Sierra Club

Brand Designer, System

Sierra Club$90K — $130K *
Consumer Technology
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 8+ years of brand design experience, focusing on design systems and visual identity.
  • Demonstrated ability in creating scalable design systems and token architectures.
  • Exceptional attention to detail across all design elements.
  • Strong documentation skills for clear and actionable brand guidelines.
  • Experience in cross-functional collaboration with marketing and engineering teams.
  • Proficient in Figma and Adobe Suite with knowledge of design tokens and motion design.
  • Hands-on experience with AI tools to enhance design output.

Responsibilities

  • Own and evolve the Sierra Brand Design System.
  • Define standards for visual language across various contexts.
  • Author and refine actionable Brand Guidelines for internal and external stakeholders.
  • Partner with cross-functional teams to implement brand consistency in workflows.
  • Contribute to the evolution of the Sierra visual identity.
  • Leverage AI tools to streamline design asset production.
  • Establish quality control processes for AI-generated outputs.

Benefits

  • Unlimited flexible paid time off
  • Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision benefits
  • Life insurance and disability coverage
  • Retirement plans based on country of employment
  • Parental leave policies
  • Fertility and family building benefits
  • Complimentary lunch and snacks
  • Discretionary benefit stipend for personal use
  • Unique opportunity for free alphorn lessons
Full Job Description
About The Role:

We're looking for a Brand Designer to own and evolve the Sierra design system and brand guidelines. This is a foundational, systems-oriented role - equal parts strategic and hands-on. You'll work at the intersection of brand thinking and design infrastructure, setting the standards that enable every team at Sierra to express the brand consistently and beautifully at scale.

This role is ideal for someone who thinks in systems, sweats the details, and understands that great brand design is both an art and an engineering discipline. You'll partner closely with marketing, product design, and cross-functional creative partners to ensure the Sierra brand is coherent, scalable, and unmistakably itself.

What You'll Do:

Own the Sierra Brand Design System
  • Build, maintain, and evolve a comprehensive, living design system - covering typography, color, iconography, spacing, motion, and component patterns.
  • Create and steward a scalable token architecture that bridges brand and product, enabling consistent application across digital and physical touchpoints.
  • Define and document standards for how the Sierra visual language adapts across contexts: web, presentations, events, social, and print.

Define and Maintain Brand Guidelines
  • Author and continuously refine the Sierra Brand Guidelines - a clear, practical, and inspiring resource for internal teams and external partners alike.
  • Establish usage rules, rationale, and best-practice examples for all brand elements, ensuring guidelines are actionable rather than merely aspirational.
  • Develop toolkits and templates that allow non-designers to apply the brand correctly without sacrificing quality.

Enable Cross-Functional Brand Consistency
  • Partner with marketing, product design, and engineering to embed brand system thinking into workflows and tooling (Figma libraries, design tokens, CMS templates).
  • Serve as the brand systems expert and primary reviewer for design output across teams - flagging inconsistencies and coaching collaborators toward higher craft.
  • Lead brand onboarding for new team members and external agency partners, ensuring fluency from day one.

Drive Brand Strategy and Innovation
  • Contribute to the strategic evolution of the Sierra visual identity - anticipating where the brand needs to grow as the company scales.
  • Audit existing brand expressions regularly, identifying gaps, inconsistencies, and opportunities for refinement.
  • Collaborate with lead designers to push the brand narrative forward, bringing first-principles thinking to how Sierra looks, feels, and communicates.

Scale Design with AI - Without Losing Quality
  • Leverage AI-powered design tools (e.g. generative image platforms, AI layout assistants, automated template engines) to dramatically increase the volume and speed of on-brand asset production.
  • Build smart, AI-ready template systems - structured so that AI-generated outputs snap into brand guardrails by default, minimizing manual correction downstream.
  • Design and own a quality control process for AI-assisted outputs: defining review checkpoints, acceptance criteria, and feedback loops that catch brand drift before it ships.
  • Stay at the frontier of AI tooling in design - continuously evaluating new capabilities and integrating those that meaningfully raise team output without compromising craft.
  • Partner with marketing and creative operations to establish scalable workflows where AI handles repetitive production work, freeing designers to focus on higher-order creative decisions.


What You'll Bring:
  • Proven Experience:8+ years of brand design experience with a strong focus on design systems, brand guidelines, and visual identity. Portfolio demonstrating the ability to build and scale cohesive brand systems for B2B, SaaS, or AI-driven products.
  • Systems Thinking: Demonstrated ability to create structured, scalable design systems - including token architecture, component libraries, and multi-platform guidelines. You think holistically about how design decisions compound and interact.
  • Exceptional Craft: High attention to detail across typography, color, layout, and motion. You hold a high bar for yourself and can articulate why craft decisions matter.
  • Documentation Fluency: Strong ability to write clear, well-structured brand guidelines and system documentation - making complex decisions legible and actionable for diverse audiences.
  • Cross-Functional Collaboration: Skilled at working closely with marketing, product design, and engineering - translating strategic intent into practical system components that teams can actually use.
  • Tooling Expertise: Deep proficiency in Figma (libraries, variables, auto layout, component architecture) and the Adobe Suite. Familiarity with design token workflows, web-based delivery, and motion design a strong plus.
  • AI Fluency for Scale: Hands-on experience using AI tools - generative design platforms, automated template systems, AI-assisted image and copy generation - to scale brand output without sacrificing quality. You know how to build the guardrails that keep AI-generated work on-brand, and you approach these tools with both curiosity and critical judgment.
  • Quality Control Rigor: Demonstrated ability to design and run QA processes for high-volume design output - defining brand acceptance criteria, building review workflows, and creating feedback loops that catch inconsistencies at scale.
  • Builder Mindset: Self-starter who takes ownership, moves with urgency, and thrives in ambiguous, fast-moving environments. You see brand infrastructure as a competitive advantage.
What we offer

We want our benefits to reflect our values and offer the following to full-time employees:
  • Flexible (unlimited) paid time off
  • Medical, dental, and vision benefits for you and your family
  • Life insurance and disability benefits
  • Retirement plan dependent on country of employment
  • Parental leave
  • Fertility and family building benefits through Carrot
  • Lunch, as well as delicious snacks and coffee to keep you energized
  • Discretionary benefit stipend giving people the ability to spend where it matters most
  • Free alphorn lessons

These benefits are further detailed in Sierra's policies, may vary by region, and are subject to change at any time, consistent with the terms of any applicable compensation or benefits plans. Eligible full-time employees can participate in Sierra's equity plans subject to the terms of the applicable plans and policies.

About Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is a nonprofit organization that promotes environmental conservation. It was founded in 1892 by John Muir and is one of the oldest and largest environmental organizations in the United States. The organization has over 3.8 million members and supporters and is dedicated to protecting the planet's natural resources and wildlife. The Sierra Club engages in a variety of activities, including lobbying for environmental legislation, organizing outdoor activities, and publishing a magazine. The organization is headquartered in Oakland, California.
Learn more about Sierra Club
Size
800 employees
Industry
Founded
1892

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