Head of Design (maternity cover)

Critical Playground LLC; Leeds; Hybrid; GBP 55,000 - 65,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

25 days holiday + bank holidays

Company pension

Private health insurance

Birthday off

Mental health support

Job summary

Critical Playground LLC in Leeds is seeking a Head of Design on a maternity cover basis. The role leads a multidisciplinary design team across brand, UX/UI, digital experiences and campaigns, setting direction and ensuring quality.

The position runs full-time in a hybrid setup with in-office presence required. The salary range is £55,000–£65,000, with a fixed-term contract from December 2026 to December 2027.

Qualifications

• Senior creative or design leadership experience in a digital or integrated agency.
• Led designers across more than one discipline.
• Strong track record in creative direction and strategy.
• Good understanding of digital experiences and how Design works with Development.
• Experience with campaign creative and understanding its impact on marketing outcomes.
• Confidence presenting, storytelling and defending creative thinking with senior stakeholders.
• Sound commercial judgement around scope, budgets and resourcing.

Responsibilities

• Set and uphold the creative standard across the Design Team.
• Provide direction, constructive challenge and quality control on significant projects.
• Lead cross-team collaboration with Web, Performance and Activation.
• Present creative thinking confidently to senior clients.
• Lead or support new business pitches.
• Manage budgets and capacity within the department.

Skills

Creative leadership

Stakeholder management

Brand and campaigns experience

UX/UI understanding

Presentation skills

Budget and resourcing

Job description

Head of Design (maternity cover)

Salary £55,000 - £65,000

Hours and location This is a full-time, 12 month fixed-term maternity cover role based in Leeds, UK.

We offer hybrid working and flexible hours to everyone in the team, but this is not a fully remote opportunity, and we require you to be in the office at least 3 days a week. Note: As this is a fixed-term, we’re open to discussing more flexible hours or a different working pattern. Contract dates: December 2026 - December 2027 (negotiable)

Benefits package

As part of our commitment to making Engage a great place to work, we’ve built a comprehensive benefits package that fuels our thriving culture and delivers an exceptional, well-rounded employee experience. Some of our most popular perks are:

• We're employee owned
• 25 days holiday + bank holidays
• Company performance linked bonus scheme (this is depending on the business’ performance and is not a contractual benefit)
• Comprehensive private health insurance
• 5% company pension scheme
• Access to financial coaching
• A company culture that promotes work-life balance
• Access to mental health support
• Free on-site gym
• Hybrid working
• An award-winning office
• Your birthday off
• Regular socials, epic Summer parties and more

What we're looking for

We’re looking for an experienced creative leader to head up Design at Engage while our current Head of Design is on maternity leave. You’ll lead a multidisciplinary team working across brand and campaigns, UX/UI, digital experiences, motion and performance creative. You’ll set a clear creative standard, guide our most important work and help the team do its best work without every decision needing to come through you. This is a broad agency leadership role. You’ll work closely with our Web, Performance and Activation teams, as well as Client Services and the wider leadership team, to make sure creative thinking shapes the work from the outset.

Vision for the role

We want Design to be a strong creative partner across the agency: involved early, confident in its thinking and able to deliver work that looks great and solves the right problem. You’ll bring senior direction to complex projects and pitches, help develop the people around you and keep the department running well day to day. You’ll also have the judgement to balance creative ambition with client objectives, deadlines and budgets.

Duties and responsibilities

Creative leadership

• Set and uphold the creative standard across the Design Team.
• Provide direction, constructive challenge and quality control on significant projects.
• Help teams connect creative decisions to audience needs, client objectives and evidence.
• Give senior designers the support and space to lead work independently.
• Champion craft, usability and attention to detail in the finished work.

Creative strategy and client work

• Turn business, brand and audience challenges into clear creative directions.
• Shape campaign concepts, digital experiences and creative recommendations alongside specialists across the agency.
• Challenge briefs where needed and help teams get to the heart of the problem.
• Present creative thinking confidently to senior clients, explaining the thinking behind the work.
• Act as a trusted senior creative partner on key client accounts.

Web, Performance and Activation

• Guide the creative approach to websites and digital experiences, working closely with UX/UI and Development.
• Help Performance teams use audience, platform and results data to improve creative effectiveness.
• Provide direction across campaigns, social, content and motion, ensuring ideas work across channels.
• Help develop the creative capabilities and ways of working within each of these areas.

Team and department leadership

• Lead, coach and develop a multidisciplinary Design Team.
• Set clear priorities and expectations, and support people with regular feedback and progression.
• Work with other teams to plan capacity and make sensible decisions when priorities compete.
• Keep an appropriate eye on budgets, utilisation and the commercial performance of the department.
• Improve processes and ways of working where they help the team produce better work.

New business

• Help shape the creative angle and ambition of proposals and pitches.
• Lead or support creative pitch work and present ideas to prospective clients.
• Identify opportunities to bring stronger creative thinking into existing client relationships.

Skills and experience

We’d like to hear from people who have:

• Senior creative or design leadership experience in a digital or integrated agency.
• Led and developed designers across more than one discipline.
• A strong track record in creative direction and strategy, as well as design craft.
• A good understanding of digital experiences and how Design works with Development.
• Experience with campaign creative and an understanding of how it contributes to marketing outcomes.
• Confidence in presenting, storytelling and defending creative thinking with senior stakeholders.
• Sound commercial judgement around scope, budgets, resourcing and delivery.

You don’t need to be the strongest ‘hands-on’ in every specialism, this role is more focussed on having the breadth and judgement to ask good questions, recognise excellent work and bring specialists together around a shared direction.

Authority

You’ll lead the Design team and have ownership of its creative standards, team development and day-to-day direction. You’ll be the senior Design voice in agency leadership conversations and across important client opportunities. This is primarily a leadership and direction role. There will be moments to get hands-on, particularly in early concepting, pitches or difficult creative challenges, but your greatest impact will come through the work you help others produce.

Person specification

You’re a confident, collaborative creative leader who can make decisions when there are competing views or imperfect information. You give clear feedback, bring people with you and care about developing the capability of the team. You can move comfortably between creative strategy, client conversations, people leadership and the practical realities of agency delivery. You know when work needs more time and attention, and when a pragmatic solution is the right call.

What does success look like in this role?

• Engage continues to produce strong, strategically grounded creative work across Web, Performance and Activation.
• The Design Team has clear priorities, ownership and support, with senior people confident leading their work.
• Design is involved early enough to shape opportunities and client work.
• Creative quality stays high while projects are delivered efficiently and commercially.
• Clients and colleagues see you as a credible, constructive senior creative partner.

A bit about us

Founded in 2007, we’re the digital agency for brands that demand attention. We’re 100% employee owned and a certified B Corp, with a team that brings together strategy, creative, technology and performance. Find out more about us, meet the team and explore our latest work. Thinking we might be a good fit?