Senior Graphic Design Manager

Iris Recruitment; North East; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus scheme

Staff Discount

Staff Shop

Healthcare plan

25 days holiday

Training

Onsite parking

Canteen

Hybrid work

Early finish Fridays

Wellbeing

Job summary

Barbour is recruiting a Senior Graphic Design Manager to lead the global visual design language across brand and commercial touchpoints. Based at Barbour's South Shields head office, the role requires 4 days in the office and 1 day home-working, in a fast-paced Global Marketing team.

You will translate seasonal strategy into distinctive assets, set global design standards, mentor internal teams, and build external freelancer networks to scale capability.

Qualifications

• Significant industry experience in graphic design, ideally premium fashion/retail/lifestyle or agency environments.
• Proven track record leading and developing design talent.
• Strong portfolio showing visual identity, layout, and storytelling across print and digital.

Responsibilities

• Elevate Barbour's global design language translating brand strategy into assets across channels.
• Maintain high standards for typography, layout, and visual storytelling while evolving heritage codes.
• Act as global guardian for visual identity across retail, digital, social, and e-commerce touchpoints.
• Develop scalable design systems, guidelines, and toolkits for global markets.
• Lead and develop the design team, with clear objectives and succession planning.
• Manage internal resources and an external freelancer pool for specialist work.

Skills

Graphic design leadership

Team mentorship

Brand identity

Stakeholder comms

Motion design basics

Education

Graphic Design Degree

Tools

Adobe Creative Suite

Figma

Job description

Senior Graphic Design Manager

Barbour House, Jarrow

Competitive Salary

Permanent, Full Time

Position Overview:

We have an exciting opportunity for a Senior Graphic Design Manager to join our Global Marketing team here at our Head Office in South Shields. This role will be key to lead the development and execution of Barbour's global visual design language across all brand and commercial touch points. This role will translating seasonal strategy and campaign direction into distinctive visual assets, you will set global design standards while managing and mentoring an internal team and building a network of external creative freelancers.

The role is based at head office in South Shields and the expectation is 4 days in the office and 1 day of home-working.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Elevate Barbour's global graphic design language, translating brand strategy, seasonal direction, and campaign concepts into compelling visual identities across physical and digital channels.
• Maintain high standards for typography, layout, graphic treatments, and visual storytelling while respecting and evolving the brand's heritage visual codes.
• Act as global guardian for visual identity, ensuring consistency across retail, wholesale, digital, social, e-commerce, and experiential touchpoints.
• Develop scalable design systems, guidelines, and toolkits for global markets.
• Lead, inspire, and develop the graphic design team, setting clear objectives, offering regular creative critique, and managing succession planning.
• Manage internal resources and build a external freelancer pool to bring in specialist skills and free up the internal team for core creative work.
• Establish efficient workflows, clear briefing standards, and approval processes alongside Brand and Creative Services.
• Drive design efficiency by exploring new tools, templates, automation, and AI-enabled workflows.
• Partner with Brand, Trade, Digital, E-commerce, and regional teams to align design solutions with commercial goals and hero product priorities.
• Present creative concepts confidently to senior stakeholders, articulating rationale and balancing creative vision with channel constraints and budgets.

Skills and Experience:

• Significant industry experience in graphic design, ideally within premium fashion, retail, lifestyle, or creative agency environments.
• Proven track record leading, managing, and developing design talent.
• High-calibre portfolio demonstrating sophisticated visual identity, layout, and storytelling across print and digital media.
• Commercial acumen with strong stakeholder presentation and cross-functional communication skills.
• Deep understanding of contemporary fashion, culture, and omni-channel creative requirements (retail, e-commerce, digital, social).
• Expert knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite and working proficiency in Figma.
• Degree in Graphic Design or Visual Communication (or equivalent), with knowledge of motion design, AI tools, or international markets considered advantageous.

Benefits:

• Discretionary Company bonus scheme
• Staff Discount
• Staff Shop
• Healthcare Cash Plan
• 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
• Wellbeing support