Illustration Team Leader

Overview

Join to apply for the Illustration Team Leader role at Twinkl Educational Publishing

Base pay range

Location: Hybrid in Office (based in Sheffield)

Annual Salary: £28,000 – £34,000 (dependent on experience)

Contract: Permanent

Line Manager: Laurel Wilkinson

Recruiter: Will Thom

Hours: 37.5

At Twinkl, we are committed to supporting those who teach by ensuring that our content meets the exceptional quality standards that our customers deserve. With a mission to inspire and empower teaching and learning. Ensuring we have high-quality, educationally aligned images is a key part of our brand style and offering.

Responsibilities

• Manage the full lifecycle of illustration requests from intake to completion, ensuring work is delivered on time, on brief, and aligned with broader business objectives.
• Provide exceptional leadership to guide a team of illustrators and maintain lead times under one week.
• Integrate AI technologies and optimise resources to improve quality and efficiency.
• Maintain quality, improve efficiency, and foster the growth of the illustration team.
• Oversee the full request-to-completion process, ensuring delivery within the agreed 1-week lead time.
• Maintain a clear prioritisation framework to ensure high-impact projects are addressed first.
• Act as a strategic filter to ensure creative resources are spent where they will have the greatest impact.
• Ensure illustrators have all the information, references, and context they need to work efficiently.
• Challenge and refine briefs where needed to ensure maximum relevance and quality.
• Standardise the briefing process to reduce misunderstandings and rework.
• Escalate resourcing or priority issues to senior leadership when required.
• Monitor request timelines and proactively address potential bottlenecks to prevent delays.
• Introduce new methods, templates, or tools to improve efficiency and communication.
• Identify opportunities to use pre-existing illustrations to meet new requests and track reuse for cost and time savings.
• Promote the effective use of AI tools to assist and accelerate illustration work; provide training and guidelines for AI integration.
• Measure AI adoption rates and track time saved through automation.
• Provide day-to-day direction, motivation, and guidance for illustrators; conduct regular 1-to-1s and performance reviews.
• Support team members through workload challenges with mentorship and feedback.
• Use data and metrics to identify performance trends, skill gaps, and improvement opportunities.
• Encourage innovation, experimentation, and continuous learning; support development plans and progression.
• Implement performance improvement plans if necessary.

Qualifications

We’re interested in anyone who meets one, or a combination of the following:

• Strong leadership skills with experience managing creative teams.
• Excellent organisational and project management capabilities.
• Ability to translate creative concepts into actionable tasks.
• High level of proficiency in illustration tools (traditional and digital).
• Familiarity with AI-assisted creative platforms and eagerness to explore new technologies.
• Data-driven mindset with experience in monitoring and improving team performance.
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to inspire and motivate a creative team.
• A strong creative portfolio or evidence of managing high-quality illustration output.

Benefits

• A friendly, welcoming and supportive culture with a focus on people first.
• Diversity, inclusion and belonging through Employee Network Programs.
• From day 1 – Westfield Health, 33 annual leave days per year plus an additional day after two years of service; flexible working policy and Twinkl subscription.
• Seasonal events and referral scheme.
• Company sick pay after 3 months of service; cycle-to-work scheme post-probation; long-term service rewards including life insurance and enhanced pension contributions.

Jobs data and location notes have been trimmed to keep the focus on the role and requirements.