Senior Designer (New Business/Growth Team)

London, England, United Kingdom

12/4/2024

Job Title: Senior Designer/Associate Director, Design

Department: Growth (new business) & Marketing Team, Havas Media Network

Location: Havas Village London

Reports to: Creative Director, Growth & Marketing team and Head of Growth & Marketing.

About Havas Media Network

Havas Media Network is part of one of the largest global communications agencies. Owned by French media holding company, Vivendi. We are headquartered out of St Pancras, London, and along with offices in Leeds, Manchester and

Edinburgh, we operate globally.

Havas Media Network is working with the likes of Domino’s, Ocado, Bumble, Bethesda, Kia, BBC, Starbucks, U, Maersk and British Red Cross.

Our overarching mission is to make a meaningful difference to the brands, businesses and lives of the people we work with. Working with our clients, our solution is simple: we identify, agree and deliver meaningful media experiences from the five practices within our Network:

• Havas Entertainment – through which we help clients create meaningful moments in culture.
• Havas Media – through which we deliver meaningful outcomes through meaningful media.
• Havas Market – through which we help clients build meaningful retail experiences.
• Havas Play – through which we connect brands to fans through passion and purpose.
• Ledger Bennett – through which we create the ‘forever customer’ in B2B.
  
  

The Senior Designer/Associate Design Director Role

We’re looking for a confident, experienced, fast and fearless senior-level designer who has a hunger for managing talented, happy teams and creating inspiring and beautiful work.

The Associate Director of Design role is a key member of a 7-person design studio, situated within the Growth and Marketing Team at Havas Media Network. Under the guidance of the Creative Director, you will work collaboratively together, alongside the Studio Manager to help direct the team.

You will be responsible for delivering brilliant creative, design solutions for a variety of new business pitches, internal marketing projects and events as well as maintaining branded templates and materials for the agency to keep us true to our brands. You will have the opportunity to work across many Havas Media Network agency brands, most notably Havas Media, Havas Entertainment and Havas Market.

You will be responsible for producing and guiding the design of presentations, infographics, large & small format printing and digital assets for social media and microsites.

The Ideal Candidate Will

• Be highly creative
• Be a talented creative problem solver
• Have a strong eye for detail
• Be a great communicator
• Be a true team player
• Be a brilliant people manager and care deeply about developing design talent
• Be a fantastic organiser
  
  

Design and creativity

• Have expert knowledge in presentation design. Know how to create and develop visually impactful and engaging PowerPoint presentations that effectively communicate complex ideas, data, and information.
• Conceptualise briefs, to design high-quality marketing assets, including brochures, posters and social media graphics.
• Understand and advise design solutions
• Ensure agency brands are kept consistent in branding, messaging, and design.
• Understand and execute design across small and large format printing
• Have a expert knowledge of typographic layout and a keen eye for detail.
• Ability to visualise complex data and create compelling visuals
• Be able to think outside the box and come up with creative, innovative solutions to problems.
• Understand a design task and know the best form of execution
• Stay informed on emerging industry trends, competitive landscapes, and new technologies to ensure creative work remains innovative and forward-thinking.
• Continuously seek ways to improve creative processes and deliverables, keeping the agency at the forefront of the media landscape.
  
  

Project leadership

• Work closely with the Creative Director and strategise project delivery, to ensure the project is delivered to a high standard.
• Attend project briefings to dissect and diagnose project needs.
• Liaise with the Studio Manager for all design projects booked in the studio and agree timeframes and resources.
• From briefing through to final delivery, be the design lead and trusted advisor on pitches and events with key stakeholders. Ensuring design deliverables are completed within the timeframe and to the highest possible standard.
• Attend core pitch meetings and rehearsals.
• Manage stakeholder communication, expectation management and feedback.
• Identify, strategise and deliver on areas of growth for the team, working to push the creative capabilities.
• Work collaboratively with the growth team to understand the graphic requirements of a project.
• Ability to step up and lead the team when the Creative Director is unavailable.
  
  

Team management

• Responsible for managing the personal development of 3 direct reports of mid-junior level. This will include their 121’s, personal development plans, career progression and growth plans.
• Ensure the team are happy, motivated and inspired, bringing the best out of each individual by championing their individual skills and interests.
• Gets the most out of the team by delegating authority to match their job level and hold them accountable.
• Assist in managing team workloads and project objectives effectively.
• Assist training/mentoring the team on design programs, design skills, soft skills and creative skills
• Holding the team accountable for delivering tasks on time, to the correct spec and to a high standard.
• Provide PowerPoint presentation training for growth team members, giving them advice and providing them with a skillset to create quality designed presentations.
  
  

New business & marketing

• Partner with the growth team to craft compelling pitches that win clients and showcase the agency's unique strengths.
• Working with the Creative Director in the development of pitch materials, presentations, large scale pitch theatre, experiential design, and marketing collateral that support new client acquisition.
• Collaborate closely with account and strategy teams to ensure creative solutions cover key narratives.
• Attend core meetings and rehearsals to understand key narratives to help design the overall look and feel of the event or pitch.
  
  

Qualifications

• Min 6+ years of proven experience as a Senior Designer or equivalent who’s looking to take their career to the next level.
• A strong portfolio showcasing expertise in presentation design, editorial layout, marketing assets, events, and branding.
• Proven experience in running and managing a team of direct reports.
• Strong understanding of design principles, typography, and colour theory
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment and manage multiple projects simultaneously.
• Understanding and experience of large Media/Creative agency working environments
  
  

Skills & Experience

• Previous agency experience in a similar role
• Expert presentation design skills and proficiency in PowerPoint and Microsoft 365 Suite.
• Comprehensive knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop)
• Ability to handle a variety of tasks and projects simultaneously
• Excellent attention to detail and ability to produce work to a high standard
• Ability to work under pressure and be adaptable to tight deadlines in a fast-paced environment
• Experience exporting print-ready artwork
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills
• An eye for understanding the graphic requirements of a project
• Passion for in design trends and relentless desire to generate new ideas
• Pro-active, self-motivated and ambitious
• Great layout aesthetic
• Team player
• Flexible to work outside normal office hours as required during pitches
  
  

Desirable But Not Essential

• Proven experience in a new business or internal marketing team to help understand the workings and the context of the role that Design plays in these key areas.