Lead Designer

Lead Designer - up to 60k DOE

Location: Tunbridge Well

Hybrid working: 2 days in office / 3 remote

The opportunity

As we continue to evolve, we're looking for a talented creative leader with their own distinctive creative voice and the skills and craft to match. The Lead Designer must be a strong conceptual thinker, able to develop clever, thoughtful and original ideas that answer the brief and engage the intended audience. They must also be an exceptional hands-on designer, capable of joining an established, award-winning creative team. Our ideal candidate will live and breathe design, inspiring those around them through the quality of their ideas and the elegance and precision of their execution.

Overall purpose of the role

Growth - we have an ambitious growth strategy which calls upon our Founder to take an even more outward-facing role as we continue to win business with bigger, higher-value clients. We need an inspirational creative to work closely with our Associate Creative Director and Creative Director, supporting on some projects and taking the Lead Designer on others, while ensuring our existing clients and projects get the top-class outputs we're known for.

Collaboration - this role is pivotal. We are looking for someone talented and confident enough to develop, implement and communicate their own creative vision across our wide range of client brands. But we also need someone who is able to take direction from our Associate Creative Director and Creative Director.

Leadership - while the Lead Designer will not have formal line management responsibilities, the role does require strong leadership qualities. They will work closely with the Associate Creative Director and Creative Director to establish the creative direction for projects, then lead the creative team in bringing it to life.

Responsibilities of the role

Leading by example

The postholder will be expected to act in an inspirational and supportive way to the whole team and take on any reasonable ad hoc project leadership duties and responsibilities as directed by the Associate Creative Director and the Creative Director.

Lead role in the studio

• Working closely with the Associate Creative Director and Creative Director to develop and set the creative direction for work across brand, campaigns, digital, content, motion and other creative projects. Taking agreed concepts and creative directions through to final delivery, guiding the studio team and adapting the work where necessary.
• Being a proactive member of the design team and looking for opportunities to improve the way the studio operates.
• Helping to drive quality, encourage collaboration and ensure timely delivery. Making a positive and imaginative contribution to the ongoing development of the agency's culture, values and outlook.

Client work

• Creating original, beautiful and engaging concepts for clients' brand and marketing communications that have a positive impact on their business.
• Designing and producing creative work across brand, campaigns, digital, content and other marketing communications.
• Liaising directly with clients to fully understand the brief, their objectives, audience and the wider project context. Developing and confidently delivering creative pitches and presentations to prospective and existing clients.
• Building strong, trusted relationships with clients, demonstrating a clear understanding of their needs and helping to identify opportunities for further creative work.
• Playing a leading role in developing and delivering major agency projects and campaigns.
• Working closely with Strategy, Development and other disciplines to ensure all aspects of ifour's creative work are aligned and integrated.

Core skills

• A natural leader. Able to have a demonstrable impact within a creative team, encouraging a collaborative and inclusive team dynamic.
• Expertise in developing concepts for others to work on.
• Proven work experience as a Senior Designer, Graphic Designer or similar design-led role. High degree of expertise with design/creative software e.g. Figma and Adobe Creative Suite. Strong aesthetic skills with a deep understanding of colours, fonts and layouts.
• Impeccable attention to detail and the ability to provide insightful feedback.
• Communication and presentation skills - the ability to engage colleagues and clients and inspire them with your ideas and creative vision
• Excellent interpersonal skills are a must - you must have a clear creative vision while remaining open to others' ideas.
• The ability to effectively manage the full design life-cycle, from conception, and visualization through to launch.

Person specification

• Creative - you need to have your own distinctive creative voice, developed over time, and be able to engage and inspire others with your ideas.
• Confident and organised - you should be well briefed, proactive and able to propose solutions to creative or delivery issues without always needing to escalate them to the Associate Creative Director or Creative Director
• Inspirational - the creative team should naturally seek your input and creative opinion and come away energised by working with you.
• Strong-minded and open-minded - you need the confidence to stand behind your ideas, but also the judgement to listen, adapt and change direction when needed.
• Team player - you need to be self-motivated, resilient under pressure and creatively ambitious, without ego getting in the way. At ifour we have a collective mindset. Successes and failures are shared, and all our work comes from the studio.
• You must also have a strong sense of fun.