Smalls

Senior Art Director

Remote US · Director

Sponsorship not specifiedDetected 92 days ago

RESTGraphic Design

About the role

Smalls is a premium DTC cat food and cat lifestyle brand built on a single belief: the cats who matter most to their people deserve food that actually reflects that.
The people here are good at their jobs, take the work seriously, and care about getting it right.
We're growing into new categories and new channels, and we need our creative function to grow with us.

You'll concept and direct shoots, oversee creative production, and ensure the visual system holds across growth creative, retail displays, packaging, site, social, merch, physical product design, campaign, OOH, email, and collabs - whatever the context, the brand is recognizable and right.
You lead agency selection, own the overall briefing, and make the final call on what ships.
The CBO will weigh in on direction and review assets, but the decision lives with the SAD - you pick the partners, you set the brief, you call the work.
You'll manage our Senior Designer, Graphic Designer, and two Product Designers day to day.
You'll give direction on work, make calls on large design decisions, and keep the product designers brand-aligned rather than purely conversion-focused.
You're comfortable working across both graphic design and product/UX contexts - you don't need to be a UX practitioner, but you understand the discipline well enough to direct it and hold the brand bar within it.
You'll define and maintain the creative processes that govern how work moves through the team - from brief to production to final output.
You'll set the standards, own the oversight, and ensure the creative function operates with rigor and consistency.
You own social creative as a distinct creative domain, not just another channel in the list.
You'll set what good looks like in feed, lead the art direction for performance work, and hold the bar for social-native craft.

You have 7+ years of experience, with meaningful time in-house at a brand where you had to hold visual standards across channels without a large team or agency infrastructure doing it for you.
You can look at a brief, a collab proposal, or a new product category and ask: what does the brand demand here?
You understand the difference between a brand-led product experience and a conversion-optimized one, and you know how to hold the former while respecting the latter.
You can make a decisive call and move on.
You have a cat, or you're genuinely willing to get one.
You can write a brief, explain a direction, push back on a request, and present your thinking to a founder without hedging everything into mush.

Fully paid Health, Vision, and Dental insurance.
Unlimited PTO.
This is one of the primary reasons we're hiring this role; the CBO is leaning into it as a learning area, and the SAD is expected to lead it.

We love cats and we're here to make nine lives ten.
We treat our people like people; we're committed to Smalls, and we work hard but also respect everyone's lives outside of work.
Mission-Driven
People-Driven
Data-Driven Culture: We love using data to guide decision-making where appropriate, but we also know when to move quickly and go with our gut.
Competitive Salary: Make some $$$.
Very Competitive
You'll be working alongside ACD, Copy and Director of Integrated Brand Ops, and managing a design team of four including Sr.
Designer, Graphic Designer, and two Product Designers.
You'll report to Chief Brand Officer.
Smalls is fully remote with occasional travel for shoots, company offsites, and key creative moments.
Mission-Driven Company: We love cats and we're here to make nine lives ten.
People-Driven Company: We treat our people like people; we're committed to Smalls, and we work hard but also respect everyone's lives outside of work.
Very Competitive Benefits: Fully paid Health, Vision, and Dental insurance. 4-day work week. Unlimited PTO.
Fully Remote Office & Culture: Our team is spread across the US day to day, but we travel for department & company off-sites and retreats.
Free Product: Free cat food every month.
We love using data to guide decision-making where appropriate, but we also know when to move quickly and go with our gut.
Our team is spread across the US day to day, but we travel for department & company off-sites and retreats.

This listing is sourced directly from Smalls's careers page and normalized into a canonical job model.