Creative Lead
Manchester | Hybrid | 3 days in the office, 2 days from home
We’re looking for a Creative Lead to join a fast-growing beauty brand based in Manchester and take the lead on how the brand looks, feels and shows up across every channel.
This is a hands-on creative leadership role. You’ll have a team around you, but this isn’t a position where you’ll be purely managing from the sidelines. We’re looking for someone who still loves getting involved in the work — whether that’s directing a shoot, shaping a campaign, jumping into an edit or figuring out the best way to turn an idea into content that people actually want to watch.
You’ll have a big say in the creative direction of the brand, while working closely with Social, Brand, Paid, Ecommerce and NPD to make sure the creative not only looks great, but delivers commercially too.
The role :
You’ll oversee the creative output across social, paid, campaigns, product photography, ecommerce, packaging and wider brand activity.
A big part of the role will be making sure the team has a clear creative direction and the tools, processes and support to deliver consistently strong work. You’ll also be the final creative eye before content goes live, making sure it feels right for the brand, is produced to a high standard and actually answers the brief.
You’ll be involved from the very beginning of a project through to the final asset - developing ideas, planning shoots, directing talent, reviewing edits and making decisions about what will work best for each platform.
What you’ll be doing:
- Lead and develop the in-house creative team, setting priorities and maintaining a high standard across a busy content schedule
- Shape the creative direction for campaigns, social content, paid advertising, product launches and ecommerce
- Turn briefs into strong creative concepts, deciding how an idea should be brought to life rather than simply executing what’s written down
- Lead shoots from concept and pre-production through to filming, photography and final delivery
- Direct talent, creators and production teams on set, while being comfortable getting hands-on with camera, lighting and content capture
- Edit content yourself when needed and help establish a consistently strong editing style across the team
- Create content that feels native to TikTok, Instagram and other key platforms rather than simply repurposing the same creative everywhere
- Work alongside the Paid and Ecommerce teams to develop different hooks, formats and edits that can be tested and optimised
- Review and sign off creative before it goes live, ensuring it meets the brief and reflects the brand
- Oversee product photography, still-life, retouching, design and ecommerce imagery
- Help shape and evolve the brand’s visual identity across social, digital, packaging and print
- Work with freelancers, creators and external production partners when additional support is needed
- Keep the creative team organised with effective workflows, templates, presets and a well-managed asset library
- Look at creative performance and use the data to influence future content — understanding what is driving attention, engagement and conversion
- Present ideas and creative work to senior stakeholders and wider teams
- Keep up with changes across social platforms, new formats and emerging trends, while knowing which ones are genuinely relevant to the brand
What we’re looking for:
We’re looking for someone who combines strong creative taste with serious hands-on ability.
You’ll ideally have experience in beauty, fashion, lifestyle or another visually led consumer brand, with a portfolio that shows you can create content that is both commercially effective and creatively distinctive.
You’ll also bring:
- Experience managing or leading a creative team, either in-house or agency-side
- A strong portfolio/showreel covering social, campaigns, video and photography
- Excellent video editing skills, particularly in Premiere Pro and After Effects
- Confidence using CapCut and other tools used for fast-paced, social-first content
- Strong Adobe Creative Suite skills across Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom and InDesign
- Experience with Figma and/or Canva
- Good camera and lighting knowledge, with the ability to shoot as well as direct
- Experience planning and running professional shoots, including casting, locations, crew and budgets
- A genuinely strong understanding of TikTok and Instagram and what makes content perform on each
- An understanding of the difference between organic and paid creative and how each needs to be approached
- A commercially minded approach to creativity - you’re interested in the numbers as well as the aesthetics
- Excellent communication and collaboration skills
- The ability to stay organised and calm while juggling multiple projects, shoots and deadlines
- Plenty of energy, curiosity and a willingness to get stuck in
What makes this role different?
You won’t be stepping into a role where the creative direction is already set in stone.
You’ll have genuine influence over how the brand develops visually, while working alongside a team that is moving quickly and producing a high volume of content.
It’s the kind of role that will suit someone who enjoys both the creative thinking and the making - someone who can confidently present a campaign concept in the morning and be on set or in an edit that afternoon.
If you’re excited by beauty, social-first content and creating work that people actually stop scrolling for, we’d love to hear from you.
Location: Manchester
Working pattern: Hybrid — 3 days in the office and 2 days from home