Staff Creative Design Lead

MrQ; St Albans; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

MrQ is seeking a senior design leader to own the design language and system across the brand, campaigns, social, CRM, sponsorships and merch. You will act as the deputy to the Creative Director, raising the ceiling of work while keeping output consistent, fast and on-brand.

You'll lead from a maker’s mindset, mentoring a wider design team, and ensuring discipline scales with the team’s growth. A passion for casino or entertainment helps you connect with how players engage.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in hands-on design roles with real craft and teeth.
• Built or run a design system used by a team, with usable components and guidelines.
• Proven mentorship, with designers becoming better from your feedback.
• Leadership that works without the title, deputising for a creative lead when needed.

Responsibilities

• Concept and execute design across the brand, campaigns, assets and activations.
• Own and steer the MrQ design language; evolve and protect it.
• Take high-stakes briefs, set benchmarks, and lead from hands-on execution.
• Mentor and guide the wider design team, aligning work with brand standards.
• Represent the creative point of view in meetings and cross-team discussions.

Skills

Design leadership

Design systems

Mentorship

Hands-on design

Brand governance

Portfolio reviews

Job description

Mr Who?

MrQ - we're an awesome, award winning online casino launched in 2018. We're big on tech, big on performance and most of all - big on fun. Over the years, we have experienced explosive growth - which means we need more rock stars to join our quest for total world domination. The Head of Creative can't be in every room, in every brief, and on every deadline at once. And a creative team only scales if craft is backed by discipline, otherwise quality lives in one person's head and falls over the moment they're busy. This role fixes both. You're the senior craft authority who owns the design language day to day, the deputy who can steer when the Head of Creative steps out, and the person who instils the practices that keep the whole team's output consistent, on-brand and fast. You raise the ceiling by making the best work, and raise the floor by making great work repeatable.

What You Will Do

• Concept and execute design across the brand; campaigns, brand assets, social, CRM, sponsorship activations, merch, the lot, at a level that defines what "good" means for the team.
• Help own and steer the MrQ design language: the type, layout, colour, illustration and codes that make us recognisable with the logo removed. Evolve it deliberately; protect it fiercely.
• Take the hardest, highest-stakes briefs yourself and set the benchmark others work to.
• Stay genuinely hands-on. This is a maker's role, not a role that only reviews other people's making.

The discipline (holding the standard by building how the team works)

• Establish and run the working practices that keep a fast team sharp: briefing standards, feedback loops, file and naming hygiene, version control, hand-off and archiving that survive real deadlines.
• Own and maintain the design system; components, templates and guidelines the team actually uses because they're good, not because they're mandated.
• Set the quality bar and hold it. Give feedback that's direct, useful and makes the work better, without crushing the person who made it.
• Build the organisational discipline that lets craft scale, so quality lives in the system, not just in one person's instincts.

The deputy (leading when the Creative Director can't)

• Represent the creative point of view in meetings, reviews and cross-team discussions when the Creative Director isn't there. Hold the line on quality and brand.
• Spearhead key design initiatives end to end; brief, concept, delivery, and the people around it.
• Mentor and steer the wider design team, leading from expertise rather than authority.
• Be a trusted second pair of eyes and a sounding board; the person the Creative Director can hand something to and stop worrying about it.

What We're Looking For

You've spent years designing at a high level and your portfolio proves it. Not just polished, but considered. Strong ideas executed with real craft. You can point at work and explain every decision behind it.

You're digital to your core. You understand platform-native design, how work behaves across every touchpoint from paid social to product, and the difference between design that looks good in a deck and design that performs in the wild.

You're a systems thinker as much as a maker. You've built or run a design system, or set up the working practices of a team, and you've seen first‑hand how much faster good discipline makes everyone. You know that "process" is only a dirty word when it's done badly.

You can lead without the title doing the work for you. People follow your judgement because you're usually right and you show your reasoning. You're comfortable being handed responsibility and comfortable handing it back up when something needs escalating.

You've got backbone and humility in equal measure. You'll challenge work that isn't good enough, and take it gracefully when someone challenges yours.

You care about casino, gaming or entertainment, or you're genuinely curious about it. You get why people play, and why doing it properly matters.

8+ years in hands‑on design roles, with a portfolio that shows real craft… and teeth. Considered, not just polished. Work you can defend decision by decision, in a room full of people who know the difference.

• Evidence you've built how a team works, not just what it makes. Briefing standards, feedback loops, file and version hygiene and hand-off. Working practices you personally set up, that survived real deadlines and were still in use a year later.
• You've built or run a design system a team actually used. Components, templates and guidelines that stayed alive because they were good, not because they were mandated.
• Proven mentorship. Designers who are visibly better because you were in the room, and feedback that's direct, useful and makes the work stronger without crushing the person who made it.
• Leadership that doesn't need the title to do the work. You've deputised for a creative lead: held the line on quality and brand in rooms they weren't in, and known which calls were yours and which to hand back up.
• Genuine curiosity about casino, gaming or entertainment. You don't need to be a player; you need to understand why people play.

Reporting to: Darren Suffolk

• Level: 5

What We Offer

• Enjoy a competitive salary package that recognizes your hard work and dedication.
• Need some extra time off? We've got you covered with additional leave days, and we believe in celebrating life's special moments, including your birthday, with dedicated birthday leave.
• Family matters to us, too, which is why we offer a generous four-week parental leave.
• Your well-being is our priority, supported by international health and life insurance.
• Stay motivated with wellness incentives and seize opportunities for personal and professional growth with our growth allowance.
• Embrace a flexible working environment that caters to your needs, and join our friendly and multinational team, where collaboration and camaraderie flourish.

We are committed to fostering a workplace that values and celebrates diversity. We welcome individuals of all backgrounds and experiences, and we believe that a diverse and inclusive environment leads to innovation and success. We actively promote equal opportunities for all employees and strive to create a space where everyone's voices are heard and respected. Join us in our journey to build a truly inclusive workplace where every person can thrive and contribute to our collective success.