Art Director

Central to our product and range development process, our Art Directors are the lynch pin between Creative, Product & Ranging and Commercial functions.
Reporting into the Head of Creative, you’ll support the development and implementation of customer-specific creative and commercial visions.

Working as part of a cross-functional, customer-focused team, you will identify creative trends & market gaps and taking your knowledge of design, product development and shopper insights, you’ll establish, articulate and champion customer & consumer needs to create compelling creative strategies and product solutions. Your role is to ensure the product ranges, concepts and formats hit the shelves exceeding expectations in all areas; design aesthetic, cost of product, sustainability, market appetite and sale-ability to name a few.

A varied role, you’ll flex both your creative and commercial skills, bringing to life strategy and creative vision in a way that ultimately speaks to our varied consumer base, on a personal level, helping everyone lead emotionally connected lives.

Your main responsibilities will include:

• Lead creatively in the product and range development process, ensuring the creative vision is fulfilled and championed from concept to delivery
• Interpret the customer strategy, overlay insights and define the creative direction
• Translating consumer, retailer and shopper insights & trends information into market leading product solutions and concepts
• You will play a part in determining how this shows up in store – balancing the creative with the commercials, including cost of goods and consumer appetite
• Leading the design team through inspirational, articulate briefing and art direction, ensuring a successful understanding and execution of strategies to produce market-leading product.
• A cross functional leader, you’ll be the design influencer internally and with the Customer, leading effective ways of working and strong relationships, keeping the creative vision alive
• Exemplary end to end understanding to support best practice ways of working, build efficiencies and continuous improvement in order to improve the product or work process

Whilst design, trend and insights will be the central to your success, you’ll enjoy a varied role equally leveraging your leadership and commercial understanding too. To be successful in this role we’re looking for you to demonstrate:

• Previous experience of working in a similar role, in a creative led environment. FMCG environment beneficial, but not essential.
• Previous experience of developing ranges of products, such as textiles, apparel, homewares, greetings etc
• A solid commercial understanding, seamlessly factoring this into the way you influence others, pitch ideas and lead your team. The ability to commercialise ideation and drive profitability
• A solid understanding of design, product development and visual merchandising process
• You’re skilled at bringing the right product to market, in the right way, at the right time with impact and authority
• Your commitment to engaging in and encouraging a culture of feedback, discussion and collaboration to enable highly productive, flexible and resilient ways of working from ideation through to final sku approval
• A skilled leader of people, ideally with previous experience on performance management with direct and indirect teams
• Experience of building global relationships to utilise resource and shared learnings, would be a significant advantage.

Based at our Dawson Lane site in Bradford, close to key motorway links you’ll be able to take advantage of:

• Competitive salary
• 26 days holiday plus bank holidays
• Annual bonus scheme
• Health cashback scheme
• Pension benefit
• Flexible working opportunities including hybrid working
• Free onsite parking for when you are in the office
• A variety of other cultural and lifestyle benefits, aimed at promoting a positive work/life balance

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