Associate Concept Artist - Merch

Job Description

Job Description

Catface is a YouTube entertainment company, home to a family of channels with over 25+ million combined subscribers and an average of 300 million views per month. Our goal is to entertain our audience with fun, light-hearted narratives and entertaining content for general audiences. A vital component of our business is creating multiple unique stories every week in order to keep our audience engaged.

Visit our YouTube Channels:

Aphmau Gaming

Aphmau Shuki

Aphmau Fantasy

Visit our websites:

Aphmau Store

Catface Website

About the Job

Millions of people watch Aphmau's stories every week. They know these characters better than almost anyone, they rewatch their favorite episodes, and they notice immediately when something feels off. Our Merchandise team exists to take those moments, a character, a running joke, a friendship, an episode people can quote from memory and turn them into things fans can hold, wear, and display.

We're looking for an Associate Merchandise Concept Designer to join that team in Austin, TX. This is a hands-on role for a designer who wants to own ideas from the blank page all the way to the artwork that our vendors use as a blueprint. You'll take an assigned product drops and develop it into real product concepts, sketching a genuine range of directions, refining the ones that land, and then building the final, production-usable artwork behind them.

The role sits at an unusual intersection: you need the drawing chops to render a character accurately, and the commercial instinct to know which of your ideas will sell. You'll work with moderate oversight, which means you're trusted to own your assignments and resolve routine creative problems to meet production deadlines, All while being supported by your team and leadership staff close by.

If you've ever wanted your design work to reach an audience of this size, and you like the idea of a fandom noticing the small details you got right, this is that job.

What You'll Do

You'll own defined portions of Aphmau merchandise collections end to end, research and mood boards, concept sketch ideation, and final artwork execution for your assigned products or categories.

Concept development

• Develop multiple product-sketch directions for assigned characters, themes, categories, or collection stories, in addition to support ideas to polish, but enough real range to make a meaningful selection possible.
• Explore product silhouettes, character applications, poses, expressions, patterns, graphics, materials, functions, and interactive features.
• Refine thumbnails into concept art that clearly communicates product form, visual hierarchy, story connection, and consumer appeal.
• Identify the hero pieces in a collection along with the supporting products, coordinated items, and collectible variations around them.
• Suggest category, price point, production feasibility, and sales channel while a concept is still forming.
• Annotate your sketches so the intended materials, artwork placements, features, and story references are unmistakable.

Final artwork

• Translate approved concepts into polished final merchandise artwork, character illustrations, placement graphics, patterns, icons, decorative elements, colorways, and surface designs.
• Prepare artwork at the correct dimensions, scale, resolution, color mode, and file format for each product category.
• Build colorway and artwork-placement variations and organize layered master files so teammates and vendors can work with them.
• Incorporate feedback from Brand, Licensing, Merchandise Production, and creative leadership without losing the approved story intent.
• Review vendor proofs and artwork interpretations, flag deviations from approved artwork, and correct routine issues yourself.
• Present your directions and explain the rationale behind each one.

What the work looks like

You'll typically have three to four collections in motion at once, each at a different stage across development. In a steady month that tends to land around 24–32 initial product sketches, 10–16 refined concepts, and 8–12 final-art deliverables. Some weeks are heavy on exploration and reference-gathering; others are heads-down file preparation ahead of a vendor handoff. Sketch reviews and feedback rounds are a regular rhythm, and you'll be expected to come to them with options and rational discussion.

Where the role fits

You'll report to the Merchandise Manager and work alongside Concept and Graphic Designers at every level, from Entry-Level through Lead. Your approved artwork hands off to Merchandise Production, who will carry it through vendor development, sampling, and manufacturing. The quality and completeness of your files directly affect how smoothly a product gets made. You'll also partner regularly with Brand, Licensing, Merchandise Production, Marketing, and E-commerce.

What We're Looking For

Required:

• 2–4 years of merchandise, consumer product, or character-based design experience.
• A portfolio showing the full progression from research and ideation through finished, production-usable artwork. We want to see the thinking and the range, not just the polished final image.
• Strong Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop skills, with real competence in pattern, icon, and surface design development.
• Working knowledge of brand and character style guides and licensed product requirements.
• Ability to manage several concurrent assignments against a development calendar and consistently hit dates.
• Strong character drawing fundamentals — proportion, expression, and consistency to an established model.
• Comfort giving and receiving direct creative critique, and the ability to separate feedback on the work from feedback on you.
• Clear communication: you can explain why a concept works commercially, not just why you like it.
• Discipline with file organization, naming conventions, and version control. Downstream teams depend on it.

Nice to have:

• Experience designing across plush, collectibles, apparel, accessories, stationery, or home décor.
• Experience working with overseas vendors and reviewing proofs, samples, or digital renderings.
• Familiarity with creator-led brands, fandom-driven products, or licensed entertainment merchandise.
• Genuine curiosity about the Aphmau universe, or the willingness to become a fast student of it. Story accuracy matters here as much as craft.

What We Offer

• Excellent Medical, Dental and Vision health benefits
• 401(k) contribution
• Flexible time off
• Lunch, snacks and drinks provided in the office
• Pets in the office once a month
• Onsite fitness center
• Learning Stipend
• Relocation assistance for those coming from outside Austin.