Creative Director

Creative Director

Job Type: Permanent

Location: Southampton (Hybrid)

Salary: £75,000 – £95,000 base + benefits

Consultant: Mags Rendle

The Opportunity

Are you a visionary creative leader with a passion for storytelling and performance-driven content? This is a rare opportunity to take full ownership of a brand’s creative direction—blending bold visual identity with commercial impact. You’ll lead a dynamic team of in-house creatives, freelancers, and external partners to shape high-performing campaigns and compelling brand narratives across every touchpoint.

This is a senior leadership role for someone who thrives in fast-paced environments, understands the power of data-informed creative, and knows how to inspire teams to deliver work that not only looks great—but drives measurable growth.

The company is a market leader in the outdoor adventure space, with tens of thousands of products on the road and a passionate community of users, this is a brand that blends innovation, lifestyle, and performance. Their commitment to exceptional product design, unrivalled customer service, and inclusive community engagement has earned them industry-leading reviews and a loyal following.

Job Summary

As Creative Director, you’ll be responsible for defining and evolving the brand’s visual and narrative identity across all channels. From paid media to brand storytelling, you’ll lead the creative strategy and execution that fuels customer acquisition, engagement, and retention. You’ll work closely with marketing, product, and leadership teams to ensure creative excellence is aligned with commercial goals.

Key Responsibilities

Creative Leadership, Vision & Ops

• Own the creative direction across all channels, ensuring every output is on-brand, visually striking, and commercially effective.
• Define and evolve the visual and narrative identity, blending performance-driven creative with brand storytelling.
• Lead a growing team of creatives, freelancers, and agencies, fostering a culture of creativity, accountability, and results.
• Build scalable creative processes and systems to support business growth.

Performance-Driven Campaigns

• Develop high-converting creative for paid media (Meta, Google, YouTube, TikTok), optimising assets for maximum ROI.
• Collaborate with performance marketing to run creative tests, interpret data, and iterate to improve CTR, CVR, and CPA.
• Scale UGC, influencer-led content, and creator partnerships, optimising for platform-specific algorithms and audience behaviour.
• Develop high-performing reels and formats for social channels, turbocharging growth.

Brand Storytelling & Content Production

• Direct both large-scale studio shoots and agile remote productions, balancing creative ambition with budget efficiency.
• Oversee development of storytelling formats that bring community stories to life, building brand equity and driving engagement.
• Maximise content yield from every shoot, producing a variety of formats and cuts to extend campaign life.

Commercial Accountability

• Align all creative work with commercial objectives, marketing KPIs, and sales targets.
• Track performance of major campaigns, presenting creative results and ROI to leadership.
• Identify creative opportunities to improve customer acquisition, retention, and lifetime value.

Collaboration & Cross-Function

• Partner with product, brand, and marketing teams to ensure consistent messaging and visual style across the customer journey.
• Act as a creative champion in leadership discussions, balancing brand vision with commercial needs.
• Maintain relationships with key creative partners, agencies, and suppliers to ensure best-in-class work at competitive costs.

Ideal Candidate

• Experience: 8+ years in a senior creative role, including building and leading a creative department or team.
• Proven Track Record: Delivered high-converting paid media creative at scale, ideally for DTC or high-growth consumer brands.
• Storytelling Expertise: Skilled in developing branded content, campaigns, and storytelling formats.
• UGC & Influencer Knowledge: Experienced in sourcing, briefing, and scaling creator content.
• Production Leadership: Confident directing both large-scale productions and agile, remote shoots. from briefing crews to final edits.
• Creative-Commercial Balance: Able to push creative boundaries while staying focused on performance, and ROI.
• Industry Insight: Passionate about outdoor adventure, with an intuitive grasp of audience mindset and culture.and a sense of how we open it up to a much wider audience
• Team Leader: Inspiring leader who nurtures talent and maintains high creative standards.
• Technical Skills: Comfortable with creative workflows, asset management, and performance marketing collaboration.
• Cultural Fit: A passion for the outdoors, travel, or road trip culture is a big plus.

Why Join?

• Lead the creative vision of a fast-growing brand with a loyal and passionate customer base.
• Shape high-impact campaigns that blend storytelling with performance.
• Work in a collaborative, high-performance environment with room to innovate and grow.
• Hybrid working model with a modern office in Southampton.
• International travel opportunities and global creative partnerships.

Benefits

• 32 days of holiday (including bank holidays)
• Flexible hybrid working (2- 3 days in office)
• Cycle-to-work scheme
• Global meetups and creative retreats
• Personal development plans and training programs
• If you’re a bold creative leader ready to make a lasting impact, we’d love to hear from you.

Apply below and Mags will be in touch to discuss the role further.

The Digital Recruitment Company is an Employment Business for interim, contract and temporary recruitment and acts as an Employment Agency in relation to permanent vacancies.

To apply for this role please contact:

Mags Rendle

📞 0203 640 2133

📧 mags@digitalrecruitmentcompany.com

🌐 www.digitalrecruitmentcompany.com