Head of Creative

Golden Fox Recruitment; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Golden Fox Recruitment in Manchester is partnering with a fast-growing digitally led beauty brand to appoint an experienced Head of Creative who will own the brand’s creative and visual direction. This senior role blends strategic leadership with hands-on capability across video, motion and design.

You’ll lead an in-house team of 5+, work closely with the CEO and Digital Director, shape campaigns, product launches and social content, and stay hands-on to ensure high‑quality output while

Qualifications

• 9+ years across creative, design, art direction and/or video production.
• At least 5 years in a comparable senior creative leadership role.
• Current responsibility for managing a creative team.
• Strong track record within beauty, cosmetics, skincare or premium/luxury DTC fashion.
• Significant experience developing and delivering creative strategy in a fast-paced consumer brand.
• Hands-on video editing capability.
• Advanced capability across Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Figma.
• Strong knowledge of photography, lighting, colour grading and retouching.
• Experience producing creative for paid social and performance marketing.

Responsibilities

• Leading the overall creative and visual strategy across the brand.
• Owning and protecting the 360° visual identity across digital, social, packaging, typography, graphic design and motion.
• Leading the creative direction and execution of major campaigns, product launches, seasonal moments and collaborations.
• Managing, mentoring and developing an established in-house creative team of 5+.
• Remaining hands-on with video, including editing social and performance assets.
• Creating and developing motion graphics, animated hooks, text overlays and social-first creative.
• Developing the team's technical capabilities across editing, colour grading, pacing, design and content production.
• Introducing effective resource planning and project management processes across the creative studio.
• Managing external agencies, freelancers, directors, retouches and specialist production partners.
• Working with Performance and Growth Marketing to develop a structured creative testing strategy.
• Using performance data to continuously improve creative output.

Skills

Creative leadership

Video editing

Brand strategy

Motion graphics

Team management

Hands-on design

Tools

Photoshop

Illustrator

InDesign

Figma

Premiere Pro

Job description

Manchester | Hybrid – 3 Days Per Week in the Office

Must have worked for a Beauty or Fashion Brand previously

We’re partnering with a fast-growing, digitally led beauty brand to appoint an experienced Head of Creative who will take ownership of the brand’s creative and visual direction. This is a senior position for someone who can combine strategic creative leadership with genuine hands‑on technical capability.

Working closely with the CEO and reporting into the Digital Director, you’ll lead and develop an established in-house creative team while shaping the wider creative strategy across brand, campaigns, product launches, collaborations, social, digital and performance content.

Crucially, this isn’t a role for someone who has moved completely away from hands‑on creative work. You’ll still be comfortable getting into the detail yourself, particularly across video production, editing, motion and design.

The Role

Responsibilities will include:

• Leading the overall creative and visual strategy across the brand
• Owning and protecting the 360° visual identity across digital, social, packaging, typography, graphic design and motion
• Leading the creative direction and execution of major campaigns, product launches, seasonal moments and collaborations
• Managing, mentoring and developing an established in-house creative team of 5+
• Remaining genuinely hands‑on with video, including editing social and performance assets
• Creating and developing motion graphics, animated hooks, text overlays and social‑first creative
• Developing the team's technical capabilities across editing, colour grading, pacing, design and content production
• Introducing effective resource planning and project management processes across the creative studio
• Managing external agencies, freelancers, directors, retouches and specialist production partners
• Working closely with Performance and Growth Marketing teams to develop a structured creative testing strategy
• Using performance data including CTR, conversion and engagement metrics to continuously improve creative output

What We're Looking For

This is a senior appointment and we're specifically looking for someone who is already operating at this level rather than making a significant step up.

You’ll ideally have:

• 9+ years' experience across creative, design, art direction and/or video production
• At least 5 years operating in a comparable senior creative leadership role
• Current responsibility for managing a creative team
• A strong track record within beauty, cosmetics, skincare or premium/luxury DTC fashion
• Significant experience developing and delivering creative strategy within a fast‑paced consumer brand
• Strong hands‑on video editing capabilities
• Advanced capability across Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Figma
• Strong knowledge of photography, camera equipment, lighting, colour grading and retouching
• Experience producing creative specifically for paid social and performance marketing
• A proven ability to develop, mentor and upskill creative teams
• The commercial awareness to balance premium brand building with creative that ultimately drives performance and growth

Why This Role?

This is an opportunity to have a significant influence over the next stage of an ambitious beauty brand's growth.

Rather than inheriting a finished creative function, you'll have the opportunity to shape the creative strategy, develop the internal studio and establish how the brand approaches creative moving forward, while remaining close enough to the work to influence the quality of the final output.

If you're an established Head of Creative or Creative Director from the beauty, cosmetics, skincare or premium DTC fashion space and still enjoy being technically involved in the creative process, we'd love to hear from you.