Sr. Analyst, Activation Design Strategy

The Global Advertising and Brand Management (GABM) organization has a mission to create marketplace demand and drive commerce for American Express through differentiated and innovative products, partnerships, marketing, and customer experiences.

OnBrand – American Express’ In-House Creative agency – is on a journey of exciting expansion. Our ambition is to “Become creative partner-of-choice to build seamless customer experiences for our Business Units, essential for driving results and unlocking value through deeper knowledge of our business, powered by industry-defining creative excellence.” We are focused on developing forward-thinking ideas and work across channels, end-to-end experiences in digital and beyond.

The Brand Design Strategy team is responsible for setting the vision for how the American Express brand is expressed across the enterprise, drawing upon the brand’s strategic principles and ultimately building brand value. The team is responsible for defining the Brand Identity for American Express and partnering with a myriad of stakeholders to translate the brand across channels, products, and experiences.

The Sr. Analyst, Activation Design Strategy will report to the Sr. Manager of Activation Design Strategy and support the development and execution of design strategy for Card Member-facing brand activations across American Express sponsorships, partnerships, and premium events.

Working closely with internal American Express teams and external experiential agencies, the Sr. Analyst will support projects throughout the creative development and production process, helping ensure design direction translates into compelling, consistent, and executable brand experiences. This role will support day-to-day project needs, creative and design reviews, agency feedback documentation and coordination, while contributing to the team’s broader knowledge and tracking of emerging trends and best practices in experiential design.

The ideal candidate has a strong foundation in brand and production design, an understanding of experiential design and fabrication, and experience working with experiential agencies. They are highly organized, detail-oriented, curious, and able to connect creative design decisions with how an experience will ultimately be produced and brought to life in a physical environment.

• Brand Activation Projects
  • Support the Sr. Manager of Activation Design Strategy across assigned sponsorship, partnership, and premium event activations, helping manage day-to-day design needs and project deliverables.
  • Collaborate with internal American Express teams and external experiential agencies to optimize brand experiences, leveraging design to bring the American Express brand to life in memorable and contextually relevant ways.
  • Support the creative briefing and development process by helping translate brand strategy, design principles, creative territories, and brand mandatories into actionable guidance for agency partners.
  • Participate in creative and design reviews throughout project development, evaluating concepts, layouts, renderings, materials, signage, graphics, furniture, lighting, and other experiential elements through a brand lens.
  • Consolidate, organize, and communicate design feedback to internal and external partners, helping ensure direction is clear, actionable, and responsive to project timelines and production realities.
  • Review agency creative and production deliverables with an understanding of how design decisions translate into materials, fabrication, installation, and the final in-person experience.
  • Support evaluation of brand presence and asset usage across experiences through “brand mapping” and other design review exercises.
  • Maintain organized project documentation, including creative reviews, design feedback and decisions, key milestones, specifications, and final deliverables.
  • Participate in project status meetings, design reviews, and agency working sessions, proactively tracking design-related open items and supporting timely follow-through.
  • Support on-site reviews, load-ins, and activations when appropriate to help maintain design intent through execution and capture opportunities for future improvement.
  • Contribute to post-event retrospectives and documentation of key design learnings.
• Industry Insights & Design Support
  • Support the development, maintenance, circulation and organization of activation design resources and references used by internal teams and external agency partners.
  • Conduct ongoing research into experiential design, production innovation, materials, fabrication techniques, cultural and industry trends, and best-in-class brand experiences.
  • Help build and maintain a repository of relevant case studies, inspiration, project learnings, and emerging trends to inform future activation design strategy.
  • Proactively surface relevant ideas, innovations, and examples from the evolving experiential landscape to the broader team.
  • Support additional Brand Design Strategy initiatives and projects as needed.

• 3+ years of experience in experiential design, production design, branded environments, brand design, or a similar discipline, with experiential agency and/or brand-side experience preferred.
• Strong understanding of experiential design and how brand identity translates into physical, three-dimensional consumer environments.
• Experience working with experiential agencies and familiarity with the creative development process from initial concept through production and execution.
• Working knowledge of fabrication and production processes, including materials, construction methods, technical documentation, installation timelines, and production terminology.
• Ability to evaluate creative concepts from both a brand and executional perspective, understanding how design direction translates into real-world fabrication and physical experiences.
• Strong foundation in brand design and visual identity systems, including typography, color, materials, graphics, signage, and other environmental brand expressions.
• Ability to clearly communicate design feedback and direction, both verbally and visually, to internal and external partners.
• Ability to work effectively within compressed project and production timelines, adapting to evolving project needs and priorities.
• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail, with the ability to manage multiple projects, deliverables, and rounds of creative development simultaneously.
• Comfortable working within compressed project and production timelines and adapting as project needs evolve.
• Strong collaboration skills and ability to work effectively with cross-functional internal teams, creative partners, and external agencies.
• Passionate, curious and knowledgeable about experiential design, cultural trends, and best-in-class branded experiences.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and Acrobat Pro DC; familiarity with Adobe Creative Suite is a plus.

Requirements:

• Ability to travel as needed for key activations, site visits, and project installations.
• Degree in design, graphic design, environmental design, production design, marketing, or similar discipline.
• Case studies/portfolio demonstrating experience contributing to experiential, production, and/or brand design initiatives and delivering high-quality design solutions.

Employment eligibility to work with American Express in the United States is required as the company will not pursue visa sponsorship for these positions.