Creative Director

DS Smith Europe; City of Westminster; On-site; GBP 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

TMS Global is seeking a Creative Director for POS and shopper marketing to define vision and operating model of the Central Design Studio. You will lead teams, shape strategy, and deliver creative work across global priorities including POS and retail activation.

In this high-impact role, you will drive design excellence, champion innovation, mentor multidisciplinary teams, and partner with global brands and senior stakeholders to translate insights into compelling creative solutions.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in senior creative leadership within retail marketing or POS environments.
• Proven ability to translate consumer insights into strategic creative direction.
• Strong stakeholder management and client relationship skills.

Responsibilities

• Set creative vision and standards across global POS and retail programmes.
• Lead development of creative concepts for global brands and campaigns.
• Mentor multidisciplinary teams and shape the Central Design Studio operating model.

Skills

Senior creative leadership

Strategic thinking

Stakeholder management

Retail marketing

Tools

AI-enabled design tools

POS design software

Job description

Creative Director - POS & Shopper Marketing

About the Role

We're looking for an exceptional Creative Director for a global role defining the vision, capability and operating model of our Central Design Studio. Combining creative leadership, organisational development and commercial acumen, this role will build the teams, technology and ways of working needed to deliver outstanding creative work across global priorities, including POS, retail activation and shopper marketing programmes.

Working closely with business leaders and major global FMCG clients, you'll act as a strategic creative leader and trusted advisor. You'll shape the Studio's long-term direction, lead its Studio Management and Project Management functions, and deploy creative resources against the highest-value global priorities. You'll also translate complex business challenges into clear creative opportunities and compelling strategic recommendations for clients.

This is a high-impact leadership opportunity to build future capability, organisational structure and talent plans; accelerate the adoption of AI, automation and emerging creative technologies; and create a culture that balances creative excellence, operational rigour and commercial performance. As an integral contributor to pitch responses, you'll help shape and articulate our company value proposition and broader strategy, ensuring our creative offer is distinctive, relevant and commercially compelling.

Key Responsibilities Include

• Setting the creative vision and standards across global POS and retail marketing programmes.
• Translating consumer behaviour, category dynamics and retail insights into clear creative strategies that create measurable impact.
• Challenging briefs to uncover the underlying audience need and conversion opportunity.

• Championing design excellence, innovation and continuous improvement across the creative function.
• Leading creative development across POS, retail activation, merchandising and branded environments.

• Ensuring solutions balance customer engagement, brand objectives, sustainability, manufacturability and commercial performance.
• Acting as a trusted strategic advisor to global brand, marketing and senior client stakeholders.

• Presenting and defending creative recommendations through compelling storytelling and strategic rationale.
• Building, mentoring and inspiring high-performing multidisciplinary creative teams.
• Defining the long-term vision, capability roadmap and operating model for the Central Design Studio.
• Driving the adoption of AI, automation and emerging creative technologies to enhance innovation, quality and efficiency.
• Establishing performance measures across delivery excellence, talent development, utilisation and client satisfaction.

This role offers a unique opportunity to shape the future of global retail marketing and design, combining strategic leadership with hands‑on creative impact in a dynamic international business.

About You

You're a retail-focused creative leader with the ability to move seamlessly between strategy, creative direction, execution and senior stakeholder engagement. You understand that exceptional retail design is about solving both customer and business challenges through creativity and insight.

We're looking for:

• Highly experienced in senior creative leadership roles within retail marketing, retail design, brand activation or POS environments.
• Deep expertise in consumer strategy and behaviour, path-to-purchase and retail environments.

• Experience developing POS and retail activation solutions for major FMCG or consumer brands across global or multi-market programmes.
• A strong portfolio showcasing strategic thinking, creative leadership and design excellence.
• Proven success leading and developing multidisciplinary creative teams.
• Strong stakeholder management skills with the confidence to influence and challenge senior client stakeholders.
• Commercial understanding of retail production, implementation and activation.
• Knowledge of sustainability, emerging retail technologies and AI-enabled creative development.
• Experience working across multicultural teams and international markets.

About Us

TMS Global is a leading subsidiary of DS Smith International Paper, a renowned global packaging servicescompany. Operating across 97 global markets, TMS Global specializes in retail display, print, and packaging outsourcing. Our TMS family consists of just over 300 people who are spread internationally across Europe, AMEA and the Americas.

\"To fulfil our purpose of redefining packaging for a changing world, we aim to build a diverse, motivated and engaged workforce. Our goal is to create a culture of inclusion where everyone is treated fairly, differences are valued and everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed.\"

\"Our people come from diverse backgrounds, bring different perspectives, ideas and experiences to generate unique solutions focused on present and future sustainability challenges. We welcome all candidates to apply, even those not meeting all criteria.\"

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