Design Director

Taxi Studio; West of England; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid Working

Private Healthcare

Wellbeing Budget

Job summary

Taxi Studio is seeking a Design Director to define creative direction and lead the Design Team. You’ll mentor designers, partner with Strategy, Project and Client Teams, and ensure projects are bold, unforgettable and commercially sharp.

You’ll guide day‑to‑day work, uphold the Code of Conduct and help shape both our work and our culture across the business.

Qualifications

• Experience leading design teams and mentoring designers.
• Ability to partner with Strategy, Project and Client Teams.
• Demonstrated taste, rigour and originality in design work.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Design Team and define creative direction.
• Mentor designers and ensure quality across projects.
• Collaborate with Strategy, Project and Client Teams to align goals.
• Deliver bold, unforgettable, commercially sharp work.

Skills

Design leadership

Mentoring

Cross-functional collaboration

Client briefing

Tools

AI tools

Job description

Design Teams’ Purpose:

Design Director’s Purpose:

As a Design Director at Taxi Studio, you’ll sit at the heart of the Design Team, playing (arguably) the most critical role in turning ideas into impact. You’ll help define the creative direction then lead the charge in bringing that vision to life, guiding the team day-to-day, bringing clarity and ambition to every project you touch. You’ll mentor designers, partner closely with Strategy, Project and Client Teams, and deliver work that’s bold, unforgettable, and commercially sharp — while always working in accordance with our Code of Conduct.

Master Crafter

You’ll set the standard for excellence, interrogating work through the lens of brand distinctiveness and craft precision. You’ll guide, challenge and elevate the Design Team while actively contributing to all design projects where needed. You’re fluent in emerging tools, including AI, and you’ll ensure our work is future-facing, commercially focused, unmistakably human and entirely unforgettable.

Excellence Evangeliser

You’ll lead the delivery of projects from brief to launch, challenging the work to be braver, sharper and more impactful. You’ll partner with the Strategy and Client Teams to align thinking and execution, ensuring ideas always connect to the client’s ambition, but exceed their expectations. You’ll bring taste, rigour and originality to every touchpoint, always aligned with our design philosophy.

Project Partner

You’re an operational anchor for design work. You’ll help scope and phase design delivery, help assign the right team to each project, and ensure quality control throughout. You’ll plan proactively, flag risks early, keep momentum high and ensure projects are run efficiently. You’ll involve our more senior Design Team leaders at critical stages throughout the project process and take ownership of delivery, including the creation, and timely delivery, of standout project case studies.

Persuasive Presenter

You’ll bring confidence, clarity and commercial acumen to internal reviews and client presentations. You’ll sell the idea, not the aesthetics, helping clients understand the value of unforgettable work. You’ll present with intent and welcome challenges with an open mind, turning feedback into fuel that improves the work.

Team Mentor

You’re a coach and champion to your team. You’ll provide feedback that builds people up and helps them grow. You’ll stretch your teams’ talent with intention, delegate to elevate, and create an environment where curiosity and confidence can thrive. You’ll therefore play a critical role in shaping both our work and our culture.

Five Important Things

1. Our Code of Conduct

• Live Fearless: We’ll encourage you to embrace the extraordinary, think bigger, seek to improve, step into the unknown, back yourself, and be true to yourself.
• Form Real Relationships: We’ll expect you to do the right thing, treat others with respect, champion your colleagues, seek to assist not obstruct, give constructive feedback, and be kind to yourself.
• Play Fair: We’ll need you to always seek first to understand, collaborate without ego, bring the joy, say ‘no’ when you need to, take responsibility for your actions, and be aware of your impact.

2. Your Benefits

You’ll be remunerated and rewarded based on your contribution to the business, and you’ll benefit from an array of benefits, too, including:

• Health Cashback Plan/Private Healthcare
• Enhanced Pension Contributions
• Enhanced Maternity and Paternity
• Life Assurance Plan
• Hybrid Working and Flexible Working Hours
• plus a Paid Volunteering Day — so you can do some good, on us.

And while it’s not a benefit, we operate a fair salary policy, which is reviewed every year and rigorously benchmarked against industry salary benchmarks.

3. Career Caretaking

We’ll regularly check in with you to see how things are going — celebrating wins, talking through challenges, and setting clear goals to review next time. You can choose to work with a mentor and will always have access to our in-house coach. We also offer plenty of training throughout the year, plus an annual personal budget to support your wellbeing. And if you need a break, you’re encouraged to take a ‘duvet day’ (or two) to look after your mental health.

4. Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

No matter who you are, where you’re from or what experience you may or may not have, you are very welcome to interview for a position at Taxi Studio. We uphold diversity of thought and support diversity in people. We seek divergent thinkers. And people that are smart and nice. It’s that simple.

5. Being an Independent B Corp Business

We believe how we work matters just as much as what we do. Being an independent B Corp helps us stay true to that — free from the corporate red tape and shareholder pressures you’ll find in network agencies, we answer only to our people, the planet, and the brief.