New

Design Lead

London, United Kingdom

Established in 2004, OLIVER is the world’s first and only specialist in designing, building, and running bespoke in-house agencies and marketing ecosystems for brands. We partner with over 300 clients in 40+ countries and counting. Our unique model drives creativity and efficiency, allowing us to deliver tailored solutions that resonate deeply with audiences. 

As a part of The Brandtech Group, we're at the forefront of leveraging cutting-edge AI technology to revolutionise how we create and deliver work. Our AI solutions enhance efficiency, spark creativity, and drive insightful decision-making, empowering our teams to produce innovative and impactful results. 

Role: Design Lead - 12 month FTC

Location:  London, United Kingdom  

About the role: 

The Design Lead is the senior creative in the studio and the day-to-day creative contact for Client stakeholders. You set creative standards, shape strategic thinking and guide a team of designers, artworkers and copywriters, both on site and offshore. You work closely with the Copy Lead to keep design and copy aligned.

This is a hands-on leadership role. You lead concepts for complex or high-profile projects, review work before it goes to the client, and step in on priority projects when needed. You also line manage direct reports and partner with Account Leadership, Marketing Operations and Project Management to plan work well and support studio growth.

What you will be doing: 

 

  • Lead creative direction and strategic thinking across Brand, Innovation and BAU projects, including campaigns, packaging and integrated marketing.
  • Set and uphold creative standards, ensuring consistency, quality and brand alignment across all outputs.
  • Act as the final creative review point for design and artwork, working in close collaboration with the Copy Lead.
  • Stay hands-on in concept creation and creative problem solving for strategic, complex or high-profile initiatives, and provide design support during peak periods or on priority projects.
  • Create and refine visual solutions across digital and print channels where required.
  • Act as the senior day-to-day creative contact for client stakeholders, building trusted relationships and identifying opportunities to add creative value.
  • Present creative work clearly and persuasively to stakeholders at all levels, lead twice-yearly Creative Review sessions and contribute to wider account presentations.
  • Guide teams through feedback cycles, balancing stakeholder requirements with creative integrity.
  • Line manage direct reports, including objective setting, performance reviews, development planning and regular coaching.
  • Provide functional leadership across the wider team of designers, artworkers and copywriters, onsite and offshore, through coaching, constructive feedback and hands-on support.
  • Foster an inclusive, collaborative team culture by supporting onboarding, mentoring, training and knowledge sharing across the studio.
  • Partner with Account Leadership, Operations and Project Management to support workflow and resource planning. Contribute creative insight to project scoping, pitch responses and growth opportunities.
  • Keep up with design trends, emerging tools and AI-enabled capabilities, and use them to improve team performance, processes and output. 

What you need to be great in this role: 

Experience and capability

  • Creative leadership of work across multiple disciplines and channels in a creative, design or integrated agency environment.
  • A track record of leading creative development from concept through to execution.
  • Experience working directly with senior client stakeholders and presenting creative recommendations.
  • Ability to influence stakeholders, challenge constructively and build trusted relationships.
  • Strong coaching, mentoring and people leadership skills.
  • Strong planning, prioritisation and organisational skills, with an understanding of creative workflow, briefing processes and resource planning.
  • Ability to balance creative excellence with operational and delivery requirements.
  • Experience collaborating with offshore global teams and external production studios.
  • Commercial awareness, with experience contributing to scoping, pitch or growth discussions.
  • Close attention to detail and a commitment to quality.

Technical expertise: experience overseeing and directing creative output across

  • Print design (shopper POS, OOH, packaging and marketing collateral)
  • Digital design (web, social and ecommerce)
  • Artwork production and print processes
  • Motion graphics and video editing
  • Creative strategy and concept development
  • Brand development and innovation
  • Generative AI applications

Applications

  • Adobe Creative Suite: Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign and Acrobat
  • Figma
  • Microsoft Office
  • Pencil AI, or fluency with similar AI platforms
  • Nice to have: After Effects, Monday.com

Gen AI and agentic thinking

  • Advanced use of Gen AI tools relevant to design to enhance creative output and efficiency.
  • Experience designing AI-assisted workflows for yourself and your team.
  • Ability to train others on effective AI tool usage.
  • Agentic thinking for complex, multi-step challenges.
  • Strong understanding of AI capabilities and limitations, with rigorous human oversight.

