Senior Designer Jobs in Chicago, IL

Description

At 1898 & Co., part of Burns & McDonnell, our marketing and communications teams support strategic growth initiatives across all market sectors. We partner closely with internal teams to develop clear, compelling visual communications that strengthen our brand, support business development pursuits, and help clients understand complex ideas.

We’re seeking a Graphic Designer who can translate complex technical input into a clear, client-ready story. In this role, you’ll collaborate with pursuit leads and technical consultants to identify the most important messages, shape the narrative, and visually communicate the “so what” in a way that supports informed decision-making.

A significant portion of the work is hands-on production, building presentation and proposal content within established templates and brand standards, often under tight deadlines. Success in this role is defined by strong story flow, clear takeaways, and visually cohesive materials that feel intentional from first slide to last, supporting marketing, public relations, and sales efforts across digital and print deliverables.

What You’ll Do

Storytelling & Advising

• Lead focused working sessions with technical consultants to extract key messages, define the client takeaway, and simplify complex technical content.
• Recommend how content should be presented to clients (e.g., framework slide, maturity model, roadmap, process flow, architecture diagram, timeline).
• Create visual storyboards for critical sections (problem implications approach value proof) and iterate with pursuit leads and proposal managers.
• Provide multiple visual approaches when content is ambiguous and advise on the most client-friendly and persuasive option.
• Proactively identify when content is overly detailed, unclear, or misaligned to client priorities and recommend concise alternatives.
• Apply design thinking principles to translate complex ideas, RFx requirements, and branding standards into effective visual narratives.

Presentation & Proposal Production

• Create polished, professional proposal and presentation designs using PowerPoint and the Adobe Creative Suite.
• Build and refresh PowerPoint decks for pursuits, conferences, and client presentations, working primarily within established templates and master slides.
• Produce proposal visuals including infographics, tables, callout boxes, diagrams, section openers, and custom covers that reinforce win themes.
• Produce proposal content in InDesign, including layout, styles, and print-ready and digital-ready exports.
• Conceive and design graphics that adhere to client requirements, regulatory constraints, and brand standards.
• Demonstrate quick turnaround on proposal designs while maintaining a high standard of quality and visual consistency.
• Maintain and evolve a reusable slide library, icon set, and visual components to accelerate future pursuits.

Proposal Strategy, Compliance & Collaboration

• Read and interpret RFx documents (RFP, RFQ, etc.) to understand project requirements, scope, evaluation criteria, and compliance constraints.
• Ensure proposal visuals comply with RFx requirements, client standards, and internal brand guidelines.
• Partner closely with the Marketing and Proposal Management teams throughout the proposal lifecycle.
• Attend required meetings to support branding, presentation, and proposal development needs.
• Manage version control, QA, and final visual outputs across multiple stakeholders under tight deadlines.
• Organize, govern, and maintain graphic files in accordance with proposal and graphics processes.
• Maintain exceptional attention to detail to minimize rework due to spelling errors, layout issues, or formatting inconsistencies.

Preferred Skills & Experience

• Demonstrated experience in visual translation, narrative shaping, executive-friendly storytelling, fast production, and high attention to detail.
• Ability to transform complex ideas into clear, visually compelling graphics.
• Portfolio demonstrating professional graphic design.
• Advanced PowerPoint skills (masters, layouts, section systems, typography, information hierarchy, light animation/motion where appropriate).
• Proficiency in Adobe InDesign and Illustrator (Photoshop basics).
• Comfortable partnering with technical consultants asking strong questions, offering recommendations, and guiding toward clarity.
• Strong attention to detail, file hygiene, version control and ability to perform under deadline pressure.
• Comfort using generative AI tools (e.g., Microsoft Copilot, Gemini, ChatGPT) to accelerate ideation, layout exploration, or content refinement.

Qualifications

• Bachelor Degree in fine arts/graphic design or visual communication and 8 years of related experience; and a portfolio supporting that background required.
• Associate Degree in fine arts/graphic design or visual communication and 10 years of related experience; and a portfolio supporting that background required.
• Expert knowledge of industry-standard graphic design and layout software (i.e. Adobe Creative Suite, etc.) with comprehensive understanding of InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator.
• Expert knowledge of Microsoft PowerPoint.
• Problem-solving skills to transform complex ideas to graphic representations.
• Expert color theory and color relationships skills.
• Understanding of good layout principles.
• Expert conceptualization skills for alternative printing, production and packaging techniques.
• Utilize emerging technology with great proficiency.
• Establish and maintain effective working relationships with other employees and the business customers being served.
• Proven track record working with complex teams and/or organizations and the ability to work effectively with virtual teams.
• Strong written and verbal communications skills.
• Strong organizational skills.
• Strong visual proofing and error-checking skills.
• Skill managing tight deadlines for concurrent projects with various teams.
• Ability to manage work on multiple fast-paced projects.
• Expert HTML knowledge a plus.

Compensation

$110,000.00-150,000.00 Yearly

The expected compensation range for this position is displayed in compliance with all local/state regulations. The expected compensation range for this position is based on a number of factors, including but not limited to: individual education, qualifications, prior work experience and work location. The total annual compensation package will consist of a base salary and eligibility to participate in our discretionary year-end incentive bonus program.

Benefits

Our extensive benefits package takes care of you so that you can focus on doing great work. From insurance and disability to time off and wellness programs, we provide the tools to meet your needs. As part of being 100% employee-owned, eligible employees participate in our Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) in addition to our 401(k) retirement program. For more information, please visit the Benefits & Wellness page.

This job posting will remain open a minimum of 72 hours and on an ongoing basis until filled.

EEO/Disabled/Veterans

Job Graphic Design

Primary Location US-MO-Kansas City

Other Locations US-TX-Houston, US-IL-Chicago

Schedule: Full-time

Travel: No

Req ID: 261426

Job Hire Type Experienced #LI-EH #E98