Senior Art & Design Director - London - Up to £80k p/a in City of London

We’re looking for an experienced and hands-on Senior Art Director with strong background design skills to join a global creative studio that sits onsite with a longstanding client in the Financial Services / corporate sector. You’ll work on a broad range of briefs, but our client is looking to see experience of work on Design Systems / Brand or Identity related projects as well as Ideation for Events, amongst projects for a broad mix of both print and digital output.

This is a pivotal role for a strong conceptual creative who thrives in a fast-paced environment and enjoys leading, mentoring, and elevating the work around them whilst also building strong client relationships. You’ll be working closely with clients in London but also collaborating with Global teams, including the Creative Directors in the US. Working from the Global Visual Identity you’ll think strategically and shape ideas from brief through to execution.

The role blends creative leadership with lots of hands-on conceptual thinking on projects whilst also overseeing the execution and craft in design, and whilst working in a client-facing capacity. You should also enjoy mentoring and managing more junior creatives and designers as this will certainly form part of the role and will grow and develop further over time.

Projects span ideation for Brand and Design Systems as there are a huge multitude of Sub brands, which require creative and design work for various events and other communications campaigns, whether that’s for B2C, B2B or internal comms. You could be working on everything from branding for a global event to creative routes and style guides, to direction of a photo shoot to storyboarding for an animation, or working on iconography.

There will be lots of work for print output which could be internal coms to an OOH ad to events graphics, and lots of digital where you’ll be expected to understand UX principles working alongside Product Design to inform visual design. Output could also include assets for social or CRM.

This role requires a confident and collaborative Senior Art Director with a diverse portfolio of beautifully crafted work that demonstrates strong conceptual thinking and impeccable execution across integrated projects. You’ll be trusted with a high level of autonomy, so you’ll need to be highly organised, proactive, and comfortable managing multiple projects at once while maintaining exceptional quality. Also, you should be comfortable working with stakeholders in different global locations.

You’ll play a key role in mentoring junior creatives, overseeing output, and helping to continuously improve studio processes. You’ll also be someone who enjoys pushing briefs, guiding clients, and translating strategic thinking into creative solutions that truly land.

As a creative leader, you’ll inspire those around you while still remaining very hands-on with the work. You’ll need to be comfortable presenting ideas in slick decks, navigating feedback, and collaborating with project managers, strategists, developers, and wider stakeholders in different parts of the globe. A solution-focused mindset and calm, confident communication style are essential.

There’s also a strong opportunity to help shape the future of the studio, particularly through AI adoption and innovation, with scope to lead training and experimentation that enhances creative output and efficiency.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead creative and design projects from concept to execution across print and digital
• Deliver high-quality creative across brand and design systems, global events, printed collateral, UI / digital, animation storyboards, Photography etc.
• Present work confidently to clients and internal stakeholders, adapting ideas based on feedback
• Provide art direction, mentorship, and oversight to junior creatives and studio colleagues
• Collaborate closely with project management to support scopes, schedules, and delivery
• Help evolve studio processes to improve collaboration and efficiency
• Support deeper integration between visual design, digital, and UX
• Champion innovation, including the use of AI tools within the creative workflow

Key Experience:

• Strong experience as an Art Director and Designer within an agency, design studio, or in-house team
• Proven experience managing or leading and mentoring other creatives
• Strong integrated portfolio showcasing conceptual thinking and attention to craft
• Tangible experience of working on Brand / Identity as well as ideation for events branding and collateral
• Expert proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite and strong working knowledge of Figma
• Understanding of UX/UI, responsive design, and social best practices
• Confident client-facing experience with excellent presentation skills
• Highly detail-oriented with strong print and digital production knowledge
• Collaborative, proactive, and solution-focused mindset
• Motion / animation storyboarding or video experience would be helpful
• FS or corporate sector experience would be a big plus

This is an opportunity to play a highly influential role in a brilliant team that’ll be varied and rewarding and offers huge progression opportunities as the team continues to grow. If you have relevant experience and this sounds exciting APPLY NOW!