Senior Graphic Designer & Photoshop Artist

Senior Graphic Designer & Photoshop Artist

We are looking for a high-level Senior Graphic Designer and Photoshop Artist with exceptional creative ability, advanced photo-editing skills, and a strong understanding of professional visual design.

This is not an entry-level position and is not a role for someone who primarily relies on Canva templates, pre-made designs, or AI-generated artwork.

We are looking for someone who can start with raw photographs, brand assets, logos, text, and a creative direction and build a polished, professional finished design from scratch using Adobe Photoshop and other professional Adobe tools.

You should be equally comfortable creating a completely new design as you are taking an existing image and transforming it into something dramatically better.

What You'll Be Creating

Projects may include:

• Website graphics
• Blog featured images
• Social media graphics
• Advertising graphics
• Promotional materials
• Event graphics
• Digital advertisements
• Flyers
• Posters
• Sales materials
• Service graphics
• Photo composites
• Before-and-after graphics
• Website banners and hero images
• Branded marketing materials
• YouTube thumbnails
• Presentation graphics
• Print-ready marketing materials

The work will vary significantly, so we need someone who can think creatively rather than simply follow templates.

Advanced Photoshop Skills Are Required

Photoshop will be a major part of this position.

You should have advanced experience with:

• Professional photo retouching
• Skin retouching while maintaining natural texture
• Color correction
• Color grading
• Exposure correction
• Object removal
• Background removal
• Background replacement
• Hair masking and detailed selections
• Layer masks
• Adjustment layers
• Smart Objects
• Blend modes
• Advanced selections
• Perspective correction
• Image reconstruction
• Compositing multiple photographs
• Matching lighting between multiple images
• Matching color between multiple photographs
• Creating realistic shadows
• Creating realistic reflections
• Cleaning distracting elements from photographs
• Extending or rebuilding backgrounds
• Product and equipment retouching
• Creating depth and separation within compositions
• Preparing graphics for web and print
• Non-destructive Photoshop workflows

You should be capable of combining several completely different photographs into one image and making the final composition look intentional and believable.

Photo Compositing

A major part of this position involves taking existing photography and turning it into professional marketing imagery.

For example, you may be provided:

• A photograph of a person
• A photograph of an event
• A photograph of equipment
• A venue photograph
• Logos
• Brand assets
• Text
• Multiple reference images

You may then need to combine those elements into one cohesive advertisement or marketing graphic.

We need someone who understands:

• Light direction
• Perspective
• Scale
• Depth
• Shadows
• Highlights
• Color temperature
• Image resolution
• Composition

The finished graphic should not look like several photographs pasted together.

It should look like one professionally created image.

Graphic Design Skills

Beyond Photoshop ability, you must have a strong understanding of professional graphic design.

You should understand:

• Visual hierarchy
• Typography
• Font pairing
• Spacing
• Alignment
• Composition
• Negative space
• Contrast
• Balance
• Brand consistency
• Color theory
• Layout
• Advertising design
• Marketing design
• Designing for different aspect ratios
• Designing for mobile versus desktop
• Creating graphics that communicate quickly and clearly

We are looking for someone who understands the difference between something that is simply technically correct and something that actually looks great.

Creative Direction

We do not want to provide exact instructions for every design.

Sometimes you may receive a project that simply says:

"We need a graphic promoting this service. Here are the photos, logo, and information."

You should be able to determine:

• What photographs should be used
• Which photographs should not be used
• How the composition should be structured
• Where the viewer's eye should go first
• What information should be emphasized
• How much text should appear
• What typography works best
• How the brand should be represented
• Whether the design needs to feel luxury, energetic, corporate, modern, dramatic, clean, etc.

A senior designer should be able to bring creative ideas to the project rather than waiting for every creative decision to be made for them.

Adobe Creative Suite

Advanced Photoshop experience is mandatory.

