Design Director in London

Salary: Dependent on experience

Location: London

Working Type: Studio Based

Software: Adobe Creative Suite and relevant design tools

Types of Projects: Brand experience, retail environments, and experiential design across multidisciplinary creative accounts

About the Studio

Our client is a creative studio that’s built a serious reputation for producing work that genuinely moves people. They bring together multidisciplinary talent to deliver brand experiences that are as strategically sharp as they are visually ambitious, working across a broad and varied client base. The culture here matters as much as the craft, and both are something this studio takes real pride in.

About the Role

This is one of those roles where you get to shape things. Not just the work, but the team, the culture, and the way the studio shows up for its clients. As Design Director, you’ll sit right at the creative core of the business, leading a team of multidisciplinary creatives and owning a portfolio of client relationships whilst working closely with the Creative Director to keep the wider team firing on all cylinders.

It’s a role that asks a lot of you. You’ll need creative conviction and genuine leadership ability in equal measure, the kind of person who can walk into a client room with authority, then turn around and give a junior designer the feedback that unlocks their best work. If you thrive when you’re juggling ideas, people, and priorities all at once, this is the environment for you.

And it doesn’t stop at the day-to-day. You’ll have a real stake in the studio’s growth, whether that’s winning new business, shaping how the team works, or building something bigger than any individual project.

Key Responsibilities

• Team Leadership and Management
  • Leading a team of multidisciplinary creatives, delegating thoughtfully, and balancing what the work needs with what each person needs to grow.
  • Supporting the Creative Director in the broader management of the creative team, from workload forecasting to day-to-day resourcing decisions.
  • Keeping the operational side of team life ticking along: schedules, timesheets, holiday approvals, and making sure everyone has what they need to do their best work.
  • Mentoring and developing your direct reports with honesty and care, supporting their ambitions, assessing their performance, and having the harder conversations when they’re needed.
  • Genuinely looking out for your team’s wellbeing, earning their trust, and making sure they know where to turn when things get difficult.
• Client and Account Management
  • Owning a portfolio of client relationships, presenting work with confidence, taking on feedback constructively, and building partnerships that go well beyond a single project.
  • Thinking beyond delivery to actively nurture client accounts, deepening the relationship between client and studio to support retention and growth.
  • Keeping communication sharp and proactive across clients, project managers, and creatives, so that nothing falls through the gaps and everyone stays aligned.
  • Scoping projects collaboratively with the Creative Director and project managers, ensuring agreed timelines and budgets are genuinely workable and properly adhered to.
  • Flagging issues early and clearly, especially where changes outside the studio’s control, such as evolving briefs, are likely to affect delivery.
• Creative Direction and Output
  • Setting the creative standard for your team, acting as the primary generator of ideas, and steering concepts from brief all the way through to final delivery.
  • Challenging and elevating the work at every stage, ensuring it’s strategically grounded, visually excellent, and something the studio is genuinely proud of.
  • Developing work that connects emotionally, resonates with audiences, and consistently exceeds what the client thought was possible.
  • Crafting presentations and working documents that tell a clear, compelling story from strategy through to execution.
  • Leading client presentations with real presence, and creating the conditions for your team to step up and present their own work with confidence.
  • Continuously reviewing how the team works and finding smarter, more effective ways to get to great creative output.
  • Playing an active part in the studio’s wider ambitions, from pitches and new business conversations to internal initiatives that move things forward.

Requirements and Experience

• Significant experience in a senior creative or design leadership role, ideally within a studio or agency setting.
• A portfolio that demonstrates genuine creative direction across brand, experiential, or multidisciplinary design work.
• Real leadership ability: you know how to bring out the best in people, give honest feedback, and build a team that wants to follow your lead.
• Strong communication skills across every context, from presenting to a client board to a quick check-in with a junior designer.
• Commercial awareness and the discipline to work within agreed budgets and timelines without letting quality slip.
• Exceptional organisational instincts, with the ability to hold multiple accounts and projects in your head at once and keep everything moving.
• A collaborative, lead-by-example approach that sets the tone for how the whole team shows up.