Description

About AAM: The American Alliance of Museums (AAM) supports all museums across the United States, including aquariums, zoos, historic sites, parks, and gardens. Serving over 30,000 members including museums, museum professionals, and companies that support the sector, the Alliance is the largest national museum organization in the U.S. AAM serves its membership and the museum community through four pillar programs: Learning, Building and Connecting our Community, Advocacy, and Practice Management. With an annual operating budget of $10M with 35 staff members, we are a 501(c)3 nonprofit headquartered in Arlington, VA and an equal opportunity employer.

The Opportunity

The Graphic Designer (“Designer”) is responsible for developing visually compelling, on-brand design solutions for AAM. This is a newly created role at AAM, combining creative design expertise with technical proficiency to support AAM’s multi-platform marketing and communications, including designs that showcase AAM’s campaigns, events, thought leadership, and initiatives. Working both independently and collaboratively, the Designer will translate business objectives into impactful visuals to help position AAM as a trusted organization for our members and stakeholders.

The Designer will work within AAM’s Marketing & Digital Experience team, collaboratively across AAM’s departments, and occasionally with external vendors. They will bring both creative vision and technical expertise to projects that strengthen AAM’s brand presence and drive organizational objectives. The Designer contributes to the overall digital strategy through innovative visual solutions that enhance AAM’s audience experience, and stays current with design trends and emerging technologies. 

Responsibilities

Full Cycle – Creative Conceptualization and Production
-       For AAM’s key events - working ahead to meet cross-departmental and marketing operational deadlines, supporting the ideation, presentation, and revision of new concepts either annually or biannually: 

o   Museums Advocacy Day (in February each year)

o   AAM’s virtual Summit (in the Fall each year) 

o   Annual Meeting (in May each year; the Designer would support this in 2027) – may work with a vendor for concepting

o   After concepting, completing all asset production for each event in sprints

-       Ongoing creative for AAM’s time-based Programs and Initiatives as needed. In 2026, we anticipate that full cycle creative concepting will include deliverables for the new launch of new Learning Programs and some pre- and post- production support for launch of AAM’s newly redesigned website (in progress). 

Marketing Design Production
-       Create and periodically refine marketing templates and assets using Adobe Creative Cloud and Canva to support cross-departmental collaboration.

-       With production management support from senior members of the Marketing team, the Designer will be responsible for executing the layout and production of the following special projects in InDesign: 

o   Exhibition Journal – twice per year 

o   Museum Magazine – six times per year

o   Annual reports: AAM Impact Report and Museum Field Snapshot Report

o   Up to 1-2 similar projects per year

Processes and Systems
-       Maintain organized file systems for collaboration and recommend process improvements to enhance marketing production efficiency.

-       As needed, intake and edit photos from AAM’s DAM and process in Adobe PSD/Bridge for creative projects.

-       Maintain brand standards in all deliverables. With others on Marketing team, act as a key subject matter expert for general design and AAM’s brand by providing expert review and feedback of designed material. 

-       Stays current on accessibility standards (WCAG and Section 508) and integrates accessible and inclusive design principles into all creative projects.

Requirements

Qualifications
-       Minimum of 4 years of full-time design experience for a company, organization, or creative agency. Part-time or freelance work may be used as a partial substitute to demonstrate the equivalent of 4 years of full-time work experience.

-       Bachelor’s degree in Design, Design Communications, or Fine Arts (with a focus on Digital Arts/Media Production) or in a related field, or a substitute of the additional equivalent demonstrated work experience/professional development. 

-       Deep understanding of design concepts and digital/print production workflows, including specifications, image optimization, and export requirements.

-       Demonstrated experience implementing identity and brand guidelines to create designs for campaigns, print production, and a variety of digital platforms. 

-       Ability to manage multiple priorities and design projects from concept to completion, meeting key deadlines and milestones with strong attention to detail and collaboration.

-       Expert use of Adobe Creative Cloud, specifically Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop. 

-       High proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite. AAM is completing a transition to Sharepoint and One Drive for file management.

-       Experience with or willingness to quickly learn Canva implementation of templated or shareable designs for team collaboration.

-       Excellent organizational and problem-solving skills. 

-       Communicate effectively with marketing and non-marketing staff.

-       Basic familiarity with HTML for email/web.

-       Strong experience with Asana or similar project management tools. 

Preferred Qualifications
We recognize that few candidates have all or most of these additional qualifications. Possessing some will be considered a plus: 

      5+ years of relevant experience.

      Additional certifications in design or digital media production.

      For creative design projects, experience with file management in Adobe Bridge, libraries management, and experience integrating creative work with DAMs (such as Canto) is strongly preferred. 

      Familiarity with InCopy to collaborate with publication managers and editors. 

      Animation skills, such as with After Effects.

      Proficiency in video editing, such as with Premiere Pro, CapCut, etc.

      Data visualization, such as with Tableau, Datawrapper, Adobe Illustrator, etc.

      Advanced knowledge of HTML for email/web.

      Familiarity or some experience with user experience design.

      Commitment to the AAM’s mission and values as a national membership organization and advocate for the museum field.

Salary: Starts at $85,000

Applying: Interested Candidates should submit materials to hr@aam-us.org with the subject line: Graphic Designer. Include: 

-       Resume (specify experience as full time, part time, or freelance—with hours worked on each)

-       Creative portfolio 

-       Cover letter OR brief statement of interest for working at AAM

Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply for jobs unless they meet every single qualification. AAM values a diverse and inclusive workplace, so if you are excited about this role but your experience doesn’t align perfectly with all of the qualifications, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other opportunities.

For more information about benefits and on working at AAM, please visit: 
www.aam-us.org/employment-opportunities