Head of Design

Head of Design – (12-Month FTC - Maternity Cover)

Location:

Leeds (Hybrid - 3 days per week onsite)
Salary:
Up to £65,000

Contract:

12-month Fixed-Term Contract (Maternity Cover)

The opportunity
We are looking for an experienced Head of Design to join a growing, employee-owned digital agency on a 12-month maternity cover contract.

This is a broad creative leadership role with responsibility for the quality, direction and capability of a multidisciplinary Design team. You will oversee creative output spanning UX/UI, digital experiences, brand, campaign creative, motion and performance-led design, ensuring consistently high standards across the agency.

You will work closely with senior leadership and teams across digital, development, performance marketing and client services, providing senior creative direction across major client engagements, pitches and new business opportunities.

This is primarily a leadership, strategy and creative direction role rather than a hands-on production position. You will remain close enough to the work to provide senior critique and creative direction, while empowering the wider Design team to take ownership of delivery.

What you will be doing
As Head of Design, you will lead the Design function while helping shape creative strategy, develop the team and maintain a consistently high standard of work.

Key responsibilities include:

Leading a multidisciplinary Design team across UX/UI, digital design, brand, campaigns and motion
Setting and maintaining the overall creative standard across the agency
Providing senior creative direction across high-profile and strategically important client projects
Leading and contributing to creative strategy across websites, digital products, campaigns and performance-led creative
Providing senior direction across UX/UI, information architecture, interaction design, design systems and visual design
Working closely with Development to balance creative ambition with technical feasibility, accessibility, scalability and performance
Leading, coaching and developing designers at different levels of seniority
Managing team performance, progression, capability and development
Overseeing departmental resourcing, utilisation, capacity and budgets
Building trusted relationships with senior client stakeholders and acting as a senior creative partner
Playing a key role in pitches and new business opportunities, helping shape creative concepts, narratives and proposals
Collaborating with other department heads and senior leadership to influence wider agency strategy and capability
Improving creative processes, ways of working and collaboration across teams
Helping the team make effective use of emerging technology and AI to improve creative quality, capability and efficiency
What we are looking for

Essential experience:

Strong experience in a senior creative, design leadership, Design Director or Head of Design position
Digital, integrated or creative agency experience
Experience leading multidisciplinary designers across areas such as UX/UI, digital, brand, campaigns and motion
Strong creative direction experience, with the ability to guide and challenge work rather than needing to personally execute everything
Experience developing creative strategy and translating business, audience and client challenges into compelling creative direction
Strong understanding of digital experiences and how Design works alongside Development
Experience providing senior direction across website and digital product design
Experience managing, coaching and developing designers at different levels of seniority
Confidence presenting creative thinking and recommendations to senior client stakeholders
Experience contributing to or leading pitches and new business opportunities
Strong…