We are looking for a self-motivated generalist with a passion for creating visual concepts and a fresh eye for clean design. We are searching for someone who will thrive in our interdisciplinary and collaborative environment and wants to take ownership of their contribution to our organization – to work with us to heighten our capacity to convey key messages and decide the best way to create, design and communicate through visuals. You will be working alongside our community and engineering consultants on project teams, be an integrated member of our company communications and marketing team, and play a role on our internal teams to provide visual communications support throughout our organization.

As an interdisciplinary consulting firm we deliver work for a variety of audiences on a diversity of subjects and issues. We work with all levels of government, First Nations, commercial and residential land developers, and the natural resource sector. Our work ranges from civil engineering and GIS, community and regional planning, community and economic development, communications and engagement, landscape architecture, management and governance, and environment and energy – all in service of our higher calling of ‘spirit in service for vibrant communities’.

Key Responsibilities

• Build our storytelling capacity to support our work with clients and throughout our organization through visual communications.
• Conceive and design visual concepts to best convey messages to their intended audiences while being aligned with project team and client expectations, vision and overall deliverables.
• Responsible for creating digital assets such as creative content for website, social media graphics and infographics.
• Design page layouts for brochures, reports, newsletters, presentations, conference material and other items for print or electronic publication.
• Position text and art elements in a visually appealing way using knowledge of styles, size and layout patterns.
• Create special effects such as vignettes, mosaics, and image combining, and add elements such as sound and animation to electronic publications.
• Many of our clients need to be able to make revisions to the final products we deliver and for many this is done in Word – we need someone who can leverage their design skills through multiple software platforms to deliver what our clients need.
• Be a multi-team player – we are a networked organization with teams that cross disciplines and geographic locations. You will need to leverage your relationship building skills to work with various technical experts, project leaders, and project coordinators in the fields of engineering and community planning to deliver work to our clients as well as with teams across our branches to deliver projects to an internal audience.
• Be an integrated member of our communications and marketing team to help build our brand story and design graphics that are consistent with visual and brand standards.
• The ability to edit or write will be considered an asset.

About You

To do this job well you’ll need:

• 2+ years of experience in a professional office environment
• Completion of post-secondary education with a focus on graphic design and communications
• Consultative approach to design and demonstrated maturity in relationship development and decision making ability
• Technically proficient – highly competent and experienced with various media and software including InDesign, Photoshop, Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and Illustrator
• Creative and innovative thinker who can develop fresh graphic ideas – you can take a mass of information, distill the key messages and represent this visually
• A self-starter with good business sense who can work independently but in a collaborative environment – you have proven abilities to manage multiple projects with competing deadlines in a fast paced environment while taking direction and welcoming feedback throughout the design process
• Strong understanding of audience and ability to listen to clients and understand their needs before making design decisions or crafting visual designs that represent our client’s concepts, vision, and goals

About Us

Recognized as one of Canada’s top employers, Urban Systems is an employee-owned inter-disciplinary consulting firm based in Western Canada. In business since 1975, we have four decades of experience working with a variety of clients including all levels of government, First Nations, commercial and residential land developers, and the natural resource sector. Our team of over 400 people, across 12 offices, is committed to helping build vibrant communities of all sizes, both large and small.

Our Commitment to You

At Urban Systems we make significant investments in our people, which is why we take great care to hire those who we believe will thrive in Urban Systems over the long term. We’ve become recognized as a workplace of choice by nurturing a unique corporate culture that sets us apart and provides:

• Challenging and interesting project opportunities
• A fun workplace, where hard work accomplishes great things
• The opportunity to work with industry leading professionals in a collaborative environment
• Ongoing career development and learning
• Meaningful rewards and recognition

Deadline for applications: Friday, February 17, 2017.