Design Director, Marketing in London

Who We Are: IMG is a leading global sports marketing agency, specializing in media rights management and sales, multi-channel content production and distribution, brand partnerships, strategic consulting, digital services, and event management. It powers growth of revenues, fanbases and IP for more than 250 federations, associations, events, and teams, including the National Football League, English Premier League, International Olympic Committee, National Hockey League, Major League Soccer, ATP and WTA Tours, the AELTC (Wimbledon), Euroleague Basketball, CONMEBOL, World Rugby, DP World Tour, and The R&A, as well as UFC, WWE, and PBR.

We're looking for an exceptional creative leader who thrives where strategy, storytelling and design meet. Someone equally comfortable shaping the creative vision for a global marketing campaign, leading a business-winning pitch, or inspiring a team to produce their best work. This is a rare opportunity to influence one of the world's biggest names in sport and entertainment while helping define how IMG shows up to clients, partners and fans around the world.

This role oversees and influences creative across graphic design, presentation design, campaign creative, brand identity, digital, social, motion and experiential activation. Bringing together strategy, storytelling, design and innovation to create work that wins clients, builds brands and inspires audiences. Perfect for someone who thrives in a fast-paced environment, champions bold, original thinking grounded in strategic insight with a passion for sport. You'll collaborate closely with senior leaders, business development teams and marketers to ensure visually striking, strategically effective designs are delivered to the highest standards.

Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities

• Lead creative for IMG's most strategically important pitches and RFPs from initial brief through to presentation.
• Raise the creative ambition of every pitch by bringing unexpected ideas, strong conceptual thinking and world-class execution.
• Build pitch frameworks, templates and presentation systems that enable faster, higher-quality responses.
• Drive creative direction for major clients from initial concept through final delivery.
• Oversee brand development through campaigns, brand activities, and marketing collateral.
• Manage, mentor, and inspire a team of designers and set standards for quality, consistency, and creative excellence.
• Collaborate directly with senior stakeholders, industry-leading strategists and marketers to interpret briefs and shape visual direction.
• Build and maintain template systems and asset libraries to streamline workflow and raise quality across the organisation.
• Evolve design capabilities and identify opportunities to push our creative through new tools, processes, or formats.
• Balance hands-on design leadership with strategic oversight.
• Manage multiple projects simultaneously and deliver under tight deadlines in a high-pressure environment without compromising quality.
• Maintain and evolve IMG's brand identity.

Knowledge and Experience

• 10+ years in design with at least 3 years leading teams in an agency, studio, or in-house creative environment.
• A strong portfolio - we'd love to see examples of winning pitch presentations, integrated marketing campaigns, brand systems, and large-scale activations.
• Exceptional typography, layout and visual storytelling skills.
• Knowledge in AI-driven design tools (E.g. Flora, Runway, Nano Banana, generative design) to improve creative, storytelling and time efficiencies.
• Experience presenting and selling creative concepts to senior leadership.
• Fluency in Adobe Creative Suite, Figma, and comfort with motion and digital design.
• Proven ability to manage multiple projects and priorities without sacrificing quality.
• Experience in sports, entertainment, or culturally driven brands preferred.

Skills and Abilities

• A creative leader who raises the bar for everyone around you.
• A natural storyteller who knows how to turn ideas, strategy and raw content into beautifully crafted narratives.
• You give direct, constructive feedback and create space for your team to do their best work.
• You believe great design can change how people feel about a brand, an event, or a moment and you want to prove it at the highest level.
• Highly organised, thrive in high-pressure environments, staying calm, focused and sharp when deadlines are tight.
• Detail-obsessed but never lose sight of the bigger picture, work with speed and precision, balancing creativity with efficiency.
• Enjoy collaborating and confidently present and discuss your design decisions.
• You're proactive and solutions-focused, if something isn't quite right, you instinctively find a better way.
• You're curious, energized by sport and culturally aware.

Working Conditions

• This is a permanent position.
• This role will be based at Chiswick Park, with some flexibility on remote working as appropriate.
• Working hours are 9:00 – 17:00, Monday to Friday.
• May be required to attend (and travel to) locations, including other IMG buildings and meetings and industry events.
• Unsocial hours may be required, as dictated by the demands of the business schedule, including when working to a pitch or proposal deadline.
• Adapting to use of new systems and technology where appropriate.