Associate Designer

Position Summary

The Design team at Pinkston crafts impactful and engaging visuals across a variety of industries, tackling challenges and delivering creative solutions for clients. As an Associate Designer, you will support the design team in producing high-quality visual content that aligns with our clients’ goals and enhances their storytelling. This entry-level role offers the opportunity to grow as a designer while collaborating with senior team members on diverse projects, ranging from digital assets to print materials. If you’re a motivated self-starter with a keen eye for design and a passion for learning, this position will allow you to develop your skills and make a meaningful contribution to Pinkston’s creative output.

Additional Details:

• Status: Non-Exempt Hourly
• Work Location: Falls Church, Virginia
• Travel: 0%
• Reports to: Jon Aragon - Vice President of Digital, Brand & Creative

Role Responsibilities:

• Assist senior designers in creating visually compelling assets for digital and print media, such as social media graphics, blog visuals, reports, and marketing collateral.
• Support the design team in producing layouts and concepts for various projects while adhering to client brand guidelines.
• Resize, edit, and optimize graphics for different platforms and formats, ensuring high-quality deliverables.
• Organize and manage design files, ensuring assets are readily accessible and well-documented.
• Collaborate with the design team to brainstorm and refine creative concepts.
• Perform light photo editing and retouching, as needed, to support project goals.
• Stay current with design trends and tools, contributing fresh ideas to improve creative workflows.
• Assist in preparing presentation materials, mood boards, and style guides for client pitches and internal use.

Skills & Qualifications:

Required:

• 0-3 years of design experience (internships or freelance work included).
• Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite, particularly Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign.
• A portfolio showcasing design work that demonstrates creativity, attention to detail, and a grasp of design fundamentals.
• Basic understanding of design principles such as layout, typography, and color theory.
• Strong organizational and time-management skills, with the ability to juggle multiple tasks and meet deadlines.
• Willingness to learn and adapt, with a positive attitude and openness to feedback.
• Effective communication skills for collaborating with team members and presenting ideas.
• Alignment with Pinkston’s guiding principles

Preferred:

• Familiarity with tools like Figma or Sketch for digital design.
• Experience with social media content creation or advertising design.
• Knowledge of basic motion graphics or video editing tools is a plus.
• Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design, Visual Arts, or a related field (or equivalent work experience).

Who We Are

Pinkston is a strategic communications firm that builds world-changing outcomes for its clients and their communities. For more than 20 years, Pinkston has helped clients in a diverse range of industries find and refine their stories and share them with the world in unique and impactful ways. Our vision is to help our clients solve their toughest strategic challenges and make an outsized impact on their organization and the worlds they touch. 

Pinkston offers a comprehensive benefits package that includes company-sponsored health, dental, and vision plans accompanied by employer-funded life insurance, HRA, and short-term disability plan. Optional long-term disability and additional Life Insurance are also available. Pinkston provides a 401k retirement plan and contributes to each employee’s retirement annually regardless of employee participation.

At Pinkston, we believe great things happen when people come together and are committed to building a collaborative in-person work environment. Pinkston is also committed to a healthy work-life balance. We offer flexibility through an innovative hybrid work model that gives team members the opportunity to work from home 30% of the time. Pinkston provides generous holiday and vacation policies, paid parental leave, and an additional week of paid “volunteer time off” to encourage employees to invest time in a 501C non-profit of their choice.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Pinkston is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by federal, state, or local laws. This policy applies to all employment practices within our organization, including hiring, recruiting, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, leave of absence, compensation, benefits, training, and apprenticeship. Pinkston makes hiring decisions based solely on qualifications, merit, and business needs at the time.