Associate Director, Communications and Design, Harvard Innovation Labs

Job Summary

Reporting to the Director of Communications and Marketing of Harvard Innovation Labs (HIL) and in partnership with other members of our full-service marketing and communications team, the Associate Director will lead the art direction and design projects that successfully communicate the HIL brand and offerings across a variety of platforms, impact stories of HIL ventures, and tell the story of “innovation at Harvard”.

The Associate Director will apply a well-tuned design vision, contemporary expertise in visual branding across platforms and use cases, and high-quality design skills to drive the mission and goals of the HIL. This role is a leader in creating accessible, inclusive, and welcoming design collateral for informational and marketing needs across all three labs and tailored to diverse stakeholders including prospective Harvard students, student and alumni members, faculty, staff, and the greater innovation community in Boston and beyond.

In addition to supporting the HIL brand, the position also serves as an advisor to student and alumni teams on visual brand identity development and pitch deck design.

• Oversees creative strategy and art direction to support HIL marketing and communications needs across digital, print, and environmental platforms.
• Integrates AI into workflows to streamline design and marketing processes and outputs.
• Creates compelling creative concepts, visual communications, promotional launches, and campaigns for use on social media, digital and physical signage, new website, email campaigns, and print collateral.
• Assists Director with budgeting for merchandise, printing, and event production.
• Oversees creative direction of physical signage and other space improvements in collaboration with Director and key stakeholders.
• Serves as lead advocate/steward of Harvard Innovation Labs’ brand identity across platforms.
• Develops and maintains up-to-date brand guidelines and briefs colleagues and external vendors on usage and alignment.

• Leads projects to conceptualize, design, and oversee production of digital and print assets used to promote the Harvard Innovation Labs, including digital ads, social media assets, website assets, email newsletter templates, data visualization, brochures, digital and printed event promotions, branded presentation decks, merchandise, and other marketing materials.
• Leads the comprehensive visual brand development for Harvard's President's Innovation Challenge, overseeing motion graphics, event visuals, marketing materials, and cross-platform production.
• Oversees integrated marketing campaigns, including reviewing and advising on social media, video production, and email marketing assets.
• Oversees merchandise design strategy including branded merchandise such as apparel, totes, lanyards, business cards, and gift boxes.
• Identifies opportunities for website enhancements and assists with website content edits.
• Creates templates, original graphics, treated photos, and other creative visuals for social media in partnership with communications manager.
• Storyboards and creates innovative, brand-appropriate motion graphics and video content for various uses.
• Edits photos for digital and print collateral.

• Advises Harvard founders on visual brand identity development and pitch deck design.
• Manages relationships with external vendors including printers, photographers, videographers, and event production staff.
• Hires, manages, and mentors design interns from Harvard Graduate School of Design.
• Builds trust and collaboration by being present on-site and engaging directly with colleagues and various constituents.
• Responsible for other duties as assigned.

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
• 7+ years of graphic arts, digital content production, publications experience.
• Demonstrated leadership in project design and management.
• Expert proficiency in Adobe Creative Cloud (Illustrator, Photoshop, Lightroom, Premiere, InDesign), Figma, and other digital design tools.

• Dedicate…