Manager, Brand Design Excellence

Manager, Brand Design Excellence

What we do

At Kenvue, we realize the extraordinary power of everyday care. Built on over a century of heritage and rooted in science, we’re the house of iconic brands - including NEUTROGENA®, AVEENO®, TYLENOL®, LISTERINE®, JOHNSON’S® and BAND-AID® that you already know and love. Science is our passion; care is our talent.

Who We Are

Our global team is ~ 22,000 brilliant people with a workplace culture where every voice matters, and every contribution is appreciated.  We are passionate about insights, innovation and committed to delivering the best products to our customers. With expertise and empathy, being a Kenvuer means having the power to impact millions of people every day. We put people first, care fiercely, earn trust with science and solve with courage – and have brilliant opportunities waiting for you! Join us in shaping our future–and yours. For more information, click here.

Role reports to:

Head of Design

Location:

North America, United States, New Jersey, Summit

Work Location:

Hybrid

What you will do

The Manager, Brand Design Excellence is a holistic, solutions-focused design leader who translates enterprise and brand strategy into clear guidance, systems, and tools that drive end-to-end, high-performing brand experiences with consumer and enterprise impact.

This role operationalizes Brand Design Excellence Strategy across multiple brands and markets, with specific ownership of the Kenvue Corporate Brand system, ensuring it enables enterprise storytelling while protecting the distinctiveness of product brands.

Operating with a high degree of independent judgment, this leader tackles multi-dimensional, highly complex brand system challenges, influences senior cross-functional partners, and serves as a design subject-matter expert across global/regional brand, communications, and agency ecosystems.

Scope & Impact

• Operationalizes brand design excellence and system strategy leading design in Brand World development across consumer brands and enhancing brand portal experience to drive business impact

• Oversees multiple brands and enterprise touchpoints across 3+ markets

• Leads work that spans experience innovation, governance, adoption, and scalability

• Drives consistency, speed-to-market, and quality across global and regional teams

Key Responsibilities

Enterprise Brand Excellence & Systems

• Shape and steward the enterprise definition of Brand Design Excellence, translating strategy into principles, systems, and governance that scale.

• Own and evolve the Corporate Brand identity system, covering corporate communications, investor relations, employer brand, and enterprise initiatives.

• Ensure the Corporate Brand system complements and coexists with consumer brands without diluting their equity.

• Advise and influence brand design leads as they develop brand-specific systems (visual identity, packaging architecture, tone of voice) aligned to enterprise standards.

• Define and scale approach and process to developing brand worlds and instituting best-practices for Design Center of Excellence

Governance & Ways of Working

• Define and lead design governance frameworks (decision rights, review models, escalation paths) for corporate brand work.

• Establish and continuously improve standards, templates, and toolkits that enable design excellence and innovation

• Partner with Design Ops to evolve and document workflows that streamline collaboration across Marketing, Communications, R&D/Packaging, Insights, and regions.

• Ensure consistent enterprise adoption through clear guidance, education, and accountability.

Agency & External Leadership

• Act as a primary senior design counterpart for agencies working on corporate brand and enterprise initiatives.

• Oversee and direct agencies, contractors, and partners—setting clear goals, shaping briefs, and ensuring high-quality, feasible outputs.

• Advise on brand worlds and system elements before activation across creative, content, media, commerce, and production.

• Hold partners accountable to defined standards of excellence, grounded in strategy and systems.

Cross-Functional & Enterprise Influence

• Serve as design subject-matter expert within enterprise brand, corporate affairs, and global governance forums.

• Collaborate with Global Brand Leads, Consumer Insights, Marketing, Communications, and HR to embed brand excellence early and upstream.

• Translate design and system strategy into executive-ready narratives that articulate business value.

• Influence enterprise decisions related to brand architecture, portfolio coherence, and transformation initiatives.

Measurement, Optimization & Scale

• Define KPIs for system adoption, consistency, speed-to-market, and quality of execution and facilitate share outs with leadership

• Partner with Design Ops to track performance, surface insights, and drive continuous improvement.

• Use market feedback and agency learnings to evolve systems and raise the bar on brand quality globally.

 

People Leadership, Coaching & Capability Building

• Lead and mentor design managers and/or senior designers, directly or indirectly, across brand portfolios.

• Coach teams on:

  • Building scalable brand systems

  • Applying portfolio and brand architecture principles

  • Translating insight into repeatable design expression

  • Influencing cross-functional stakeholders through strong storytelling

• Foster a culture of creativity, rigor, and adaptability.

What we are looking for

Required Qualifications

• A minimum of a Bachelor's degree (or equivalent) in Design, Marketing, Graphic Design, Visual Arts, or a related field

• A minimum of 5-10+ years of progressive experience in brand design with demonstrated leadership in managing creative teams and projects.

• Excellent communication and presentation skills to effectively articulate design concepts and influence stakeholders, particularly at the executive level

• 3+ years of people leadership, including coaching and giving constructive feedback

• Demonstrated ability to lead and inspire internal and external teams

• Experience translating brand strategies into holistic, scalable solutions

• Proficiency in Figma, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign

• Experience working within a matrixed organization

Desired Qualifications

• Strong strategic thinking and project management skills with the ability to prioritize and manage multiple initiatives simultaneously.

• Up-to-date knowledge of industry trends, competitive landscape, and emerging technologies in brand design and marketing.

• A visionary mindset with the agility to adapt to evolving market trends and drive continuous brand evolution.

• Passion for Design, innovation, and elevation brand experience

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What’s in it for you

$124,100.00 - $175,200.00

This takes into account a number of factors including work location, the candidate’s skills, experience, education level & other job-related factors.

Kenvue is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment based on merit without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.