DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: The Senior Digital Illustrator will provide technical leadership for the illustration and development of grades 5-8 student books and teacher guides. The Senior Digital Illustrator is responsible for creating and promoting sketches and digital illustrations that are culturally appropriate and have a high visual impact. The position will be part of a process leadership team responsible for the timely and successful completion of developing grades 5-8 student books and teacher guides in 7 mother tongues. The role involves collaborating with both content and layout design experts to understand and meet their needs and jointly decide on effective solutions. The position will also build the capacity and monitor work quality of 14 Illustrators based with mother tongue curriculum development teams in 5 regions. The job function includes, but is not limited to the following responsibilities:
ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:
Developing/fine-tuning Grades 5-8 book illustration guidelines in consideration of READ TA needs, cross-cutting themes of gender and inclusion, and book layout guidelines by the Ministry of Education
Building the capacity of illustration team members – both in-person and from a distance to follow illustration guidelines
Monitoring the quality of work produced by illustration team members, reviewing illustrations and suggesting improvements as needed
Thinking creatively to produce new ideas and concepts in support of efficient, high quality product delivery and building team capacity
Designing, developing and implementing training materials and capacity building interventions based on team needs
Tracking, aggregating, reporting and communicating illustration team progress
Finalizing/producing illustrations (sketch, ink, digitally dress and color) for stories; creating characters, scenes and objects that reflect gender, culture and age for specific texts; drawing objects to illustrate vocabulary; drawing charts and graphs and other artwork as needed
Collaborating with other process leadership team members and READ TA Sr. Management for the timely, successful completion of the activity
Working with a wide range of media and emerging technologies, including Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe InDesign among others
Using productivity tools like spreadsheets and email to document and communicate progress and share materials
Job Requirement
Relevant bachelor degree including, Art/fine art, Communication design, Media arts, Print and digital media management and Visual communication and design
Proven competence in desktop publishing tools, illustration and image processing software, specifically Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe InDesign
Proven experience with student book development
7 to 10 years of experience as an Illustrator or Sketch Artist in a major publishing outlet with demonstrated experience in layout and creative services
Team leadership experience
Accuracy and attention to detail
Professional approach to time, costs and deadlines
Fluency in both written and spoken English is required
Extensive knowledge about Ethiopian culture, customs and environment