Creative Brand Manager Jobs in Raleigh, NC (NOW HIRING)

Direct Reports: Associate Brand Designers (2)

This role requires a full-time onsite presence in Durham, NC

Target Base Range: $115 - 135k plus incentives (Final compensation commensurate with experience and qualifications)

Please note: We are only able to consider candidates who are U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents (green card holders) and who do not require current or future visa sponsorship of any sort.

IONNA is building the most reliable, driver-centric, and design-forward charging network in North America — and the Brand team is where that promise takes shape. We’re looking for a Sr. Brand Manager to be the creative and brand engine of that team: the person who defines what the IONNA brand is and turns it into bold, consistent, unmistakably on-brand work across every touchpoint. Reporting to the Head of Brand and leading a small team of designers, you’ll create and own IONNA’s brand standards and guidelines, lead creative direction and the brand system, own the brand’s storytelling and voice, the brand strategy and insights that keep the work grounded in why drivers choose IONNA, and the vendor relationships that extend the team’s output. This is a hands-on senior role with real ownership and room to grow into the full creative lead as the brand scales.

• Brand Standards & Guidelines: Create, own, and evolve IONNA’s brand standards and guidelines — the single source of truth for identity, logo usage, color, typography, voice, imagery, and how the brand is applied across print, digital, and physical touchpoints.
• Creative & Art Direction: Set and hold the creative vision, taste, and aesthetic standard for all brand output; provide art direction to the design team and to external creative partners.
• Brand System & Asset Library: Own and evolve the design system that puts the standards into practice — components, typography, color, and usage — and the organized, versioned brand asset library it lives in. Own the brand zone plus the library’s structure and taxonomy; the digital-asset zone is owned by the Sr. Manager, Digital Experiences within one shared library.
• Storytelling & Verbal Identity:Own how the IONNA brand sounds and is positioned including tone of voice, verbal identity, and the storytelling principles that shape our messaging. Define and govern the voice standard across campaigns, channels, and touchpoints (the how we sound), while message content on the comms side is owned by Communications.
• Brand Strategy & Insights: Own brand strategy, positioning, and brand-health insights — understanding why drivers prefer IONNA and feeding that back into the creative work.
• Creative Intake & QA: Own the intake and quality gate for brand requests — prioritize, brief, review, and approve work to the brand standard before it ships.
• Team Leadership: Manage and develop the Associate Brand Designers — allocate work, mentor craft, and grow the team’s output and consistency.
• Vendor Management: Own IONNA’s brand-related vendor relationships — today spanning creative and production studios, ecommerce / merch, online store, and brand strategy, research, and insights partners and brand health, and growing as the function scales. Brief, direct, and hold each to the brand standard.

Year one is a foundational build. Success is measured by delivering the systems that make the brand function run — each defined below with its success metric, approved by the Head of Brand, and reported to executive leadership. Operational and brand-outcome metrics phase in as the systems and tracking below come online.

• Brand Standards & Guidelines — delivered: Complete v1 brand guidelines (identity, logo, color, typography, voice, imagery, applications). Success metric: guidelines published, approved by the Head of Brand, and adopted as the single source of truth.
• Brand System & Asset Library — built: Design system (components, templates, usage) and the organized, versioned brand asset library it lives in. Success metric: system and library live and in use by the team and vendors, with the brand zone and taxonomy established within the shared library, approved by the Head of Brand.
• Brand-Health Tracking & Baseline — established: Stand up brand-health measurement — brand equity, preference, and consideration (distinct from social / marketing sentiment). Success metric: instrument live with an initial quantified baseline captured — preference, consideration, and awareness scores benchmarked against Electrify America and EVgo. (This baseline becomes the ongoing brand-health outcome KPI in year two.)
• Department Operating System — stood up: Establish single-front-door intake, prioritization, and QA for the brand function. Success metric: intake process live and in use across requesters, producing a measurable on-time delivery rate of requests per the agreed-upon SLA.

• Mission: Build brand so that drivers choose IONNA.
• KPI 1: Brand Health (Scale & target)
• KPI 2: On time delivery of milestone & ticket items

• A minimum of 6* years in brand design, brand management, or creative leadership, including hands-on design work.
• Demonstrated experience creating brand standards and guidelines (a brand book / brand system) from the ground up — not just working within an existing one.
• Proven creative direction — the ability to set and hold a design system and a brand standard across channels.
• Strong storytelling, copywriting, and brand-voice experience.
• Experience leading and mentoring designers.
• Brand strategy and insights experience — positioning, brand health, and translating insight into creative work.
• Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite and Figma.
• Experience directing external creative, production, or research vendors to a brand standard.
• Excellent communication and organization, with the ability to manage many projects in a fast-paced, scaling environment.

