Design Lead

Talent Heroes (client ATS); City Of London; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a dynamic organization redefining triathlon! As a Design Lead at a leading sports organization, you'll elevate the PTO brand and drive innovative design strategies. Leverage your extensive experience to inspire our community and guide creative projects that make a lasting impact.

Benefits

Flat working environment

25 days holiday + Christmas break

Flexible working structure

Enhanced parental leave

Company share option scheme

Free snacks and drinks

Qualifications

• 7+ years of design experience with a strong portfolio.
• Expertise in developing high-impact creative concepts.
• Experience in leading and mentoring other designers.

Responsibilities

• Own and evolve the PTO brand and visual identity.
• Lead development of multi-channel campaigns.
• Oversee design delivery, providing art direction.

Skills

Leadership

Creativity

Collaboration

Visual Storytelling

Tools

Adobe Photoshop

InDesign

Illustrator

After Effects

Job description

Who We Are:

The Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) is not your typical sports organisation. We're a global start-up, co-owned by professional athletes themselves, on a mission to celebrate and elevate the sport of triathlon like never before.

In just four years, we’ve disrupted the entire sport, launching the T100 Triathlon World Tour in 2024, bringing the world’s top-ranked athletes to iconic cities including Miami, Singapore, San Francisco, London, Ibiza, Las Vegas, and Dubai, where we crowned our first-ever World Champions. We’ve expanded beyond the Professional Tour to bring T100 mass participation races to people all over the world who can now experience the same incredible atmosphere, same iconic locations on the same stage as the pros. And in 2025? We’re going even bigger.

This is a rare opportunity to join a high performing, high-energy, values-driven team with leadership talent from the likes of UFC, RFU, Uber, Meta, ATP, Sail GP, and F1 - all passionate about building something extraordinary from the ground up.

At the PTO, we’re passionate about triathlon, serious about quality, and obsessed with innovation. We don’t just talk, we get sh!t done. We move fast, collaborate as a small team, and challenge the status quo at every turn. It’s what gives us our EDGE - our core values framework that drives how we work, how we win, and how we show up every day.

We’re now looking for a highly creative and strategically minded Design Lead to own and elevate the PTO brand across every touchpoint. You’ll lead the end-to-end design process – from concept to execution – ensuring high-impact creative that inspires our community, strengthens our brand, and supports our mission to redefine triathlon.

Sitting within the Content team you’ll partner closely with broadcast, marketing, product, and operations teams to bring bold ideas to life, drive consistency across all outputs. This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who can switch between big-picture thinking and fine-tuned craft with ease.

At the PTO, you’ll contribute to ambitious, industry-defining projects, learning through experimentation and helping to shape the future of the sport. This is your chance to build something truly meaningful and be part of an extraordinary journey.

Reporting to the CCO, this role is based at our London HQ.

Key Role Responsibilities

Visual Identity & Brand Direction

Own and evolve the PTO / T100 key visual identity across all platforms and touchpoints, ensuring design excellence, consistency, and brand coherence. Act as the Brand Guardian - upholding our guidelines while continuously evolving the brand to stay fresh, relevant, and distinctive.

Creative Concept Development

Lead the development of bold, engaging creative concepts - from ideation to execution - across multi-channel campaigns, branded content, and new initiatives. Guide the team through the full process, bringing a strategic, audience-first approach that turns business goals into creative solutions.

Design Execution & Art Direction

Oversee and hands-on design delivery. Provide clear, actionable art direction and feedback to ensure a high standard across all outputs. Guide our mid-weight designer and contractors to strengthen the design culture and raise the overall quality bar.

Creative Operations & Workflow Optimisation

Implement and refine creative processes, tools, and workflows that drive speed, clarity, and innovation. Review and improve design systems and templation to deliver efficient, high-quality work across a variety of channels and formats.

Strategic Department Contribution

Play a key role in department planning, campaign development, and brand growth strategy. Collaborate with cross-functional stakeholders and contribute to company-wide initiatives that position design as a strategic, value-driving function. Be prepared to challenge the status quo and propose exciting, original solutions.

Who we’re looking for / Profile

• 7+ years of design experience, with a strong wide ranging portfolio demonstrating leadership across brand, digital, and campaign design—ideally with experience in a fast-paced or startup environment.

• Proven ability to develop and execute high-impact creative concepts that resonate with diverse audiences and deliver measurable brand or business results.

• Hands-on expertise in tools like Adobe Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator, with a sharp eye for effective hierarchy, typography, layout, and visual storytelling (After Effects / Motion Graphics knowledge a bonus).

• Experience leading and mentoring other designers, providing thoughtful direction and building a collaborative, high-performance creative culture.

• Comfortable managing budgets, freelance resources, and external agencies, with an understanding of howto balance quality, speed, and cost.

• Confident overseeing creative capture—briefing and directing freelance photographers and videographers across race-day and studio settings—and building a scalable, consistent asset bank through a defined, repeatable capture process.

• Strong communicator and collaborator who can translate complex ideas into compelling visuals and work cross-functionally to bring campaigns and initiatives to life.

• Highly organised, resourceful and adaptable, with a solutions-first mindset and the ability to lead multiple creative workstreams from idea to delivery.

• A passion for sport, culture, and innovation—and a desire to build something meaningful with a team that’s redefining the future of triathlon.

• Building an evolving competence in AI workflows and efficiencies and advantages without diluting engaging authentic content.

• A designer who actively drives improvement regularly audits our creative approach and identifies opportunities to improve, sharpen, and innovate.

The PTO Values: The EDGE we’re seeking

• Entrepreneur at Heart: A ‘Doer’ who thinks and acts like a founder, driving impact and pushing boundaries to achieve key results. You like getting ‘stuck in’ and making sure that great ideas come to life and deliver real change.

• Dynamic Innovator: An adaptable individual who thrives in fast paced environments, seeking new opportunities to drive progress.

• Growth Mindset: Embraces challenges as opportunities, bouncing back stronger from every setback. There is nothing you can’t do if you apply yourself fully.

• Equality of voice: A. Team. Player. Able to inspire and motivate others, bringing energy, innovation, and a can-do attitude to our startup environment.

Benefits

• The opportunity to change the sport of triathlon and build something you can be really proud of.

• Flat working environment and a get-things-done company culture.

• 25 days holiday + Christmas break.

• Flexible working structure.

• Enhanced parental leave.

• Company share option scheme to drive ownership ability and allow financial participation in company success.

• Complimentary / discounted T100 event entries for employees, friends and family.

• Free snacks, drinks, gym classes, open water swim credits and more.

Inclusive Employer

We’re an equal opportunities employer and positively encourage applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates regardless of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion, or belief. We are committed toproviding a workplace free from discrimination and fostering an inclusive culture where all employees are respected and valued.

If you’re worried you don’t quite hit all the requirements mentioned above, don’t let that hold you back from submitting your application! Unique backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives are essential for our ability to innovate and grow, so if you think you’d be a great fit then we’d love to hear from you.