Creative Director

We’re looking for an experienced Creative Director. You’ll be working directly with our amazing team of animators, designers and producers using your creativity and leadership skills to deliver output to the highest possible standards. You’ll have experience leading creative teams to get work done and gold-standard presentation skills to show our work off to our partners.

Sound good? If you’re as passionate as we are about sharing the joy of animation, we’d love to hear from you.

As part of our Equality Policy, we are committed in our journey to eliminating discrimination, encouraging and valuing diversity amongst our workforce. We are striving to foster a truly inclusive culture, to create a truly safe space for people to come to work each day and shape an environment where everyone experiences a sense of belonging. We actively and wholeheartedly encourage and welcome applicants from all backgrounds.

You

You’re passionate about helping to get the best out of a team to produce high-quality animation and illustration deliverables in a fast-paced environment. Your attention to detail is second-to-none and you can unpack, understand and communicate a client brief effectively to a team of creatives at various stages in their career.

With confidence in your ability to present work, and negotiate internal and client priorities to get the best result possible, you also have a deep understanding and working knowledge of Adobe CC animation and illustration software and can help team members find efficient ways to create work.

You are a positive ‘people person’ who nurtures and brings great energy to a team.

At Animade, we believe that everyone has a part to play in our journey to becoming more inclusive – as creatives, as a studio and as an industry. We've implemented lots of changes through recruitment practices, DEI training and our All Ears event to name a few. We're looking for someone who'll be keen to work with us in creating an environment that is welcoming, safe and equitable for all.

Key Skills

• Excellent illustration and design skills along with a keen critical eye
• Wide-ranging animation experience
• Fluency in the Adobe CC suite
• A strong ability to talk competently and comfortably with large global clients
• Strong ability at presenting and pitching
• Strong skills in leading large teams
• A positive attitude and ability to keep morale high
• An understanding of the business aspect of running an animation studio
• Strong organisation skills and ability to handle multiple projects simultaneously
• Strong communication skills within the studio
• A drive to improve the studio into the future by supporting the leadership team
• Strong understanding of Animade, its core values and brand-oriented output

Tasks - Creative

• Making sure creative quality always hits Animade standards in terms of design and motion - attention to detail is key
• Understanding the Animade brand and injecting that into our projects
• Must be able to unpack and answer a client brief and confidently lead a team from the pitch stage to secure the project and then through to delivery
• Work closely with the Art Director and Creatives to find the right aesthetic approach to any project (provide conceptual treatments and visual reference)
• Lead pitch presentations and help to create pitch decks
• Ensure client is inspired and feels like they are getting the full Animade experience
• Find opportunities for teaching the team
• Find opportunities for increasing efficiency and making sure any new processes are added to a playbook
• Find opportunities for improving creative output
• Sense check on Project Directors stated responsibilities and help them to achieve their set goals
• Find solutions to creative problems and consult with AM, PM, PD and client
• Joins at regular points to look over output but not essential for sending WIPs
• Regular contact with the client for key accounts

Tasks - Production / Account management

• Lead creative conversations during client meetings over the lifespan of a project
• Consult on costing
• Consult on scheduling
• Consult on team structure for your assigned projects
• Attends internal project retros
• Attends external project retros
• Attends Account catch-ups and touchpoints with Account Managers to boost client relationships.
• Attend client relationship events (drinks, wrap parties etc)
• Lead Animade Talks to improve understanding of the studio's external voice
• Lead one to ones with Account Managers and providing your insight regarding the creative aspects of the studio

Benefits

Working at Animade offers the opportunity to make a tangible impact on a growing company within a great culture. Working with us, you can expect:

• Flexible working hours – we value a healthy work-life balance that accommodates people’s different needs
• A hybrid working model: We are currently working from home, but once restrictions lift we will be working 2-3 days a week from our lovely studio in Shoreditch, East London and the rest from home.
• Pension scheme
• Team away days and trips
• Enhanced family friendly and sickness policies
• Company EAP Programme
• Training and Mastery budget
• Wellbeing budget
• Dedicated Playtime set-aside for creatives to play, experiment, explore and learn

Details

Salary: £60,000 +

Reporting into: Tom Judd, Co-Founder and Executive Creative Director

Level: Senior

Hours: Monday to Friday, 9 am — 5.30 pm (flexible hours between 8 am – 6.30 pm)

Location: London, Old Street / Remote (due to current circumstances)

Application deadline: Sunday 1st August 2021 (will be extended if needed)

Start date: ASAP