Design Lead

JOB PURPOSE

This position sits in our Marketing & Technology service, supporting teams across EMEA. We combine data, technology, creative content, and paid media to crack brands’ business problems and drive revenue through digital marketing solutions like ad campaigns, augmented reality, and chatbots. Our clients include eBay, Open AI, VISA, Meta, and The White Company.

This is a hands-on leadership role: you'll spend your time on the tools as well as leading a team of designers, and you'll help us expand the team.

Location: This role is based in Hungary. If you're able to match UK working hours, that would be very welcome, as you'll work closely with initially our London team but also teams across EMEA.

As a Design Lead, you'll be both a senior maker and a people leader. You'll own the design on a number of clients as brand guardian and lead designer, producing work yourself while guiding, coaching, and line managing a team of designers at a range of levels. You'll also play an active part in hiring, from shaping roles and interviewing to onboarding new starters.

Our designers work on projects that call for art direction, graphic design, 2D motion, and editing. Each has their own specialism, whether illustration, 3D, or motion, so the team brings something different to every project. You'll help bring the best out of each of them while setting the standard through your own craft.

You'll work closely with design leads to build processes, raise the quality of our output, and evolve how the team works.

Hands-on craft

• Create and execute high-quality work across campaigns, from concept and look and feel through to final delivery
• Work directly in the tools on art direction, graphic design, motion, and video editing, as the work needs
• Generate creative ideas and campaign look and feels across a variety of formats and platforms, including global campaigns
• Maintain brand consistency across all marketing projects for the clients you lead on
• Be aware of and respond to current design trends and culture, and stay up to date with industry developments and tools

Leading the team

• Lead, develop, motivate, and inspire a team of designers, and encourage collaboration within it
• Line manage designers: run regular one-to-ones, set goals, give clear and constructive feedback, and support career progression
• Review work, give craft guidance, and raise the quality of design across all deliverables from the team
• Work with the design leads to build processes and structures and to shape how we work
• Suggest best ways of working, and hustle for the best opportunities for the team

Hiring and team building

• Take an active role in hiring: help define roles, review portfolios and showreels, interview candidates, and make recommendations
• Help onboard new starters and set them up to do their best work
• Contribute to building a team with a healthy mix of skills and specialisms

Collaboration and clients

• Build productive working relationships with other disciplines across the agency to deliver projects
• Collaborate with other heads of design and creative planners
• Present work internally and externally, and act as a design lead on client accounts

Essential

• Experience in a senior design role within the creative industry
• Experience leading and line managing other designers, including one-to-ones, feedback, and performance and development conversations
• Experience of being involved in hiring, such as interviewing, assessing portfolios, and contributing to hiring decisions
• A design background and the ability to work confidently on the tools alongside your team
• Strong motion design and video editing skills in After Effects and Premiere Pro
• Experience in video production and post-production techniques
• Expert knowledge of the Adobe Creative Suite
• Outstanding showreel and/or portfolio
• Strong aesthetic skills and knowledge of graphic design principles, with attention to visual detail
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including presenting work to clients and stakeholders
• Excellent organisational and time management skills
• Ability to stay focused under pressure in a fast-paced environment
• A love of learning new things and exploring new formats

WE OFFER

• Private health insurance and access to a range of healthcare and preventive services.
• Sports & cultural benefits to support your wellbeing and work-life balance.
• Dog-friendly office
• Hybrid working policy
• A reputation for doing good. DEPT® has been a Certified B Corp® since 2021.
• Awesome clients. Whether big, small, local or global — at DEPT® you’ll get the opportunity to work with all of them. And we celebrate all of our successes together!
• The opportunity for possibility. We want to enable you to do what you do best and help you develop your skills further with training, development and certifications.
• Global annual DEPT® Cares Month in which employees come together and donate their skills to support local charities.

Budapest | GMT Time Zone 10:30 AM - 7PM

DEPT® is a Growth Invention company built to help the world’s most ambitious brands grow faster. Operating at the intersection of technology and marketing, our 4,000+ specialists deliver growth invention services across Brand & Media, Experience, Commerce, CRM, and Technology & Data. We’re 50|50 tech and marketing, partner-led, and first to move. Clients include Google, Lufthansa, Meta, eBay, and OpenAI. We have been certified B Corp and Climate Neutral since 2021.