Head of Creative & Studio in Guildford

Lexington is looking for an ambitious and inspiring Head of Creative & Studio to lead the next phase of growth for our integrated creative offer.

This is an opportunity to shape the creative direction of one of the UK's leading strategic communications consultancies. Working across public affairs, corporate communications, reputation management, digital campaigns, content, design, animation and AI-enabled products, you will lead our Studio team while helping clients (across a variety of sectors) solve complex communications challenges through creativity, innovation and strategic thinking.

You will be responsible for elevating creative standards across the agency, developing talented designers and creatives, winning new business, identifying commercial opportunities and embedding creative thinking throughout the client lifecycle. This is a role for someone who is equally comfortable developing ideas, presenting to senior clients, leading creative workshops, mentoring teams and building a modern creative function that embraces emerging technologies and new ways of working.

About the role

Our Studio sits at the intersection of creativity, strategy, communications, public affairs, digital and data. As Head of Creative & Studio, you will lead the agency's creative vision while managing and developing a multidisciplinary team spanning design, animation, digital content and emerging AI-enabled creative services.

You will play a central role in shaping client campaigns, leading creative development, contributing to major pitches and helping build the next generation of Lexington's creative offer.

This is an exciting opportunity for someone who wants to combine creative leadership, commercial growth, team development and innovation in a fast-paced and ambitious consultancy environment. You’ll report to Tinni Guha Roy, Director and Head of Digital, Data and Design.

About you

• Significant experience leading creative teams in an agency, consultancy or in-house environment.
• A strong portfolio demonstrating strategic creative thinking and campaign development.
• Experience presenting and defending creative concepts to senior stakeholders and clients.
• Proven ability to develop creative platforms, integrated campaigns and compelling storytelling.
• Strong leadership skills and experience managing and developing creative talent.
• Commercially minded, with experience contributing to business growth and new business activity.
• Excellent communication and relationship-building skills.
• Experience managing multiple projects, priorities and stakeholders.
• Strong understanding of digital communications, content, social media and audience engagement.
• Passion for innovation, creativity and the opportunities presented by AI and emerging technologies.

Key responsibilities

Creative leadership

• Lead the agency's creative vision and champion creative excellence across all client work.
• Develop bold, insight-led creative concepts that help clients achieve business and communications objectives.
• Oversee creative development from initial brief through to delivery.
• Facilitate creative workshops, ideation sessions and strategic thinking exercises.
• Ensure high standards of creativity, quality and consistency across all outputs.

Studio leadership

• Lead, mentor and develop Lexington's Studio team.
• Manage studio workflow, resource planning and delivery processes.
• Create an environment that encourages collaboration, innovation and continuous improvement.
• Support recruitment, onboarding and professional development across the team.
• Ensure projects are delivered on time, on budget and to the highest standard.

Client leadership

• Act as a senior adviser to clients on creativity, storytelling and audience engagement.
• Present creative recommendations confidently to senior client stakeholders.
• Build strong relationships across client teams and become a trusted creative partner.
• Work closely with account teams to embed creativity into strategic planning and campaign development.

New business and commercial growth

• Lead creative responses for major pitches and proposals.
• Develop creative propositions and services that support agency growth.
• Identify opportunities to generate additional revenue through creative consultancy and production services.
• Contribute to Lexington's marketing, profile-raising and thought leadership activities.

Innovation and AI

• Drive innovation across the Studio and wider agency.
• Identify and implement new technologies, tools and workflows to improve efficiency and creative output.
• Champion the responsible adoption of AI in creative and content development.
• Run knowledge-sharing sessions, showcases and learning initiatives that build capability across the agency.

Benefits

Alongside a competitive salary, we offer a comprehensive benefits package including:

• Discretionary annual bonus (paid each year to date).
• 25 days' annual leave (pro rata), plus one additional day for every two years of service.
• Additional half-day off for your birthday.
• Two paid volunteering days each year.
• £250 annual personal development grant (to put towards your health and wellbeing).
• Private healthcare option.
• Early finish every Friday throughout August.
• Free breakfast in the office.
• Summer and Christmas parties, plus regular team socials.
• Ongoing professional development through external training, internal learning programmes, coaching and Lunch & Learns.
• Statutory employer pension contribution.
• Hybrid working, with an expectation of three days per week in our London office.

For further details about Lexington, please visit our website: https://www.lexcomm.co.uk/