Creative Director

big fish®; London; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A creative agency in London is seeking a passionate Creative Director to lead a talented team. You will work closely with clients and inspire creativity from the ground up, turning ambitious ideas into successful brands. The ideal candidate has over 10 years of experience, a strong portfolio, and is ready to challenge conventional thinking in a dynamic studio atmosphere.

Benefits

Proper holidays

Birthday off

Summer week off

Riverside studio with natural light

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in creative leadership roles.
• Ability to turn briefs into compelling brands.
• Strong portfolio showcasing impactful design.

Responsibilities

• Lead creative projects and mentor the team.
• Engage directly with clients and present ideas.
• Develop and connect innovative design strategies.

Skills

Creativity

Leadership

Art direction

Design thinking

Client communication

Tools

Photoshop

Illustrator

InDesign

Ai MidJourney

Sora

Canva

Job description

Overview

Creative Director

Minimum of 10 years’ experience

Let’s be honest, most job ads are crap. This one’s probably not much better. But here goes…

We’re not after just anyone. This role is special because we need someone who can lead our team of creatives while being in the trenches with them.

And yes, we need you in our London studio five days a week. Not because we’re old-fashioned, but because this role only works shoulder-to-shoulder. The magic happens when we’re all in the room together — ideas sparking, skills shared, quick suggestions turning into real work. None of us learned our craft or leadership on Zoom.

We’re after a rare breed. A Creative Director who doesn’t follow trends but questions them. Who makes beautiful things and knows why they work. Who understands that a typeface or a short film can be more persuasive than a thousand slides. Someone who knows good design isn’t decoration — it’s behavioural science with better shoes.

The inconvenient truth

Brilliant creatives often have messy desktops, strong opinions on paper stocks, and an irrational hatred of Palatino. They get disproportionately excited by kerning, hate the word “utilise,” and secretly think “please make the logo bigger” can be good advice. If that’s you, come help us make the world a little better, weirder and more wonderful — one crafted piece of persuasion at a time.

The job (if we must define it)…

• Lead projects from the front — sleeves up, hands on, occasionally barefoot
• Mentor, not manage — share what you know without sounding like a TED Talk
• Present work and persuade clients to be braver, bolder, less beige
• Turn nightmare briefs into brands people fall in love with again
• Be a creative Swiss Army Knife — strategy, identity, packaging, art direction in your back pocket
• Inspire and direct the team to use AI tools like Ai Ninjas — and enjoy using them yourself

We do care that you…

• Have bloody great taste
• Can explain why something works (without “sort of” or “kinda”)
• Can art direct photography, illustration and motion like a boss
• Spot bad typography from 1,000 paces
• Talk to clients without bollocks, jargon or death-by-slides
• Have a portfolio that’s more “oh my God” than “meh”
• Craft, polish and ship beautiful design
• Love digital but still get your hands dirty (AI included)
• Can name at least three fonts without Googling

Things that will help

• You’ve worked on startups, scale-ups and transformations
• You know food, drink and lifestyle categories.
• You've developed challenger brands that have disrupted and out-performed the market on minute budgets
• You’ve got leadership vibes, or at least people voluntarily ask your opinion because you know your shit
• You’ve got hands-on skills in Ai MidJourney, Sora, Canva, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Google Slides, crayons, whatever works!!
• You’re the kind of person who says, “Why not?” more than “Why?”
• You think design should change behaviour, not just decorate it
• You're into music we like and are often thirsty on a Thursday!

What’s in it for you (besides glory)

• No creative pitches.
• No spec work.
• No tossers.
• Proper holidays
• Your birthday off
• A company-wide summer week off.
• A riverside studio in Chelsea with actual daylight, actual dogs and actual humans.
• Work that’s commercially serious, creatively liberating, and ethically sound.
• A “we’re all in this together” way of working.
• Clients whose products we actually use.
• People we actually like.
• Work we’re actually proud of.

What we believe

• That creativity thrives under constraints, not key performance indicators.
• That being kind is more important than being clever, but both is best.
• That design can save the world, but it helps if it’s also beautiful and doesn’t cost the Earth.
• That hierarchies are for penguins, not creative businesses.
• That laughing and swearing occasionally helps us do better work.
• That a sense of humour will overcome most things.
• Ability to challenge without conflict
• Be within easy commute of SW10 0QJ (max 1 hour)

Apply now if…

You’ve spent your career challenging convention, and you’re ready to help brands do the same. You believe in creative design as strategy, not just decoration. You’re brilliant, humble, a bit weird, and know that all the best ideas begin with “this might sound mad, but…” and most of all, if you LOVE coming into the office where the magic happens.