Req ID: 19049

#LI-SL1 #LI-Midsenior #LI-Onsite 

Our values shape everything we do: 

Be Ambitious to succeed   

Be Imaginative to push the boundaries of what’s possible   

Be Inspirational to do groundbreaking work   

Be always learning and listening to understand   

Be Results-focused  to exceed expectations   

Be actively pro-inclusive and anti-racist across our community, clients and creations   

Our recruitment process does not employ artificial intelligence for selection. We use AI to support efficiency and consistency, not to replace human judgement. Candidate evaluation and selection are conducted without AI-supported screening or decision-making. We are committed to a fair, thoughtful, and equitable experience for every candidate.

OLIVER, a part of the Brandtech Group, is an equal opportunity employer committed to creating an inclusive working environment where all employees are encouraged to reach their full potential, and individual differences are valued and respected. All applicants shall be considered for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, neurodivergence, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by local laws.   

 OLIVER has set ambitious environmental goals around sustainability, with science-based emissions reduction targets. Collectively, we work towards our mission, embedding sustainability into every department and through every stage of the project lifecycle.

Create a Job Alert

Interested in building your career at OLIVER? Get future opportunities sent straight to your email.

Apply for this job

*

indicates a required field

Resume/CV*

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Cover Letter

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Select...
Select...
Select...

When you apply to a job on this site, the personal data contained in your application will be collected by OLIVER (“Controller”) which is located at 151 Rosebery Avenue, EC1R 4 AB and can be contacted by emailing HR@oliver.agency or Adjust Your Set (“Controller”)  which is located at 151 Rosebery Avenue, EC1R 4 AB and can be contacted by emailing HR@oliver.agency or DARE(“Controller”)  which is located at 151 Rosebery Avenue, EC1R 4 AB and can be contacted by emailing HR@oliver.agency or Aylesworth Fleming (“Controller”)  which is located at 151 Rosebery Avenue, EC1R 4 AB and can be contacted by emailing HR@oliver.agency (“Controller”). Your personal data will be processed for the purposes of managing Controller’s recruitment related activities, which include setting up and conducting interviews and tests for applicants, evaluating and assessing the results thereto, and as is otherwise needed in the recruitment and hiring processes. Such processing is legally permissible under Art. 6(1)(f) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (General Data Protection Regulation) as necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by the Controller, which are the solicitation, evaluation, and selection of applicants for employment.

Your personal data will be shared with Greenhouse Software, Inc., a cloud services provider located in the United States of America and engaged by Controller to help manage its recruitment and hiring process on Controller’s behalf. Accordingly, if you are located outside of the United States, your personal data will be transferred to the United States once you submit it through this site.

Your personal data will be retained by Controller as long as Controller determines it is necessary to evaluate your application for employment.  Under the GDPR, you have the right to request access to your personal data, to request that your personal data be rectified or erased, and to request that processing of your personal data be restricted. You also have to right to data portability. In addition, you may lodge a complaint with an EU supervisory authority.

UK Demographic Question Set

As part of our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion, we are asking individuals seeking employment with OLIVER, The Inside Ideas Group to complete this voluntary self-identification survey. We know that by creating a culture of inclusion we will attract and retain a diverse workforce that creates a more rewarding work environment, stimulates creativity and delivers better overall performance. 

Completion is entirely voluntary, and you may identify in more than one designation group. Completion will not affect your opportunity for employment, or the terms or conditions of your employment. This information will not be taken into consideration when assessing your application and can only be viewed on an anonymised aggregated basis. For the protection of our legitimate interests, we may need to retain this information for a defined period to keep the records of our hiring process. 

Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...