Gift Design Manager

Lush; Merley; On-site; GBP 48,000 - 58,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

6 months full pay parental leave

Enhanced paternity leave

Day off for weekday birthdays

50% discount on Lush products

Cycle to work scheme

Discounted rail and bus tickets

Employee assistance programme

10% Employee Owned

Wellbeing & mindfulness sessions

Community Networks access

Tailored gender affirming care

Job summary

Lush Poole is seeking a Design Manager to lead our Gifts Design Team on a 15-month fixed-term contract. This part-time role (18–24 hours/week) offers a salary £48,000–£58,000 annually, pro-rata. You’ll guide creative output, manage workflow, and develop designers to strengthen our Gifts strategy.

You’ll build local partnerships, oversee budgets up to £1,500, and maintain peak design standards across collections, with flexible working and strong values around living wages and ethics.

Qualifications

• Proven leadership and people development in a fast-paced design environment.
• Strong project management and workflow planning abilities.
• Experience directing design quality and brand standards.
• Experience sourcing and managing external partnerships/licenses.
• Excellent stakeholder management and collaboration with internal teams.

Responsibilities

• Line manage and develop the Gifts Design Team with regular feedback.
• Lead recruitment, onboarding, holiday/sickness processes, and capacity reviews.
• Maintain an inclusive, collaborative culture focused on creativity.
• Oversee 18-hour part-time workflow planning with Creative Operations.
• Ensure briefs are clear, prioritized, and delivered from inception to sign-off.
• Manage budgets up to £1,500 and handle licensing approvals.
• Build relationships with local Poole artists and manage outreach.
• Provide creative direction in absence of the Creative Lead and support events.

Skills

Leadership

People development

Creative operations

Project management

Design direction

Community engagement

Budget management

Stakeholder management

Job description

Contract: 15-month fixed-term contract Hours: 18 - 24 hours per week, can be flexible on days Salary: £48,000 - £58,000 annually, pro-rata

Diversity matters

We are building a brand that represents the people of the world. It’s what you do that counts, and we are always looking to expand perspectives and voices to shape our future.

We see you, we celebrate you, we want you!

Who we are You might know us as the inventors of the bath bomb, but there’s more to this great-smelling, partly employee‑owned, family‑run company than pioneering cosmetics. We believe our business should put more back into the world than it takes and demonstrate that capitalism can be a force for good. The Living Wage Foundation’s statement 'a hard day's work deserves a fair day's pay' is one that we are proud to commit to in the UK. As an accredited Living Wage employer, we put our people first and fight cruel practices like animal testing, promote regeneration, and show that it is what’s inside that counts - whether that’s an ingredient in a product, or the minerals in a smartphone.

The role The Design Manager is responsible for leading and developing the Gifts Design Team, ensuring a high‑performing, collaborative and creatively ambitious environment. The role provides day‑to‑day leadership, supports creative excellence, manages workflow, and develops the team’s capability, enabling designers to deliver outstanding work that advances the Gifts strategy.

Please note: We may close this vacancy early if we receive an overwhelming response or our business requirements change.

Key Responsibilities

• Line manage, coach, and develop the Gifts Design Team through regular feedback, clear objectives, and structured career development.
• Lead recruitment, onboarding, holiday/sickness processes, and team capacity reviews alongside the Category Lead.
• Maintain an inclusive, highly collaborative culture focused on continuous learning and creative ambition.

Creative Operations & Workflow

• Oversee 18‑hour part‑time workflow planning and resource allocation in partnership with Creative Operations and the Lead Designer to eliminate project blockers.
• Ensure design briefs are prioritised, clear, and delivered efficiently from inception to final sign‑off.
• Manage administrative creative processes, including budgets up to £1,500, design proofing, and copyright/licensing approvals (including cultural holiday projects and internal talent pool assignments).

Poole Community & External Artist Outreach

• Build and maintain relationships with local Poole artists and creative communities to source fresh talent aligned with brand values.
• Drive local collaborative projects by creating briefs, visiting local groups, and integrating community insights into collection developments.
• Oversee external artist submissions and identify local and global internship opportunities.

Creative Direction & Quality Governance

• Uphold design excellence and consistency across all gift outputs, stepping in with creative direction in the absence of the Creative Lead.
• Support design workshops, internal events, and inspiration trips, contributing hands‑on design work for collections when capacity allows.
• Partner with Creative Operations to manage event logistics involving Gifts team representation.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

• Leadership & People Development: Proven track record in line management, coaching creative teams, and nurturing talent within a fast‑paced design environment.
• Creative Operations & Project Management: Exceptional organisational skills with experience balancing design schedules, managing part‑time capacity, and collaborating with operational leads.
• Design Excellence & Direction: Strong eye for visual design and collection development, with the confidence to provide constructive feedback, maintain brand standards, and direct work.
• Community Engagement & Sourcing: Passion for local arts outreach with experience networking, commissioning local talent, and managing creative partnerships/licensing.
• Commercial & Operational Acumen: Comfort managing small project budgets (up to £1,500), handling basic HR admin, and navigating copyright and licensing agreements.
• Adaptability & Communication: Excellent stakeholder management skills to represent the Gifts team at internal events, workshops, and global open calls.

We’d love to see your work! Please include any portfolio or website links in your personal summary.

• 6 months of full pay for parental leave (primary caregiver must qualify for SMP)*
• Enhanced paternity leave*
• Day off for weekday birthdays
• 50% discount on Lush products and spa treatments
• Cycle to work scheme
• Discounted rail and bus season tickets
• Employee assistance programme
• There’s a big difference between "Flexible Working " (the legal minimum) and working flexibly. What that looks like varies from role to role and location to location. We actively welcome conversations about what working flexibly could mean and look like for you.
• We’re 10% Employee Owned - all colleagues play a role in protecting our ethics, our independence, contributing ideas for the future and share in the rewards of success when the company is doing well.
• Wellbeing & mindfulness sessions
• Access to employee-led Community Networks, including Disability and Chronic Illness, Family Support, Global Majority (Race and Ethnicity), LGBTQIA+, Menopause and Neurodiversity communities.
• Tailored gender affirming care*

Qualifying period/hours required*

We believe that your information is yours and that it is Lush's responsibility to process your personal information in a secure, fair and accurate manner. Every individual processed by LUSH has certain rights over their data, which are detailed in our Privacy Notice here .

Since establishing in 1995 in Poole, Dorset, Lush has been driven by innovation and its ethics. Creators of pioneering beauty products such as the fizzing bath bomb, shower jellies and solid shampoo bars, we place emphasis on fresh ingredients like organic fruits and vegetables, fight against animal testing and combat over-packaging by developing products that can be sold ‘naked’ to the customer without any packaging.

We currently operate in 52 countries with 928 global shops. Through our separate business divisions we invent, manufacture and sell our handmade products direct to our customers through our own shops and online. The fact that we make all our products by hand is something we are really rather proud of! Lush is 10% Employee Owned since 2017 and our people are the heart and soul of our business.