements

• 2-5 years of relevant brand or agency experience
• Proficient in Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Lightroom, Adobe Premiere), Figma as well as emerging AI tools (nano banana, higgsfield, freepik or other)
• Familiarity with Slack, Teams and Asana
• Strong understanding of outdoor, snow and fashion culture
• Strong understanding of typography, layout, and visual hierarchy
• Experience preparing files for both digital and print production
• Ability to take direction and execute within established brand guidelines
• Strong attention to detail and organizational skills
• Ability to manage multiple projects and meet deadlines
• Basic video editing and photo retouching skills
• Portfolio demonstrating strong graphic design and production work

If this sounds like you, submit your resume and portfolio for consideration!