Design Manager - Brands in Market Harborough

Working Pattern: Typically 5 days in the office, with core hours flexible between 8am-6pm.
The Role
We are looking for a Design Manager to join our Brands team. This is a brand new role and an amazing opportunity not to be missed. You will be leading the design team in executing the creative vision for Brands across the NEXT website (Menswear, Womenswear and Childrenswear), developing seasonal creative direction and concepts that bring brands to life. You will also support the creative development of new brands that we start.
When it comes to retail it is hard to find a company with a bigger focus on Trend and Design. We host over 600 Brands on our website and sell thousands of items an hour. We have a loyal customer base who come back to us time and time again to buy the latest trends from the latest brands.
This is a full-time role, based at either our Market Harborough or London office, with travel to the other office and the Enderby head office.
What You’ll Take On
Creative Direction & Execution: Lead the design team in delivering the creative vision for Brands across the NEXT website. Working closely with the Head of Creative, translating strategic direction into clear, commercially relevant creative outputs, ensuring consistency across Menswear, Womenswear, Childrenswear and Sports.
Seasonal Creative Direction & Concepts: Develop and deliver seasonal creative direction and concepts that bring products and brands to life, support brand storytelling and enhance the customer experience. Lead the team through concept development and execution, ensuring creative outputs align with commercial objectives, brand priorities and the wider creative strategy.
Design Team Leadership: Manage, coach and inspire a team of designers, setting clear objectives and ensuring projects are delivered to a high standard, on time and in line with the agreed creative direction. Create a collaborative environment that encourages creativity, accountability and continuous development.
Creative Planning & Delivery: Oversee the planning, prioritisation and delivery of design projects across the Brands business, ensuring the team responds effectively to changing priorities while maintaining quality, consistency and a high standard of creative output.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Build strong relationships with Buying, Merchandising, Marketing and Ecommerce teams to ensure creative work supports product launches, seasonal campaigns and wider business objectives.
Communication: Clearly communicate creative direction, provide constructive feedback and ensure alignment across stakeholders throughout the design process.
Budget Management: Manage the design team’s travel and cost centre budget, ensuring resources are allocated effectively and within agreed budgets.
Travel: Travel will form an important part of the role, including visits to trade shows, inspiration trips and regular travel between our London, Market Harborough and Enderby offices.
What You’ll Bring
You will have experience in a similar role with strong management capabilities. Having excellent communication skills and the ability to influence within the wider team; you will have the chance to really take this role to the next level. Working within the design sector with excellent knowledge of trends, you will be forward thinking and confident. You will be ready to take on new challenges. You will be organised with excellent time management and the ability to plan and execute to tight deadlines. Alongside this you will be enthusiastic, passionate about what you do and a real team player with excellent people skills.
Sponsorship
Candidates wishing to apply who would require sponsorship for this role will be required to meet the Home Office sponsorship requirements. For further information please see: https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa.
We encourage early applications for our roles, as our recruitment process begins as soon as the role is advertised. If we successfully fill the position, this advert may close earlier than planned.
At NEXT, we believe the best work happens when there are no barriers to collaboration. That’s why we are a Google-powered workspace. From your very first day, you’ll be using the full Google Workspace suite; Docs, Drive, and Meet, to stay connected and move fast.
If your previous experience is rooted in other software suites, don’t worry! We’ll point you to a digital Google toolkit the moment you join, packed with handy guides and insider tips to help you transition smoothly and hit the ground running.
#LI-Onsite