Creative Design Lead

Mr Who?

MrQ - we're an awesome, award winning online casino launched in 2018. We're big on tech, big on performance and most of all - big on fun. Over the years, we have experienced explosive growth - which means we need more rock stars to join our quest for total world domination. The Head of Creative can't be in every room, in every brief, and on every deadline  a creative team only scales if craft is backed by discipline, otherwise quality lives in one person's head and falls over the moment they're busy.

This role fixes both. You're the senior craft authority who owns the design language day to day, the deputy who can steer when the Head of Creative steps out, and the person who instils the practices that keep the whole team's output consistent, on-brand and fast. You raise the ceiling by making the best work, and raise the floor by making great work repeatable.

• Concept and execute design across the brand; campaigns, brand assets, social, CRM, sponsorship activations, merch, the lot, at a level that defines what "good" means for the team.
• Help own and steer the MrQ design language: the type, layout, colour, illustration and codes that make us recognisable with the logo removed. Evolve it deliberately; protect it fiercely.
• Take the hardest, highest-stakes briefs yourself and set the benchmark others work to.
• Stay genuinely hands-on. This is a maker's role, not a role that only reviews other people's making.

• Establish and run the working practices that keep a fast team sharp: briefing standards, feedback loops, file and naming hygiene, version control, hand-off and archiving that survive real deadlines.
• Own and maintain the design system; components, templates and guidelines the team actually uses because they're good, not because they're mandated.
• Set the quality bar and hold it. Give feedback that's direct, useful and makes the work better, without crushing the person who made it.
• Build the organisational discipline that lets craft scale, so quality lives in the system, not just in one person's instincts.

• Represent the creative point of view in meetings, reviews and cross-team discussions when the Creative Director isn't there. Hold the line on quality and brand.
• Spearhead key design initiatives end to end; brief, concept, delivery, and the people around it.
• Mentor and steer the wider design team, leading from expertise rather than authority.
• Be a trusted second pair of eyes and a sounding board; the person the Creative Director can hand something to and stop worrying about it.

You've spent years designing at a high level and your portfolio proves it. Not just polished, but considered. Strong ideas executed with real craft. You can point at work and explain every decision behind it.

You're digital to your core. You understand platform-native design, how work behaves across every touchpoint from paid social to product, and the difference between design that looks good in a deck and design that performs in the wild.

You're a systems thinker as much as a maker. You've built or run a design system, or set up the working practices of a team, and you've seen first‑hand how much faster good discipline makes everyone. You know that "process" is only a dirty word when it's done badly.

You can lead without the title doing the work for you. People follow your judgement because you're usually right and you show your reasoning. You're comfortable being handed responsibility and comfortable handing it back up when something needs escalating.

You've got backbone and humility in equal measure. You'll challenge work that isn't good enough, and take it gracefully when someone challenges yours.

You care about casino, gaming or entertainment, or you're genuinely curious about it. You get why people play, and why doing it properly matters.

8+ years in hands‑on design roles, with a portfolio that shows real craft… and teeth. Considered, not just polished. Work you can defend decision by decision, in a room full of people who know the difference.

• Evidence you've built how a team works, not just what it makes. Briefing standards, feedback loops, file and version hygiene and hand-off. Working practices you personally set up, that survived real deadlines and were still in use a year later.
• You've built or run a design system a team actually used. Components, templates and guidelines that stayed alive because they were good, not because they were mandated.
• Proven mentorship. Designers who are visibly better because you were in the room, and feedback that's direct, useful and makes the work stronger without crushing the person who made it.
• Leadership that doesn't need the title to do the work. You've deputised for a creative lead: held the line on quality and brand in rooms they weren't in, and known which calls were yours and which to hand back up.
• Genuine curiosity about casino, gaming or…