Creative Lead

Gale & Co.; Sunderland; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Gale & Co. in Gateshead is seeking a Creative Lead to own the creative direction for a growing portfolio of consumer brands across Europe. The role combines leadership with hands-on design across packaging, POS, social, digital and D2C channels.

You’ll build and mentor a small design team across the UK and Belgium, partnering with marketing and ecommerce to turn commercial goals into standout work while preserving each brand’s identity as the business scales.

Qualifications

• Hands-on designer with interest in moving into leadership
• Experience across brand, packaging, print, social and digital
• Led and grown other designers

Responsibilities

• Set the creative direction and standards across the full brand portfolio
• Stay properly hands-on, designing across packaging, POS, social, digital and D2C
• Lead, develop and grow a small international design team (UK and Belgium)
• Partner with marketing and ecommerce to turn commercial goals into work that ships
• Manage multiple brands, briefs and deadlines across different European markets
• Review and approve creative, holding quality and consistency across every channel
• Travel occasionally within Europe to be with the team and the work

Job description

Creative Lead

Permanent, based in Gateshead (hybrid, three days in the office).

A hands-on creative leadership role owning the look and feel of a portfolio of well-known consumer brands across Europe.

About the client:

We've partnered with a global consumer products business with more than a century behind it and a portfolio of brands you'd recognise on the shelf.

Part of a larger international group, they design, make and sell across the UK and Europe through major retailers, online marketplaces and their own direct-to-consumer channels.

In their category, they're the name to beat, not the challenger.

Creative sits right at the heart of how those brands earn their place with customers, and the portfolio has kept growing: more brands, more markets, more channels. What's missing is one person to own the creative direction across all of it, someone to set the bar, hold the quality, and keep every brand true to itself as the business scales. That's this role.

About the opportunity:

This is a creative leadership role that keeps you designing. You'd own the creative direction for the whole portfolio and stay hands-on in the work itself, setting the standard by doing, rather than just signing it off.

You'd be the person the brands trust with how they look, feel and show up, across packaging, point-of-sale, social, digital, websites and D2C ecommerce, in multiple European markets.

The real craft is holding all of it to a high bar without sanding off what makes each brand its own unique entity.

You'll also lead and grow a small design team across the UK and Belgium, so it's as much about bringing people on as it is about the work.

Key responsibilities:

• Set the creative direction and standards across the full brand portfolio
• Stay properly hands-on, designing across packaging, POS, social, digital and D2C
• Lead, develop and grow a small international design team (UK and Belgium)
• Partner with marketing and ecommerce to turn commercial goals into work that ships
• Manage multiple brands, briefs and deadlines across different European markets
• Review and approve creative, holding quality and consistency across every channel
• Travel occasionally within Europe to be with the team and the work

Is this for you?

• You're a hands-on designer, with keen interest in moving into leadership
• You're at home across brand, packaging, print, social and digital
• You've led and grown other designers, and enjoyed doing it
• You like range and pace over perfecting a single brand
• You're happy being in the Gateshead office three days a week

What's in it for you

• Full compensation details available on request
• Competitive salary (We're currently running a market benchmark in tandem with the search)

Diversity & Inclusion

At Gale & Co, we believe the best work happens when different perspectives, experiences, and ways of thinking come together. We are committed to building inclusive teams where people feel respected, supported, and able to do their best work.

We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and lived experiences, regardless of age, disability, gender identity or expression, marital status, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, neurodiversity, or socio-economic background. If you’re excited about the role but don’t meet every point described, we still encourage you to apply - potential and perspective matter to us as much as experience.

If you require any adjustments or support during the recruitment process, please let us know. We’re happy to make reasonable accommodations to ensure a fair and accessible experience for everyone.