Senior Packaging Designer – Contract (Beauty)

Position Overview

A fast-growing consumer brand in the cosmetics and personal care industry is seeking a Freelance Senior Packaging Designer to lead innovative, trend-driven packaging across multiple product lines. This role combines hands-on design, technical packaging expertise, and cross-functional collaboration to create disruptive, cost-efficient solutions that connect with Gen Z and Gen Alpha while meeting sustainability, manufacturing, and business requirements.

Responsibilities

• Concept, design, and refine primary and secondary packaging that is visually distinctive, technically precise, and on-brand.
• Develop cost-conscious packaging that balances aesthetics, performance, manufacturability, and margin needs.
• Translate briefs into detailed concepts, dielines, mockups, and production-ready files.
• Use deep knowledge of beauty and pop culture trends to create “thumb-stopping” packaging, kits, collaborations, and social-first moments.
• Apply strong typography, layout, and hierarchy to ensure packaging is both highly branded and easy to shop in-store and online.
• Partner with Packaging Development, Product, Operations, and Creative to solve design and engineering challenges.
• Collaborate with suppliers and manufacturers to validate feasibility, troubleshoot, and optimize for mass production.
• Inform material choices, finishes, and construction with understanding of plastics, glass molding, and component manufacturing.
• Leverage various printing methods (offset, flexo, screen, hot stamp, specialty coatings) for high-impact visuals.
• Identify productivity opportunities through material optimization, component harmonization, and design efficiencies.
• Advance sustainability by recommending lower-impact materials, fewer components, PCR use, and recyclable/refillable solutions.
• Maintain consistency across lines and markets by aligning with internal packaging systems and design principles.
• Prepare clear specs, mockups, and presentation decks for reviews and leadership approvals.
• Contribute to a collaborative, growth-minded culture; share best practices and mentor junior designers.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design, Industrial Design, Packaging Design, or related field.
• 7+ years of professional experience in a high-volume, deadline-driven environment (beauty, fashion, technology, or similar preferred).
• Portfolio showcasing packaging for beauty
• Experience partnering with digital, e-commerce, and/or marketing teams to ensure packaging translates online.
• Comfort in a highly collaborative, cross-functional, iterative environment.
• Up-to-date on fashion, beauty, design, and digital trends, with a clear point of view on what’s next.
• Extensive packaging design experience within beauty, fashion, lifestyle, or similar consumer categories.
• Proven ability to design for Gen Z and Gen Alpha, with strong grasp of digital culture and visual trends.