Senior Research Director Jobs in Appleton, WI (NOW HIRING)

Description
About Us:
Trilliant Food & Nutrition is a leading, vertically integrated manufacturer of premium coffees and powdered beverages, proudly headquartered in Little Chute, Wisconsin. With a legacy rooted in quality, innovation, and service, Trilliant delivers branded and private label solutions across retail, foodservice, and e-commerce channels.
Horseshoe Beverage Company, based in Neenah, WI, is a leading ready-to-drink beverage manufacturer dedicated to delivering an exceptional beverage experience. By combining industry-leading talent, cutting-edge equipment, and a vertically integrated supply chain, we drive innovation and consistently deliver the highest quality products to our customers-first and fast.
Our brand portfolio includes Victor Allen's®, Dutch Bros® beverages and Nurri™, our better-for-you protein beverage line. We are passionate about beverages - and about building a team that's just as energized. We invite you to explore opportunities at Trilliant or Horseshoe, to see if your talents and career aspirations may fit with our openings.
Our Core Values:
Position Overview:
The Senior Art Director will lead shaping the visual direction, bringing the creative strategy to life. Overseeing and owning the overall look, feel and quality of asset creations such as photoshoots, video production + storyboarding, campaign development and more. This role will support the Director of Creative on building out the creative vision across our partnered brand(s) and lead internal team members and external agencies to ensure creative excellence, elevated storytelling and above-all, consistency. The Senior Art Director will support the elevation, impact and growth of the inhouse creative team establishing the center of excellence as a high-performing creative engine that inspires diverse thinking, building connections and influencing an innovative and creative culture.
Responsibilities:
Creative Development:
• Partner with the Dir. of Creative to bring new, innovative ideas to brand, digital and campaign work within the creative team and to the brand(s).
• Partner with cross-functional team members and external agency partners to develop and execute integrated creative solutions across digital, experiential, branding and print.
• At times, plan, build and work off site events that require travel, heavy lifting and participation to bring the brand experience to life.
• Hands-on creative execution and ownership of highly complex identity and creative projects while mentoring designers on their creative projects.
• Direct and collaborate with producers and photographers on lifestyle and product shoots, with a keen eye for brand aesthetic.
Leadership:
• Mentor and guide project teams (designers, freelancers).
• Manage multiple creative projects overseeing deadlines, timelines and facilitating work across project/support team(s) optimizing workflow.
• Push for stronger, differentiated work that adheres to the brand and creative strategy and elevates the experience of brand - setting and maintaining the creative bar.
• Maintain creative excellence while managing a high number of priorities with precise time management, ensuring both your work and team members' work meet deadlines without sacrificing quality.
• Develop strong creative pitches and present work confidently to stakeholders, external partners and cross-functionally, articulating the strategic thinking behind creative decisions and how those decisions drive brand goals and creative strategy, as well as how we will measure success.
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Challenge and sharpen the creative and visual strategy across stakeholders, thinking in systems (campaigns and ecosystems vs. Tactical assets).
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Influence cross-functional partners (brand, marketing, agency) with solutions, not just work.
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Partner with internal data and insights teams to generate performance measurements against creative solutions to continuously drive growth and success of output.
Trend Awareness:
• Proactively continues to learn industry happenings, trends and ways of working.
• Proactively research tools and programs that elevate the work and efficiency for the creative team.
• Keep up-to-date with design and CPG trends to ensure our brand(s) remain fresh and relevant.
Subject Matter Expert:
• Operate with high autonomy and at times, ambiguity.
• Strong and intuitive creative and visual thinking prioritizing scalability and consistency across the creative outputs and brand touchpoints.
• Excellent knowledge of standard industry creative programs such as Adobe Creative Suite, Figma.
• Design-thinking knowledge and human-centric methodology driven to ensure people are kept at the heart of driving creative experiences.
• Overseeing photo/video shoots and supporting video production alongside Director of Creative.
Qualifications:
• A Bachelor's degree or associate's degree in Graphic Design, Graphic Communications, Multimedia Design or User Experience Design is preferred.
• 10+ years of design experience is required; 3-5 years CPG experience preferred; Agency experience highly preferred.
• Proven experience in managing stakeholders through creative reviews, pitches and project timelines.
• Proactive and hungry mindset - you go beyond the expected, always looking for ways to push the creative forward.
• Master of visual storytelling, with a deep understanding of how to translate strategy into compelling design.
• Passion for mentoring, with the ability to guide brand managers, designers and agency partners to stronger ideas and sharper execution.
• Knowledge in photography and video is a strong plus.
• Knowledge in AI tools is a plus.
• High knowledge of industry standard programs are required.
• Impressive portfolio, demonstrating dynamic and strategic work is required.
• Ability to proactively problem-solve, research and analyze information to inform decisions/recommendations.
• Ability to travel (up-to 15%).
Portfolio:
As part of the application process please submit your portfolio to jobs@trilliantfood.com.
Hours, Location and Pay:
We offer a competitive base pay rate and comprehensive benefits package for full-time employees. This role works standard business hours Monday - Friday at our Little Chute, WI manufacturing facility.
Physical and Mental Demands:
• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to sit, hear, use hands to type data, use a personal computer and telephone. This employee may occasionally have to operate business machines and lift and/move up to 50 pounds.
• Specific vision abilities required in this job include close vision and the ability to adjust focus. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
• Mental demands include multi-tasking, decision making, problem solving, comparing, copying, computing, compiling, analyzing, coordinating, and synthesizing data.
• Potential for exposure to chemicals, heights, loud noises, mechanical equipment, wet environments, and other potential hazards exists.
Safety Statement:
At Trilliant and Horseshoe, safety is every employee's first responsibility. We expect all employees to adhere to all safety practices, have the moral courage to stop other individuals from performing unsafe acts, and immediately report unsafe conditions.
Disclosures:
• The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this classification. They are not to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required of personnel so classified. All personnel may be required to perform duties outside of their normal responsibilities from time to time, as needed.
• Responsible for following food safety/regulatory policies and procedures, executing responsibilities as identified in standard operating procedures, and reporting food safety/regulatory concerns to the Production or Quality Manager.
• Trilliant Food & Nutrition and Horseshoe Beverage Company are Drug Free Workplaces. All applicants are subject to a drug screen and background check as a condition of employment.
• Trilliant Food and Nutrition and Horseshoe Beverage participate in the E-Verify process.
• EEO/AA including Vets and Disabled
• If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please contact us by email at HR@trilliantfood.com and let us know the nature of your request and your contact information.
• Trilliant Food and Nutrition and Horseshoe Beverage are Equal Opportunity Employers.
• The principles of the OECD and UN have been taken into consideration and used as guidance in our human rights practices and procedures.