Brand Design Lead

This is Cradle

Proteins are the molecular machines of life, used for many therapeutic, diagnostic, chemical, agricultural and food applications. Designing and optimizing proteins takes a lot of expert knowledge and manual effort, through the use of custom computational and biological tools.

Machine learning is revolutionizing this space, by enabling high-fidelity protein models. At Cradle, we offer a software platform for AI-guided discovery and optimization of proteins, so that biologists can design proteins faster and at scale. We are already used by clients across biopharma, biotech, agri-tech, food-tech, and academia.

We're an experienced team of around 75 people. We've built many successful products before and have enough funding for multiple years of runway. We are distributed across two main locations, Zurich and Amsterdam, and are focused on building the best possible team culture.

We offer our employees a very competitive salary, a generous equity stake in the company and a wide range of benefits and career progression opportunities.

The Role

As our Brand Design Lead, you will own Cradle's entire visual identity, acting as the developer and guardian of Cradle's visual DNA. This pivotal role involves setting the creative direction for Cradle and building a high-performing design function during a period of significant growth and increased exposure for our brand.

You will own all visual output while maintaining a hands-on approach with critical, high-impact projects-ranging from pitch decks to interactive platform features-to guarantee world-class quality as we scale.

Key Responsibilities

• Unify Cradle's Visual DNA: Own and evolve Cradle's brand guidelines, ensuring a cohesive identity across the product platform, website, and marketing materials.

• Creative Leadership: Act as the ultimate visual quality bar-setter for critical company initiatives, including major product launches and customer-facing materials.

• Building the Design Infrastructure: Establish visual design as a formal function at Cradle, defining the roadmap and hiring freelance collaborators and agencies to support scale.

• Cross-Functional Art Direction: Partner with Marketing, ML, Product, and Biology teams to provide art direction for engaging scientific and technical storytelling.

• External Partner Management: Oversee the budget and creative direction for external resources, including freelance illustrators, motion designers, and agencies.

• Experiential Design: Influence how the brand comes to life physically, from office aesthetics to how the team presents itself at global industry events.

Requirements

Must-haves

• World-Class Portfolio: Proven track record of building and scaling sophisticated brand systems for high-growth, industry-leading tech companies.

• High-Fidelity Craft: Expert proficiency in modern design tools e.g. Figma, Creative Suite, Framer; we are looking for a designer who can lead by example.

• Systems Thinking: Ability to build scalable visual frameworks and asset libraries that empower the wider team.

Nice-to-haves

• Experience in Biotech, Deep Tech, or other sectors.

• Experience with motion design or 3D visualization.

• Experience or passion for scientific communication would be ideal. Translating complex ML and Biology topics into captivating visuals will be a key part of this role at Cradle.

Our commitment to inclusive hiring

Cradle evaluates all candidates based on merit, regardless of sex, gender, ethnicity, socio-economic background, or any other aspect of identity. We maintain zero tolerance for discrimination and actively encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply.

AI disclosure

Cradle uses an applicant tracking system that includes basic AI-assisted features which may generate scores or rankings based on how applications match a job description. These outputs are not used to make or meaningfully influence hiring decisions - all candidates are evaluated through a thorough, human-led review by our recruiting team.

A notice about recruitment scams

Please be aware that scammers are posing as us in order to get your personal details or money. We only communicate via @cradle.bio email addresses, we only make job offers after having met you in person at our office in Zurich or Amsterdam, and we never ask you to pay for anything during the interview process.