• Experience scaling a brand or creative function from an early stage.
• Background spanning experiential / physical and digital brand.
• Experience in automotive, EV, mobility, or hardware-enabled consumer brands.
• Familiarity with brand-health tracking and insights tools.

Founded by eight of the world’s largest automakers, IONNA is reshaping EV charging across North America — the coverage drivers need, the reliability they deserve, and the experience they crave. This role puts your fingerprints on a category-defining brand at the forefront of the EV revolution.

IONNA is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices through a competitive base salary, as well as offering bonus programs and comprehensive benefits such as medical, dental, vision, life, 401(K), and paid holidays. Actual base salaries are based on several factors unique to each candidate, including but not limited to skill set, experience, certifications, and specific work location.

We are committed to an inclusive and diverse team. IONNA is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based on race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, national origin, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, marital status, or any legally protected status.

What is the highest level of education you’ve obtained? What is the highest level of education you’ve obtained?

1. Which option best describes your current U.S. work authorization status? A. U.S. citizen B. Lawful permanent resident (green card holder) C. Requires current or future visa sponsorship

2. This role requires full-time onsite work in Durham, NC. Which option best describes your ability to meet this requirement? A. I currently live within commuting distance of Durham, NC and can work onsite full time B. I would relocate to the Durham, NC area before starting and can work onsite full time C. I am interested, but would need to discuss relocation timing or support D. I am not able to work onsite full time in Durham, NC

3. Which option best describes your professional experience in brand design, brand management, or creative leadership? A. 10+ years of relevant experience B. 6–9 years of relevant experience C. 3–5 years of relevant experience D. Fewer than 3 years of relevant experience

4. Which option best describes your experience creating brand standards, brand guidelines, or a brand system from the ground up? A. I have led the creation of a complete brand system or brand guidelines from scratch B. I have played a major role in creating or rebuilding brand guidelines C. I have maintained or applied existing brand guidelines, but have not built them from scratch D. I have limited experience with brand guidelines or brand systems

5. Which option best describes your experience using design tools? A. Advanced proficiency with Adobe Creative Suite and Figma B. Strong proficiency with either Adobe Creative Suite or Figma, and working knowledge of the other C. Basic working knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite and/or Figma D. Limited experience with these tools

6. Which option best describes your experience leading or mentoring designers? A. I have directly managed designers and owned their development B. I have led or mentored designers without formal people‑management responsibility C. I have collaborated closely with designers, but have not led or mentored them D. I have limited experience working with design teams

7. Which option best describes your experience with brand strategy, positioning, or brand-health insights? A. I have owned brand strategy and brand-health measurement or insights B. I have contributed significantly to brand strategy, positioning, or insights work C. I have applied brand strategy or insights created by others D. I have limited experience in this area

8. Which option best describes your experience directing external creative, production, research, or brand partners? A. I have owned vendor relationships and directed partners to a brand standard B. I have managed vendor workstreams with some oversight from others C. I have collaborated with vendors, but have not managed the relationship D. I have limited experience working with external partners

9. Which option best describes your experience across physical, experiential, digital, or consumer brand touchpoints? A. Extensive experience across both physical/experiential and digital brand touchpoints B. Strong experience in either physical/experiential or digital brand touchpoints C. Some experience across multiple brand touchpoints D. Limited experience beyond one primary channel

Which option best describes your experience working with EV charging, automotive OEMs, connected products, or hardware-enabled consumer brands? A. Direct experience working in the EV charging industry (charging networks, charging hardware, EV infrastructure, charging operations, interoperability, OEM EV programs, etc.) B. Direct experience working for an automotive manufacturer, Tier 1 supplier, dealership network, fleet organization, or automotive technology provider. C. Experience supporting hardware-enabled consumer products or technology brands (electronics, IoT devices, telecommunications hardware, appliances, wearables, connected devices, etc.) involving cross-functional coordination between customers, operations, engineering, or product teams. D. Experience working with external enterprise customers or strategic partners, but not specifically within automotive, EV charging, or hardware-enabled products. E. No significant experience in EV charging, automotive, or hardware-enabled products.