Wellington-Based Senior Creative Studio Lead (Hands-on)

Great Journeys New Zealand | KiwiRail; Wellington; On-site; NZD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hands-on leadership with broad brand V

Shape studio workflow, capability and

Diverse portfolio across digital,print

Tools and templates to improveDelivery

Coaching designers and building high‑a

Job summary

KiwiRail invites a seasoned Studio Design Lead to steer the in-house Passenger Design Studio across Interislander, Great Journeys NZ and KiwiRail Passenger. This Wellington-based, permanent role blends hands-on design with leadership, guiding a small team to deliver high-quality, accessible creative across digital, print and physical channels.

You’ll champion brand consistency, build processes, mentor designers and collaborate with Marketing, Product and Operations to solve customer-centric

Qualifications

• Significant senior design and creative experience across digital, social, campaign, print and physical customer experiences.
• Strong brand thinking and ability to translate brand strategy into distinctive creative work.
• Excellent creative judgement with attention to detail, craft and consistency.
• Experience balancing hands-on work with leading and developing a design team.
• Experience maturing a design team’s capability, standards and processes.
• Collaborative style working across Marketing, Product, Customer Experience, Digital, Commercial and operations.
• Understanding of creative effectiveness and customer insight-driven improvements.
• Ability to challenge briefs constructively and manage stakeholder relations.

Responsibilities

• Personally design and deliver complex, high-priority work across digital, social, print and events.
• Lead the daily operation of the in-house Passenger Design Studio and develop designers.
• Provide creative direction, feedback, and quality assurance across studio output.
• Manage studio intake, briefs, workflow, priorities, capacity, approvals and delivery commitments.
• Ensure creative work meets customer, channel, accessibility, production and brand requirements.
• Determine when work should be completed internally or with external specialists.
• Manage suppliers, production schedules, quality, costs and delivery.
• Improve studio efficiency through templates, assets and AI-enabled workflows.
• Collaborate across Marketing, Product, Customer Experience, Digital, Revenue and Operations.]
• Be a trusted creative partner to teams across Passenger and turn opportunities into clear briefs and compelling responses.
• Keep stakeholders informed about priorities, timing, decisions, risks and delivery.

Skills

Senior design leadership

Digital & print design

Brand translation

Stakeholder collaboration

Team coaching

Accessibility standards

Education

Relevant tertiary qualification in creative/design

Job description

KiwiRail invites a seasoned Studio Design Lead to steer the in-house Passenger Design Studio across Interislander, Great Journeys NZ and KiwiRail Passenger. This Wellington-based, permanent role blends hands-on design with leadership, guiding a small team to deliver high-quality, accessible creative across digital, print and physical channels.

You’ll champion brand consistency, build processes, mentor designers and collaborate with Marketing, Product and Operations to solve customer-centric