Head of Design

Your reason for being here…

Your purpose is to ensure DRPG is known for creating perfectly formed design solutions that client’s love. They will adore the passion and service provided by you and your design, all thanks to your inspirational creative leadership.

The way you roll…

You’re a conceptual creative driven designer through and through. It’s your passion, your purpose, and the reason why you put the time in to ensure your name is synonymous with superior design. As well as being a supreme designer, you know what it takes to build and maintain a growing team of client facing designers. You’ll support them in sharing your appetite for creating the very best design experience for our clients and their audiences around the world.

You are at heart a problem solver that can foresee future challenges, with the confidence to stand up and lead the wider team to solve them. You are always looking for opportunities to grow our design capabilities through effective team and client relationships, that leverage our ability to create beautifully crafted communications.

How you make it all possible…

From the get-go, you will be confident with carrying out your leadership role:

• Managing the design output of all the team members including performance appraisals, individual development and monitoring succession planning.
• Influencing design-led thinking creativity throughout all design solutions the agency produces.
• Ensuring all design projects are completed to the highest standard as expected by our clients.
• Development, inspiring and mentoring the team and individuals to deliver to the highest standards.
• Ensuring that the design department is aware of trends and improvements in both techniques, skills and technology that are relevant to the business and assessing which will contribute to the business and the clients.
• Developing the structure and relationships to encompass other skills that will maximise the potential and expertise within the department
• Working with and co-ordinating third-party suppliers including freelancers
• Working with the CCO to produce Key Performance indicators that provide a holistic and balanced view of the team.
• Being the point of contact for clients in situations where a high level perspective is required on the strategic design direction for a client or in situations of issues being escalated by team members.
• Ensuring that working processes (planning, testing and documentation etc) are efficient and adhered to by the team.
• Understand and overview of all briefs received to support the team, based on outlined objectives for a project.
• Quality control, time management and improvement of departmental output
• Departmental budgeting and investment planning.
• Fantastic creative communication skills with the ability to grow and maintain relationships between Design and the wider business.
• Committed to making anything possible, with a smile – whatever the situation

Creative design will remain of equal priority as you deliver on group and client projects:

• Develop visually creative design treatments for client’s branding, live events, exhibition, videos, digital media, printed projects and the groups own marketing materials
• Impeccable attention to detail
• Understanding of creative copy and ability to generate copy ideas
• Manage your time like a Swiss watch
• Pitch and present design solution to clients and fellow team members
• You can expertly defend design decisions with clear and convincing rationale
• Actively work with the creative, production & marketing team members to develop specific project ideas
• Meeting and taking briefs from clients and internal teams or supporting the designers in this objective.
• Leading design led projects and supporting the team in place to manage the response.

What’s in your toolbox…

You’ll know your stuff. You’ll be a Creative Designer whose work ethics and output earns the respect of those you lead:

• You’ll have at least 10 year’s experience in the design industry
• You’ll have at least 3 year’s experience in a Senior Design leadership role
• With a high level of experience in a variance of design media’s
• Hefty experience of working within corporate organisations and blue chip brands
• Hands on experience of providing developed solutions for small, medium and large brands for B2C, B2B and B2E communications

Get to know us…

We’re one of the most unexpectedly all-round capable communications agencies that’s been on the go for years – ever since our head honcho set up shop in a shed back in 1980, in fact.

Since then, we’ve made it our mission to make anything possible for our many and varied clients, putting our creative flair into delivering strategic communication campaigns, digital solutions, film and videos, events, exhibitions, and a whole lot more in between. We’ve grown a lot, but we’ve kept everything that made us great, back from the very day we first started out. Our global HQ and largest studios are smack bang in the middle of the UK and well worth a visit to see for yourself!

Hang on, there’s more…

The role will be based primarily in Hartlebury, but there will be times when you’ll need to work from our other offices and undertake other related commercial duties both in the UK and overseas. Flexibility is key!

We’re a friendly team. We really, really welcome anyone who wants to become part of a brilliant company. If you’re passionate with a cracking drive to deliver on our ‘anything’s possible’ mindset, we’d love to hear from you!

DRPG is an equal opportunities employer

Data Security (not super exciting, but necessary)

At all times you must work within the guidelines set out in the DRPG Information Security Policy and your Employee Confidentiality Agreement. Failure to do so may be treated as gross misconduct.

You must also work within the guidelines set out in DRPG’s Health & Safety Policy and Team Handbook.