Senior Designer

Role: Senior Designer

Reporting to: UK Managing Director

Location: London

What we do:

[PIAS] is a family of independent record labels. We champion and support artists from around the world across an unrivalled international network, run by passionate music lovers.

Our Mission:

• To be at the very heart of the independent music ecosystem.
• To relentlessly and passionately discover, promote, market, sell and distribute the music of independent labels and artists.
• To spread the music we champion with passion, integrity, and care. To help it encounter audiences and success.
• To constantly challenge ourselves to improve.

What we’re looking for:

We are looking for a talented and experienced Senior Designer to join our inhouse Creative Department. This is a great opportunity for a creative wanting to keep their practice multidisciplinary and varied, as the range of aesthetics and deliverables we design for our artists and labels is as diverse as the music marketed.

A small creative team, we have a collaborative and can-do attitude, and work on all aspects and stages of a campaign, no matter how big or small the task is — from concept and development, to production and delivery, and everything in between. The role requires to be hands-on, lead or inform the creative aspects of campaigns, working collaboratively with our artists in delivering their vision, as well as with our Marketing and Audience Development teams to support the campaign’s objectives: a broader professional expertise, beyond graphic design, encompassing art direction, knowledge of digital channels and culture, and strategic thinking is essential.

As the Senior member of the team, you will develop and mentor the other Designer within the team, and be focused on creative excellence and expertise in all phases of the design process.

What you’ll be doing:

• Design high quality creative concepts for artists’ visual identities and artwork, to build album, EP and single imagery
• Design physical products and prepare artwork for print: design packaging and graphics for a delivered concept, work in templates, liaise with our reprographics team in ensuring consistent quality
• Translate visual concepts for a wide range of campaign applications and touchpoints (print/digital, motion/static), developing graphics/visuals and supporting assets such as product mockups, social media content and skins, mailers, marketing and retail ads (digital/print), websites/landing pages, animated packshots, merchandise, visualisers, lyrics video, teasers and pre-roll/B-roll, music video cutdowns, tour posters, AR filters.
• Build and deliver templates of the above deliverables, for various marketing needs, to teams across our international network, and ensure consistent adherence to any given campaign’s style guide
• Work closely with our UK Marketing and Audience Development teams on all deliverables, and on producing creative, original ideas for campaigns, mostly socials-focused
• Liaise directly with artists and/or their management to bring their vision to life and enhance it
• Help commission freelance creatives where needed, to support the progress of projects (animators, motion designers, videographers, photographers…) and help with the Art Direction of commissioned creatives on occasion (ie: press shots, music videos)
• Lead and manage multiple projects simultaneously, including overseeing the Creative Department’s capacity and the Junior Designer’s workload – ensuring deadlines are met
• Working closely with other heads of departments on company projects

What we expect:

• Relevant experience working in creative agency, in-house creative team or freelance (ideally in a creative industry: music, design, entertainment), with minimum 1 year as Senior Designer
• A portfolio showcasing high quality, contemporary creative projects with multiple touchpoints
• Excellent design ability, both from a craft and conceptual point of view: highly skilled in Graphic Design, Motion Graphics and print production/artworking
• Expert with the Adobe Suite: InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere and After Effects
• Proficient knowledge of photo and video editing— skills behind the camera are useful too, but not essential (i.e. for capturing content such as behind the scenes, unboxing, product shots etc)
• Excellent communication skills and ability to present concepts to artists/managers and team members in a clear and eloquent way; to accompany artists in building their visual identity
• Previous management experience
• Ability to work across multiple projects, switching seamlessly between them, manage conflicting priorities, your own deadlines and ones of the Junior Designer
• As happy directing or executing design work from others as doing it yourself
• A collaborative and proactive mindset
• Desire to continuously innovate and elevate the quality of the creative work we do
• Desire to keep up to date with visual and digital culture, design trends and tools
• 3D design, Webdesign and/or illustration abilities (directing and/or practitioning) is a plus but not essential

Personal attributes

• Gravitas and integrity
• Team player, collaborative
• Takes initiative and capitalises on opportunity
• Highly organised, efficient and proactive
• Adaptable within a dynamic, fast-paced environment
• Works to build up credibility and rapport at all levels of the business
• Takes personal accountability for achieving individual and shared goals
• Passionate about music and design
• Languages would be a real advantage

What we offer:

• 25 days annual leave
• Great team and working environment – passion and love for music runs in our DNA
• Hybrid working model
• Summer Fridays
• Free gig tickets and staff socials
• Monthly records allowance
• Financial Planning drop ins with our Company Financial Advisor
• Group Personal Pension Plan
• Group Life Assurance
• Season Ticket Loans Interest Free
• Eyecare vouchers
• Perkbox Employee Reward Scheme
• Cycle to work Scheme
• Enhanced family leave
• And much more!

[PIAS] is an equal opportunities employer. We embrace diversity and are committed to a working environment where no one will be treated less favourably on grounds of their sex, race, disability, sexual orientation, religion, belief or age.