Graphic Designer – Visual Storytelling & Presentation

Description

At 1898 & Co., part of Burns & McDonnell, our marketing and communications teams support strategic growth initiatives across all market sectors. We partner closely with internal teams to develop clear, compelling visual communications that strengthen our brand, support business development pursuits, and help clients understand complex ideas.

We’re seeking a Graphic Designer who can translate complex technical input into a clear, client-ready story. In this role, you’ll collaborate with pursuit leads and technical consultants to identify the most important messages, shape the narrative, and visually communicate the “so what” in a way that supports informed decision-making.

A significant portion of the work is hands‑on production, building presentation and proposal content within established templates and brand standards, often under tight deadlines. Success in this role is defined by strong story flow, clear takeaways, and visually cohesive materials that feel intentional from first slide to last, supporting marketing, public relations, and sales efforts across digital and print deliverables.

• Lead focused working sessions with technical consultants to extract key messages, define the client takeaway, and simplify complex technical content.
• Recommend how content should be presented to clients (e.g., framework slide, maturity model, roadmap, process flow, architecture diagram, timeline).
• Create visual storyboards for critical sections (problem → implications → approach → value → proof) and iterate with pursuit leads and proposal managers.
• Provide multiple visual approaches when content is ambiguous and advise on the most client‑friendly and persuasive option.
• Proactively identify when content is overly detailed, unclear, or misaligned to client priorities and recommend concise alternatives.
• Apply design thinking principles to translate complex ideas, RFx requirements, and branding standards into effective visual narratives.

• Create polished, professional proposal and presentation designs using PowerPoint and the Adobe Creative Suite.
• Build and refresh PowerPoint decks for pursuits, conferences, and client presentations, working primarily within established templates and master slides.
• Produce proposal visuals including infographics, tables, callout boxes, diagrams, section openers, and custom covers that reinforce win themes.
• Produce proposal content in InDesign, including layout, styles, and print‑ready and digital‑ready exports.
• Conceive and design graphics that adhere to client requirements, regulatory constraints, and brand standards.
• Demonstrate quick turnaround on proposal designs while maintaining a high standard of quality and visual consistency.
• Maintain and evolve a reusable slide library, icon set, and visual components to accelerate future pursuits.

• Read and interpret RFx documents (RFP, RFQ, etc.) to understand project requirements, scope, evaluation criteria, and compliance constraints.
• Ensure proposal visuals comply with RFx requirements, client standards, and internal brand guidelines.
• Partner closely with the Marketing and Proposal Management teams throughout the proposal lifecycle.
• Attend required meetings to support branding, presentation, and proposal development needs.
• Manage version control, QA, and final visual outputs across multiple stakeholders under tight deadlines.
• Organize, govern, and maintain graphic files in accordance with proposal and graphics processes.
• Maintain exceptional attention to detail to minimize rework due to spelling errors, layout issues, or formatting inconsistencies.

• Demonstrated experience in visual translation, narrative shaping, executive‑friendly storytelling, fast production, and high attention to detail.
• Ability to transform complex ideas into clear, visually compelling graphics.
• Portfolio demonstrating professional graphic design.
• Advanced PowerPoint skills (masters, layouts, section systems, typography, information hierarchy, light animation/motion where appropriate).
• Proficiency in Adobe InDesign and…