Temporary Creative Designer

Rice University, located on a 300-acre tree-lined campus in Houston, Texas, is ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. With a 6-to-1 undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio and a residential college system, Rice supports students intellectually, emotionally, and culturally, offering a high quality of life and strong value among private universities.

About the role

The Office of Public Affairs at Rice University is seeking an agile and highly creative Temporary Creative Designer to support the Creative Services team. This position requires a "full-lifecycle" creative thinker who can brainstorm concepts, pitch ideas to clients, and manage projects through to final production and vendor delivery. The ideal candidate thrives on variety, enjoys fast-paced problem-solving, and is eager to own projects from inception to completion while maintaining the integrity of the Rice University brand.

Responsibilities

• Own the day-to-day creative process from start to finish, taking raw briefs, brainstorming concepts, designing assets, and preparing them for final production.
• Act as a main point of contact for project execution, communicating directly with clients to refine ideas and collaborating with print/digital vendors to ensure quality deliverables.
• Develop a wide range of creative assets (digital, print, social, presentations) quickly and efficiently without sacrificing quality.
• Ensure all work aligns with clients’ established brand identities and guidelines while creating new concepts.

Requirements

• A strong portfolio demonstrating both conceptual "big idea" thinking and polished, production-ready execution.
• Mastery of Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign).
• High proficiency in Canva for rapid template creation and agile design needs.
• Exceptional communication skills—comfortable presenting ideas to clients and negotiating specs with vendors.
• A proactive, "hungry" attitude; ability to pivot quickly and handle tight turnarounds with a positive attitude.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Asana or similar workflow/project management tools.
• Proficiency in Google Workspace for collaboration and presentations.
• Experience with simple animation creation.
• Deep knowledge of the print production process, including file preparation (bleeds, die-lines, color profiles) and understanding of different printing types (digital, offset, large format, etc.).

Schedule

Part-time, project-based role requiring 20–25 hours per week (approximately 2 or 3 days a week) for an expected duration of 6 months. This is an exclusively on-site position.

Pay

$35–$40 per hour based on experience. This is a non-exempt (hourly) position eligible for overtime under FLSA.