Art Director

Job Description

Seven Seas Entertainment is seeking an experienced Art Director to oversee the visual direction and quality of our publishing program. This position will provide creative direction for book covers, logos, interior design, and marketing materials while mentoring both in-house and freelance designers. 

The ideal candidate will possess exceptional graphic design, typography, branding, and visual communication skills, along with significant experience in creative direction, design leadership, and providing constructive feedback. Rather than serving primarily as a designer, the Art Director will establish visual standards, mentor and develop designers, review creative work, and help maintain and strengthen the visual identity of Seven Seas Entertainment and its publishing imprints while ensuring consistency and quality across all visual aspects of our publishing program.

The successful candidate must be capable of working remotely during North American business hours and possess excellent written communication, organizational, and project management skills.

Duties & Responsibilities include:

• Provide creative direction and final design review for book covers, logos, interior layouts, promotional materials, advertisements, and other visual assets.
• Establish, document, and maintain company-wide visual standards, branding guidelines, templates, and best practices, working collaboratively with Editorial, Production, Marketing, and Management.
• Mentor and train in-house and freelance designers, providing hands-on guidance to strengthen both technical and creative skills.
• Provide clear, constructive design feedback that helps designers understand both the “what” and the “why” behind revisions, improving typography, branding, composition, color, and overall visual presentation.
• Review covers, logos, interior layouts, and other design elements throughout development to identify potential issues early, provide creative direction, and guide projects toward successful final execution.
• Lead the development of English-language logos and branding for new series while maintaining visual consistency across ongoing series, company imprints, and established brands.
• Work collaboratively with Editorial, Production, Marketing, Licensing, and Management to develop visually compelling products that meet creative, production, and scheduling requirements.
• For select books, review design files at key stages throughout production, providing creative direction and approvals to ensure visual standards are met before projects advance through the production pipeline. ****
• Help hire, onboard, mentor, and evaluate production staff, designers, artists, and freelance creative personnel.
• Effectively work in a unionized environment where you will be part of the Management team and required to adhere to a Collective Bargaining Agreement’s provisions affecting staff terms and conditions of employment.
• Ensure polite and consistent communication with staff, contractors, freelancers, artists, designers, licensors, and other business partners via Slack channels/direct messages and email.
• Stay informed on current publishing, graphic design, typography, retail merchandising, and production trends to help maintain Seven Seas’ high standards of visual quality and market competitiveness.
• Additional art direction, branding, design, and production-related duties as needed.

Requirements/Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design, Visual Communications, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
• Five or more years of professional graphic design experience required, preferably in book publishing, with experience working on Japanese manga, English-language comics, graphic novels, illustrated books, or prose publications.
• Two or more years of managerial or mentoring experience required.
• Exceptional portfolio demonstrating strong typography, branding, logo design, and publication design.
• Advanced proficiency with Adobe Creative Cloud, including Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign.
• Excellent understanding of print production and prepress requirements.
• Strong organizational, communication, and project management skills.
• Ability to manage multiple concurrent projects while maintaining exceptional attention to detail.
• Experience working remotely and collaborating effectively through Slack, email, and/or other online project management systems.
• A passion for manga, comics, anime, gaming, or related pop culture media is ideal.
• Must be comfortable working on titles that feature fan service, sexual situations, or other adult content (such as the type found in our Ghost Ship line aimed at mature male readers and our Steamship line aimed at older female fans).

Starting Pay: $75,000 a year.

How to Apply:

Send an email to jobs@gomanga.com introducing yourself with a copy of your resume and information about your relevant publishing industry experience. Please list your location and include links to your portfolio or samples of your previous design work.