Senior Creative Services Manager

Barbour; South Shields; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Discretionary Company bonus scheme

Staff Discount

Staff Shop

25 days holiday as standard increasing

Access to training and development

Free onsite parking

Subsidised canteen

Hybrid & flexible working

4pm finish on a Friday

Job summary

Barbour, based at our South Shields head office, seeks an experienced Senior Creative Services Manager to lead the photo studio and graphics teams on a maternity cover basis. The role focuses on balancing workloads, refining workflows, and driving continuous process improvements while preserving creativity.

The role is office-based with 4 days in the office and 1 day of homeworking, coordinating with global brand strategy and senior stakeholders to ensure timely, high-quality output.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in creative operations, in-house studio management, or creative services within a fast-paced environment.
• Strong leadership capability with experience managing multi-disciplinary teams across graphics, styling, photography, and production.
• Deep operational expertise in establishing workflows, managing production budgets, and overseeing resource planning.
• Highly proficient in Mac Operating Systems and Microsoft Office suite.
• Experience managing creative workflow systems (experience with tools like Lets Flo is advantageous).

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage the Photo studio and Graphics teams, fostering a positive, collaborative, and high-performing working environment.
• Oversee photo studio disciplines (Styling, Photography, and Production) to ensure teams are coordinated, aligned, and well-supported.
• Facilitate clear communication, structured handovers, and shared ownership across multi-disciplinary creative teams.
• Support workload planning and resource allocation to balance team capacity against business priorities.
• Partner with Creative leadership and key stakeholders to align output with global brand strategy.
• Own end-to-end creative workflows across photo studio and Graphics, ensuring projects move efficiently from brief to delivery.
• Establish and embed robust processes, clear responsibilities, and defined ways of working.
• Ensure all briefs are clear, achievable, and fully resourced prior to kick-off.
• Monitor timelines, capacity, and project status, proactively resolving potential bottlenecks.
• Maintain the workflow tool Lets Flo as the true data source for Range Plan seasonal accuracy, partnering regularly with Trade and IT on system integrations and efficiencies.
• Continuously review creative processes to eliminate inefficiencies, duplication, and unnecessary steps.
• Use data, team feedback, and operational experience to introduce modern tools and smarter ways of working.
• Manage the budget across photo studio and Graphics, tracking spend and proposing cost-effective solutions.
• Positively lead operational change, ensuring new processes are fully adopted and embedded.
• Serve as the main connective tissue between Creative Services and Brand, Marketing, Ecommerce, Digital, and Product teams.
• Clearly communicate creative capacity, lead times, and production constraints to stakeholders.
• Proactively manage competing business priorities to findpractical solutions.

Skills

Creative operations

In-house studio management

Leadership

Budget management

Workflow improvement

Mac OS

MS Office

Stakeholder management

Travel flexibility

Tools

Lets Flo

Job description

We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced and highly organised Senior Creative Services Managers to join our Global Marketing team here at our Head Office in South Shields on a temporary, maternity cover basis. This role will be key to overseeing photo studio disciplines alongside Graphics. The core focus will be to create an environment where creative teams can excel - balancing workload, refining workflows and driving continuous process improvement without compromising creativity. This is a key leadership role within our Creative function, connecting people, processes and priorities to ensure work moves seamlessly from initial brief through to final delivery.

*The role is based at head office in South Shields, and the expectation is 4 days in the office and 1 day of homeworking.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Lead and manage the Photo studio and Graphics teams, fostering a positive, collaborative, and high-performing working environment.
• Oversee photo studio disciplines (Styling, Photography, and Production) to ensure teams are coordinated, aligned, and well-supported.
• Facilitate clear communication, structured handovers, and shared ownership across multi-disciplinary creative teams.
• Support workload planning and resource allocation to balance team capacity against business priorities.
• Partner with Creative leadership and key stakeholders to align output with global brand strategy.
• Own end-to-end creative workflows across photo studio and Graphics, ensuring projects move efficiently from brief to delivery.
• Establish and embed robust processes, clear responsibilities, and defined ways of working.
• Ensure all briefs are clear, achievable, and fully resourced prior to kick-off.
• Monitor timelines, capacity, and project status, proactively resolving potential bottlenecks.
• Maintain the workflow tool Lets Flo as the true data source for Range Plan seasonal accuracy, partnering regularly with Trade and IT on system integrations and efficiencies.
• Continuously review creative processes to eliminate inefficiencies, duplication, and unnecessary steps.
• Use data, team feedback, and operational experience to introduce modern tools and smarter ways of working.
• Manage the budget across photo studio and Graphics, tracking spend and proposing cost-effective solutions.
• Positively lead operational change, ensuring new processes are fully adopted and embedded.
• Serve as the main connective tissue between Creative Services and Brand, Marketing, Ecommerce, Digital, and Product teams.
• Clearly communicate creative capacity, lead times, and production constraints to stakeholders.
• Proactively manage competing business priorities to findpractical solutions.

Skills and Experience:

• Proven experience in creative operations, in-house studio management, or creative services within a fast-paced environment.
• Strong leadership capability with experience managing multi-disciplinary teams across graphics, styling, photography, and production.
• Deep operational expertise in establishing workflows, managing production budgets, and overseeing resource planning.
• Highly proficient in Mac Operating Systems and Microsoft Office suite.
• Experience managing creative workflow systems (experience with tools like Lets Flo is advantageous).
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills with an ability to bring clarity to competing priorities.
• High attention to detail combined with a practical, solutions-focused mindset.
• Strong appreciation for the creative process—knowing how to balance structure with the space creative teams need to thrive.
• Flexibility to travel as required by the role.
• Discretionary Company bonus scheme
• Staff Discount
• Staff Shop
• 25 days holiday as standard increasing with length of service plus bank holidays
• Access to training and development activities to support your career development
• Free onsite parking
• Subsidised canteen
• Operate hybrid & flexible working
• 4pm finish on a Friday

Note: In the event that a sufficient volume of suitable applications are received, the post may close prior to the specified closing date.

The Company

he Barbour story began in 1894 in South Shields in the North East of England. Founder John Barbour began supplying oilskins and other garments to protect the growing community of sailors, fishermen and dockers. Still family owned and now fifth generation, Barbour HQ remains in South Shields. Under the leadership of Chairman Dame Margaret Barbour, Barbour has grown into a lifestyle brand sold in over 55 countries worldwide including Europe, the US and Asia offering a wardrobe of stylish functional clothing, footwear and accessories inspired by the unique values of the British countryside. The iconic Barbour Bedale and Barbour Beaufort wax jackets continue to be made by hand in the factory in South Shields. In 2020, Barbour launched Wax for Life, an overarching name for all of Barbour’s wax services designed to encourage customers to extend the life of their wax garments. Wax for Life includes re-waxing and repairs (first introduced in 1921) and Barbour Re-Loved an upcycling circularity initiative. Each year over 70,000 wax garments are sent back to Barbour globally to be repaired, rewaxed or altered.

Barbour House
South Shields
NE32 3EG
0191 455 4444
[e-mail]