Design Director

Welcome to the Bear Cave, we’re an independent, award-winning, design focused creative agency.

We create disruption for Start-ups, Scale ups and Big Brands who need to ‘step up’ to stay relevant. We are passionate about championing the challenger brand, working with cutting edge start-ups in the food & beverage, retail and tech industries. At the same time, we work with a selection of high-profile brands such as Kopparberg, Red Bull and Deloitte.

We’re proud of who we are and what we’ve built together. Over the past few years, we’ve won design awards, grown a start-up community of over 300 businesses and held sold-out design events with upwards of 500 sign-ups. Next, we have our sights set on D&AD, Transform and DBA awards this year.

We’re a small but mighty team: currently we’re 8 people strong looking to make 3 new hires in the first quarter, plus Pip our studio dog. At the moment we’re all remote for safety reasons but are very excited about putting our stamp on a shiny new London studio in the coming months to further accelerate our ambitious scale goals.

We are looking for entrepreneurial spirits, we want White Bear to be your business and we want you to drive it like it’s your own. With this great individual responsibility, we need to have 100% trust in each other, making us a close-knit team. We admire bravery and a hunger for hustle and personal growth. We’re a team who are driven by purpose and demonstrate action rather than analysis paralysis.

At the heart of who we are is a playful spirit that is the common thread through all that we do. We bring out our inner child in order to bring to life others visions.

We are a growing agency looking for a Design Director who wants to be part of and help drive that growth.

THE ROLE

Award-winning design work

Your role will span across strategy, branding, packaging and campaign communications.

You will need to deliver to the highest standard right from strategic thinking at the beginning, to fresh concept development and crafting right through to technical know-how at competition. You must be comfortable with having freedom to fail in order to create the new.

As Design Director you must have a great ability to understand our clients, their KPI’s, and what success means to them. You must be able to take a project from brief stage right through to delivery, leading a team while also mucking in and creating yourself.

Design Leadership

You will work closely and be a partner in crime with Kelly our Founder and CD. You will be her rock leading the design team, so she has time freed up to grow the business. You must demonstrate your ability to fly on your own and make important decisions.

You will be the leader of our design team (currently 4), helping them to achieve greatness and do their best work. They are a brilliant and dedicated team, and you must continue to inspire them and support their career development. You must translate client feedback to your team, teach them craft and bring out the best in their ideas resulting in award-winning stellar work.

As part of our senior team, you must have the fire in your belly to drive us and think not just tactically but strategically. We are growing and this is the first time we will have hired this role so there will be space for you to make it your own.

MUST-HAVES

• Experience of driving a team to success
• Demonstrate pitching, and presenting to clients
• Excellent communication skills translating your ideas and inspiring clients
• A proven track record of award-winning design, agency-side
• A proven track record of delivering a project from start to finish
• A strategic and entrepreneurial mindset

YOUR GOALS FOR YEAR ONE

• Be involved in two projects that will win big awards.
• Achieve 90% and upwards in our client satisfaction score for creativity

THE FUN OF WORKING AT WHITE BEAR

• Being part of a team that’s on a rocket ship and tangibly seeing the difference you can make.
• We’re small and nimble, not bogged down by politics and shareholders. We can think fast and act quick.
• Not having to stay in your lane, carving out a role that’s moulded just for you.
• Fast career development. We’re non-hierarchical and want everyone to grow with the agency.
• Flexible working.
• Shorter hours than most agencies. We work 9.30 – 5.30 with flexibility. We don’t believe in working late - we all have personal lives. Though we recognise that sometimes this is necessary when we need to pull a presentation out of the bag.
• Each of our team are on their own tour of duty to deliver their personal growth and helping them to achieve their career goals on a fast track.
• Continuous personal development training budget.
• Leave your egos at the door. We’re a no BS agency: just be sound and not a d*ck.
• Our ‘Culture Cubs’ book club.

WHAT ELSE

To tell great stories we need great talent. We create the best quality creative we can for every client we work with and every time we start a new project we strive to improve. The relentless pursuit of perfection is our mindset. ‘Good enough’ is not good enough. If we are going to innovate and be truly creative, we need to fail, and fail better each time. Never stop playing is our motto and we carry that vigour through everything we do, which helps us create the novel, marvellous and brave.

We value candour but it needs to be constructive. We take responsibility when we screw up. Mistakes are impossible to avoid but it is possible to acknowledge them, learn from them and set an example. We say what we think even if it is controversial. We check others if they are being apologetic and encourage them to be brave.

We never miss an opportunity to learn. We have a growth mindset and push ourselves to act outside of our comfort zone. We don’t stay in our lanes we seek to get involved outside of our job description. Ask questions. There’s no such thing as a stupid question.

We value ability over experience. We don’t accept mediocrity. We exhibit bias-to-action and avoid analysis-paralysis. We take smart risks. We measure our impact.

We treat people with respect independent of their status. We inspire others with our thirst for excellence. We help others shine.