Company Description:

The Barbour story began in 1894 in South Shields in the North East of England. Founder John Barbour began supplying oilskins and other garments to protect the growing community of sailors, fishermen and dockers. Still family owned and now fifth generation, Barbour HQ remains in South Shields. Under the leadership of Chairman Dame Margaret Barbour, Barbour has grown into a lifestyle brand sold in over 55 countries worldwide including Europe, the US and Asia offering a wardrobe of stylish functional clothing, footwear and accessories inspired by the unique values of the British countryside. The iconic Barbour Bedale and Barbour Beaufort wax jackets continue to be made by hand in the factory in South Shields. In 2020, Barbour launched Wax for Life, an overarching name for all of Barbour’s wax services designed to encourage customers to extend the life of their wax garments. Wax for Life includes re-waxing and repairs (first introduced in 1921) and Barbour Re-Loved an upcycling circularity initiative. Each year over 70,000 wax garments are sent back to Barbour globally to be repaired, rewaxed or altered.

Position Overview:

We are seeking an experienced, detail-oriented Senior Creative Services Manager based at our inhouse Studio in South Shields, who will drive the development of our inhouse studio and graphics team. As well as supporting on wider creative projects, optimising workflows, and ensuring efficient collaboration across various teams and departments. This role will play a pivotal part in overseeing the creative output of our inhouse, predominately ecomm and graphics studio and overseeing the production pipeline. The ideal candidate is a strategic thinker with exceptional organisational skills, a strong eye for detail, as well as a passion and skill for building highly effective creative teams, looking for a highly experience creative team manager.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Team Management and leadership:

Managing and leading our inhouse studio creative teams which include photography, styling and art direction, production and graphics.
Coaching and developing our creative team across the photography studio and graphics.

Building a culture of creative excellence

Experience leading a team of creatives and how to get the best out of the team.
Analysing the strengths and gaps in the team and building a capabilities plan to service the gaps.
Working on the training plan for the year with the team.
Building a great collective creative eye and ensuring the creative standards of the brand.

Resource planning & capabilities:

Lead and oversee the end-to-end project management of the inhouse studio, collaborating with cross-functional teams to ensure our projects are executed on time and within budget.
Develop and implement streamlined processes and workflows to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the creative production pipeline of the studio and the graphics team. Identify bottlenecks and establish best practices.
Manage day-to-day creative capacity and workflows, via intake and resource management. Allocate creative resources appropriately to meet project demands and deadlines
Ensure deadlines are met and lead-times (SLAs) adhered to across all projects across photography studio and graphics team.
Evaluate, implement, and manage our systems and technologies that enhance project management, asset organisation, and overall productivity working with our IT teams.
Develop reporting mechanisms to track project progress, resource utilisation, and operational metrics. Provide insights to drive informed decision-making.
Continuously look at building out our network of freelance resource, and onboard new agencies and suppliers when needed.

Budget management:

Oversee the production team to ensure effective management of budgets providing regular updates and proposing cost-effective solutions.

Skills and Experience:

Extensive experience directly managing, coaching and developing teams.
Experience managing an inhouse creative studio.
Great communicator and knows how to manage and lead a team of creative people.
Team player, working with other senior team members to create a fantastic management team in the studio.
Experienced project manager.
Previous experience working for a global brand or retailer is preferred.
Experience of working on busy shoot sets (both location & studio).
A creative mind who has a strong understanding of commercial strategies.
A robust knowledge of trends and brands.
A self-motivated person who is able to take and give direction.
A confident hard worker who is always strives for the best end-result.
Exemplary attention to detail.
Ability to develop systems and processes and ensure they are followed.
A team player and collaborator, comfortable working across departments and with different creative roles i.e. photographers, other stylists on the team, production team.
High competence using MAC Operating systems.
High competence using Microsoft Office (Excel/PPT).

Additional Information:

Travel will be involved in this role when required

Benefits:

Discretionary Company bonus scheme
Staff discount
Staff shop
Healthcare cash plan
25 days holiday as standard increasing with length of service plus bank holidays
Free onsite parking
Subsidised canteen
Wellbeing support
Operate hybrid & flexible working
4pm finish on a Friday

Note: In the event that a sufficient volume of suitable applications are received, the post may close prior to the specified closing date. Please apply as soon as possible if interested.

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Senior Creative Services Manager