Milk Makeup is Hiring an Art Director (NYC/hybrid)
Salary range: $115k-$130k annual
MILK MAKEUP is looking for an Art Director responsible for building and maintaining Milk Makeup’s visual brand expression. Supports Creative Director in high-level concept development and execution of 360 marketing campaigns and programs, from concept to launch and sustain execution across media.
About the company
At Milk Makeup, we’re all about cool clean beauty fueled by creativity. Born out of Milk, a creative hub in downtown New York City, innovation, self-expression, and community are at the heart of everything we do. We believe beauty isn’t about how you do your makeup, it’s what you do in it—and how you Live Your Look—that matters.
REQUIREMENTS
5-6+ years of creative experience.
College degree; BA or BFA preferred in Graphic Design or Communication Design, or related creative field
Passion for art direction, design, typography, photography, and brand storytelling
Strong eye for composition, layout, and visual systems
Experience leading photoshoots and on-set art direction
Strong understanding of beauty, fashion, and culturally relevant industry talent.
Knowledge and experience in social space.
Understanding of design, typography and layout principles, graphics, digital/social best practices.
Knowledge and experience in social space.
Proficient knowledge of programs: Figma, Indesign, Illustrator, Photoshop. After Effects, and Premiere, a plus
Understanding of video concepting, pre-production, and on-set direction. Editing, and motion graphics, a plus.
Strong relationship-building skills; ability to work with a variety of people in various disciplines.
Team player: Enjoys working with others and collaborating with a positive attitude.
Excellent communication and presentation skills
Excellent presentation skills at both team and leadership levels.
Solid organizational skills, detail-oriented; time management skills, ability to juggle priorities.
Ability to work in a fast-paced environment, particularly within social and digital content cycles, with flexibility to adapt quickly and deliver high-quality work under tight deadlines.
Self-motivated with a strong drive to push creative work forward
Passion for Milk Makeup, beauty culture, and innovative brand storytelling
Some travel may be required.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Brand Builder: Partner with the Creative Director to define and evolve Milk Makeup’s visual identity and brand expression. Lead the development of campaign visuals, design systems, and brand assets, ensuring consistency across all touchpoints including digital, video, retail, print, and experiential. Own and evolve the brand’s visual codes—including typography, color, layout, graphic systems, and art direction.
Art Direction & Execution: Lead art direction across campaigns and brand initiatives, including concepting, shot development, and on-set direction. Oversee the creation of launch assets, campaign graphics, retail materials, and experiential design elements. Ensure all creative output meets the highest standards of craft and aligns with brand guidelines.
Design Leader: Lead and guide the development of graphic design across all brand touchpoints. Work closely with designers to ensure strong execution across layout, typography, imagery, and production. Maintain and evolve brand systems to support scalability and consistency.
Strategic Thinker: Partners with the Creative Director to develop 360 creative strategy to support business goals. Understands both marketing and creative needs to provide solutions that support brand positioning. Ensure strong integration between art direction, design, and overall brand storytelling across channels including in-store, print collateral, event materials, OOH, site, email, paid media, social, and video.
Creative Collaborator: Partners closely with Editorial, Marketing, Social, and Visual Merchandising teams to develop creative concepts for robust 360 client experience. Work in close collaboration with the Director, Video & Motion to ensure alignment between design and motion creative. Partner with Production and Creative Operations to define executional approaches and ensure high-quality delivery.
Cross-functional Partner: Build strong relationships across Brand and Product Marketing, Ecomm, Social, Influencer, Retail Marketing, and Education teams.Ensure creative work aligns with strategic objectives while maintaining brand integrity.
External Partner: Partners with external creative partners Including but not limited to photographers, retouchers, illustrators, CGI artists, and type designers. Manages agency relationships to ensure work is aligned with brand and agency is leveraged in an effective manner.
Inspirational Mentor: Actively work with junior members of the team to make sure that all executions are of the highest quality and adhere to the brand. Helps to educate team in creative expertise and knowledge including art direction, photography, design, and typography.
Skilled Presenter: Represents creative team in a variety of settings: large/small groups, direct reports, managers, formal presentations.
BENEFITS + PERKS
• Flexible time off: We provide a generous PTO program, paid company holidays, summer fridays, and more.
• Health + wellbeing support: We offer a comprehensive benefits package that includes medical, dental, and vision insurance, a wellbeing reimbursement, wellbeing speaker series, and a 6% 401k company match.
• Family accommodations: We offer a generous parental leave program of up to 20 weeks of 100% paid leave to care for and bond with your child.
• Employee care: We offer employees 100% paid leave for up to 12 weeks following their own illness.
• Professional growth + development: We have a comprehensive program to support your growth at Milk Makeup, lunch + learns, DEI led training sessions, and a learning and development program.
• Hybrid work model: We provide flexibility to support individual work styles, balance business needs, and ensure we live our values. We have a strong (and chill!) office culture in Soho with a dog-friendly environment and a well-stocked kitchen of snacks and drinks.
• MMU swag: We want you to get familiar with our new drops and re-up on any of your fave products.
