Creative Director

3Search; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

3Search is seeking a Creative Director to lead the global technology-led business' creative function from Manchester. You will set the creative standard, build a stronger culture, and evolve the function from production-led to strategic partner for the organisation.

The role requires a digital-native, agency-backed leader who can navigate brand guidelines, influence decision-makers and drive high-volume briefs across campaigns, social, digital, events and product launches.

Qualifications

• Experience leading creative teams in a global or multi-location environment.
• Ability to define high-level creative direction while navigating stakeholder needs.
• Proven track record delivering integrated campaigns across digital, social and events.
• Comfort with technology and AI-enabled workflows to sharpen creativity.

Responsibilities

• Set a compelling creative vision and raise the bar across campaigns and materials.
• Lead and mentor distributed creative teams, aligning purpose and output.
• Collaborate with senior leaders to translate strategy into creative principles.
• Balance ambitious ideas with real-world brand guidelines and approvals.

Skills

Agency experience

Creative leadership

Digital-native mindset

Stakeholder management

Global/remote collaboration

Strategic thinking

Tools

AI tools awareness

Job description

CREATIVE DIRECTOR - GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY-LED BUSINESS

This is a rare opportunity to lead the creative function for a globally established business at a genuine point of evolution. This is a growing global creative function, bringing together talent across multiple locations and creating a more ambitious, agile and creatively progressive team. You’ll have the opportunity to define the creative standard, strengthen team culture and help evolve the function from a production-led service into a more strategic creative partner to the wider organisation.

This is not a role for someone looking for a traditional corporate creative environment. The business has the scale, complexity and brand guardrails of a major global organisation, but is operating with the pace, curiosity and ambition of a much more entrepreneurial business. With significant change underway, new initiatives coming to market, increased focus on technology and AI, and an ambition to communicate in a more social-first and human way, this is a moment where the right creative leader can genuinely make their mark.

What they need -

• Someone who can set a creative vision and raise the bar - you’ll be responsible for defining what great creative looks like across campaigns, social, digital, events, presentations, commercial materials and product launches, bringing a sharper, more energetic and contemporary creative perspective without losing sight of an established global brand
• A digital native creative with a genuine builder’s mindset - this is as much about creating a high-performing creative culture as it is about the work. You’ll bring together an established group of creatives across different locations, establish a shared sense of purpose, encourage experimentation and feedback, and create the conditions for people to do their best work
• Someone who knows how to be creatively ambitious within real-world constraints. You’ll understand that large global brands come with established guidelines, stakeholder complexity and approval processes, but you’ll know how to navigate those boundaries, influence decision-makers and find opportunities to push the work rather than defaulting to safe or formulaic creative
• A creative leader who is comfortable operating at strategic level - you’ll have a seat at the table with senior leadership and strategic creative partners, contributing to conversations about the future direction of the brand and translating strategic thinking into creative principles that can live through everyday output
• A creative leader who brings an agency mentality and pace - ideally you’ll have significant agency experience, or a strong agency foundation alongside in-house experience. You’ll be comfortable with variety, high volumes of work, competing stakeholders and fast-moving briefs, while knowing how to move an in-house team beyond simply taking orders and delivering production

What you're great at -

• Approaching creative campaigns and assets from a digital-first, social-native perspective. You’ll have a portfolio demonstrating strong creative thinking across social, digital and performance marketing, with an understanding of how an idea needs to adapt to the platform rather than simply being resized or repurposed
• Integrated campaigns and brand storytelling - you’ll have experience leading creative across larger brand campaigns, product launches, events, presentations, video, commercial/RFP materials and marketing communications, with the ability to connect multiple outputs through one strong creative idea
• Technology and emerging creative possibilities - you’re genuinely curious about technology and AI-supported creative workflows, understand where tools such as generative AI can enhance creativity, speed and production capability, and are thoughtful enough to know when AI adds value versus when it simply creates noise
• Creative leadership and team development - you’ll have experience leading, mentoring and inspiring creative teams, setting standards through reviews and critique, giving clear direction and feedback, and creating cohesion across distributed or international teams and cultures
• Senior stakeholder management and global communication - you’ll be confident presenting creative thinking to senior executives, challenging constructively, responding to criticism and influencing without relying on hierarchy. You’ll also have the cultural awareness to understand that creative ideas, tone and storytelling need to work across different markets and audiences, as well as managing contributors across a variety of geographies/time zones

What you'll get –

• The opportunity to lead and shape an evolving global creative function, influencing its culture, creative standard and ways of working
• Manchester-based, with a hybrid working model expected to be around 2–3 days in the office, with the wider creative team distributed internationally