Digital Designer

About the Council of Canadian Innovators (CCI):

The Council of Canadian Innovators (CCI) is a national business association representing over 175 of Canada’s fastest-growing technology-intensive companies. Companies within CCI’s portfolio are market leaders in their verticals and commercialize their technologies in over 190 countries, generating between $10M - $750M in annual recurring revenue. CCI’s member companies are all headquartered in Canada and collectively employ over 52,000 Canadians from coast to coast.

CCI was created in 2015 by the leaders of Canada’s most innovative companies to reorient Canada’s economic strategies towards supporting domestic scale-up companies to aid in their pursuit of becoming engines of Canada’s future economic prosperity. CCI works closely with our members and leaders within federal and provincial governments to develop economic strategies that increase access to talent, capital, and customers for homegrown firms, all while updating Canada’s economic playbook for the 21st-century economy. Since 2015, CCI’s advocacy has led to the government improving the way businesses access international talent, patent their inventions, and navigate the global data-driven economy.

CCI is a peer network of Canadian business leaders and innovators who look to CCI’s leadership and membership for strategic advice and foresight, expert navigation of federal and provincial governments, and for connections to other innovators and institutions that can assist them in scaling their businesses worldwide.

Today, CCI is headquartered in Toronto and has staff located in Vancouver, Edmonton, Atlantic Canada, Ottawa and Montreal. CCI is established as a not-for-profit organization governed by a Board of Directors, with Jim Balsillie, retired chairman and co-CEO of BlackBerry, serving as Chair, and John Ruffolo, founder of OMERS Ventures and Managing Partner of Maverix Private Equity, serving as Vice-Chair. Both are also co-founders of CCI.

About the Canadian SHIELD Institute:

The Canadian SHIELD Institute is a non-partisan, independent policy institute committed to advancing strategic solutions that strengthen Canada’s economic resilience, sovereignty, and global competitiveness. We convene experts from across sectors—industry, academia, government, and civil society—to surface bold ideas, support practical policy design, and equip decision-makers with tools to address 21st-century challenges.

Our mission is to secure Canada’s long-term prosperity by generating and advancing policy solutions that reflect modern economic and geopolitical realities. We work to ensure Canada builds and sustains the domestic capacity—intellectual, industrial, institutional, and democratic—required to thrive in an increasingly complex and competitive world.

Launched in 2025, the Institute serves as a platform for forward-looking thought leadership across the most pressing areas of public policy, including national security, industrial strategy, innovation, and institutional renewal.

Through research, convening, and public engagement, the Canadian SHIELD Institute aims to equip leaders with the insight and strategies needed to reinforce the foundations of a sovereign, self-reliant, and prosperous Canadian economy.
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THE OPPORTUNITY

We’re searching for a Digital Designer to enable high-quality, consistent, and accessible communications to government, our membership, partners, and the Canadian public. This role will support communications for both CCI and our sister organization, SHIELD. The Canadian Council of Innovators (CCI) and the Canadian SHIELD Institute for Public Policy (SHIELD) are sister institutions - separate, distinct organizations with complementary mandates. The two organizations operate under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that enables strategic collaboration and shared resources. This position is a joint appointment, with responsibilities split 50/50 across CCI and SHIELD.

Reporting to the respective Director of Communications of each organization, you will spend 80-90% of your time on digital and visual design. You will be CCI and SHIELD’s go-to person for social media assets, visual design for reports, infographics, data visualization, event collateral and other visual assets that advance member engagement, public policy work, and the programs we deliver in Canada’s innovation ecosystem. You will also spend a portion of your time on website support and digital maintenance. Ideally, you will be comfortable working in Webflow to make light updates, ensuring that our website remains polished and visually up-to-date

We’re looking for someone passionate about advancing Canada’s prosperity through innovation. Although you’ll be supported by your manager and the Communications team, you’ll be expected to ideate and implement design initiatives end-to-end. You’ll own tracking and measuring the success of your work. You’ll thrive if you enjoy collaborating and driving initiatives across a small, cross-functional team while working across different design mediums.
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ESSENTIAL DUTIES:

Visual and Digital Design (80% - 90%)

● Design brand-aligned visual assets that support CCI’s and SHIELD’s communication strategies, including:

○ Reports, briefs, and whitepapers

○ Infographics and data visualizations

○ Social media graphics and campaign assets

○ Event collateral (digital and print)

○ Presentation templates and slide decks

○ Email and newsletter visuals
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● Translate policy concepts, research findings, and innovation-sector insights into clear, compelling visual insights that are accessible to diverse audiences.

● Provide a quick turnaround on design support for time-sensitive requests.

● Proactively ideate and deliver on new design needs and initiatives. Manage a pipeline of longer-term design projects.

● Uphold and implement changes to CCI and SHIELD’s brand identities (in partnership with an external firm when needed). This includes: refreshing and codifying each organization’s brand identity; maintaining a well-organized design system and brand guidelines to reflect changes; updating internal materials and templates to match any new brand guidelines; and ensuring the team understands where and how to use new templates and updated brand guidelines.
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Website Support and Digital Maintenance (10% - 20%)

● Make light updates to CCI’s and SHIELD’s websites as needed using AirTable and WebFlow. Updates include adjusting visual design, content, or formatting on various landing pages.

SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE…

● Clear, efficient production workflows that translate design requests into visual assets that enable CCI’s communication with members, partners, and the ecosystem.

● Quick turnaround time on time-sensitive design requests.

● Clear, well-maintained systems for organizing design assets, templates, and brand guidelines.

● Brand-aligned visual assets across all our mediums that require little revision and that successfully capture CCI’s brand identity.
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QUALIFICATIONS & SKILLS:

● 4-6+ years of experience in digital and visual design.

● Strong design taste and commitment to accessibility and brand consistency.

● Strong portfolio demonstrating your ability to design across multiple mediums.

● Experience producing data visualizations, infographics, and digital reports.

● Ability to ideate and deliver on initiatives while balancing multiple priorities.

● Proficiency in design tools such as Adobe Creative Suite, Figma, and Canva.

● Experience with no-code or low-code website systems (e.g. Webflow, WordPress).

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