Experience with the following is also highly preferred:

• Adobe Illustrator
• Adobe InDesign
• Adobe Lightroom
• Adobe Acrobat
• Adobe Bridge

Illustrator experience is particularly valuable for:

• Vector graphics
• Logo manipulation
• Icons
• Typography
• Print graphics
• Scalable design elements

No AI-Generated Design

We are specifically looking for traditional professional design and photo-editing skills.

Generative AI should not be used to create finished artwork, photographs, backgrounds, people, equipment, or design elements for our projects unless specifically authorized.

We want someone who understands how to actually use Photoshop.

You should be capable of performing professional:

• Selections
• Masking
• Retouching
• Compositing
• Color correction
• Background replacement
• Image manipulation
• Typography
• Layout

without depending on AI to create the work for you.

Our goal is to maintain control over the quality, accuracy, branding, and authenticity of our imagery.

Senior-Level Expectations

Because this is a senior position, you should be able to:

• Take ownership of projects.
• Work from limited creative direction.
• Develop multiple strong concepts when needed.
• Explain why you made specific design decisions.
• Recognize when an image or concept isn't working.
• Maintain consistency across an entire brand.
• Work quickly without sacrificing quality.
• Organize Photoshop files professionally.
• Maintain clean layers and editable source files.
• Follow established naming and file-management systems.
• Prepare files correctly for web, social media, and print.
• Review your own work before submitting it.
• Catch spelling, alignment, resolution, and formatting problems.
• Receive creative feedback professionally and make revisions efficiently.

Required Qualifications

Candidates should have:

• 5+ years of professional graphic design experience preferred.
• Advanced Adobe Photoshop skills.
• Strong professional portfolio.
• Extensive photo-editing experience.
• Extensive photo-compositing experience.
• Strong typography and layout skills.
• Understanding of professional branding.
• Experience creating marketing and advertising graphics.
• Understanding of print and digital design.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• Strong creative judgment.
• Ability to work independently.
• Ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines.
• Ability to follow established brand standards.

What We're NOT Looking For

This position is probably not the right fit if your primary experience is:

• Canva templates
• AI image generation
• AI-generated advertisements
• Template-based social media design
• Basic Photoshop editing
• Simple background removal
• Drag-and-drop graphic creation

Those tools have their place, but this position requires someone with professional-level Photoshop and graphic-design skills.

We need someone who can actually build, edit, manipulate, and refine the artwork.

Portfolio Requirements

A portfolio is required.

Your portfolio should demonstrate actual professional design work and preferably include:

• Photo composites
• Before-and-after photo editing
• Advertising graphics
• Marketing graphics
• Website graphics
• Social media campaigns
• Event or entertainment graphics
• Professional retouching
• Typography-focused designs
• Photoshop-heavy projects

We are particularly interested in seeing projects where you took multiple source photographs or assets and created an entirely new finished composition.

When Applying

Please provide:

• A link to your portfolio.
• How many years you have worked professionally as a graphic designer.
• Your level of Photoshop experience.
• The Adobe programs you regularly use.
• Examples of your strongest Photoshop compositing work.
• Examples of professional photo retouching.
• Examples of marketing or advertising designs.
• Your normal turnaround time for design projects.
• Whether you work hourly, per project, or on a recurring monthly basis.
• Your availability.

Please also tell us which three projects in your portfolio best demonstrate your Photoshop ability and briefly explain what you personally did to create each image.

Potential Skills Test

Final candidates may be given a paid design test using photographs and assets supplied by us.

The purpose of the test is not simply to see whether you can use Photoshop. We want to evaluate your:

• Creativity
• Composition
• Photo-editing ability
• Attention to detail
• Typography
• Ability to follow a brand
• Ability to interpret creative direction
• Layer organization
• Overall professional judgment

We're looking for a designer whose work makes someone stop and say:

"That looks professionally done."

If you are a highly experienced designer who genuinely enjoys Photoshop, photo manipulation, compositing, and creating polished visual marketing materials from scratch, we'd like to see your work.