Food Stylist

Responsibilities:

• Ensure that Whole Foods Market has the highest-quality photography in the industry by styling food for our in-house photography team.
• Style food for a variety of channels including marketing, digital and social assets, e-commerce, culinary videos, product packaging, etc.
• Work with designers who provide art direction to ensure photos meet their needs and comply with our photography standards. Work as a partner to collaborate on photos, suggest alternate approaches when necessary, and provide an expert opinion when challenges arise. Be flexible and service-oriented.
• Liaison with Design, Content Teams, and Product Coordinators on food presentation in photography. Ensure that key product attributes are shown, and ensure that all visual priorities are met. Work closely with Content Team to provide notes after recipes are styled for photography.
• Ensure that all styling meets the visual and brand standards for Whole Foods Market. Create a consistent aesthetic that showcases our products in the best light and in keeping with our overall brand look.
• Develop and test recipes in collaboration with the Content Team when time allows.
• Acquire and maintain studio props as needed.
• Maintain and organize kitchen facility, including pantry, food deliveries, knife sharpenings, kitchen repairs, etc.
• Reports to the Photography and Asset Management Team Leader.

Qualifications:

• The ability to style food that looks delicious, authentic, fresh, beautiful, never too perfect, and reflects what we sell in our stores.
• A minimum of 3 years’ professional photography food styling experience with an emphasis on aspirational lifestyle brands. MUST have portfolio with work samples. Prefer experience in print editorial and video production settings. Food styling for product packaging is a huge plus but not required.
• Professional culinary training certification or equivalent professional culinary experience. Thorough knowledge of cooking techniques, flavor profiles, and recipe development.
• Should be comfortable handling and styling all kinds of foods, including meat and seafood.
• Experience selecting which recipes and food styling will best engage and inspire customers.
• Passion for Whole Foods Market’s Core Values.
• Excellent organizational skills, attention to detail, and follow-through.
• Ability to strike a healthy balance between creative vision and culinary standards.
• Comfortable working with a range of direction from detailed creative briefs to quick-turn, more reactive projects.
• Able to work from a range of inputs, whether following and styling a specific recipe exactly as written, translating a prepared foods recipe, or developing ideas of how best to represent a concept.
• Resourceful self-starter who is comfortable with ambiguity.
• Ability to juggle multiple projects at once in a fast-paced environment.
• Flexibility to work in a decentralized structure.
• Position is located in Austin.