Design Lead

Role OVO-View

Location: London, minimum 2 days p/w required in the office. 

Team: Creative Studio

Salary banding:  £70,000 - £80,000

Experience: High level 

Working pattern: Full-Time

Reporting to: Sam Dawson, Head of Creative Operations

Sponsorship: Unfortunately we are unable to offer sponsorship for this role.

This role in 3 words: Leadership, Creativity, Inspiration

Top 3 qualities for this role: Communication, Collaboration, `Creative Excellence’

In the words of the team, you should leave your current role for this one because…

“OVO offers an unparalleled opportunity to make a meaningful impact on the future of sustainable energy. It’s great to be part of a talented and passionate team that embraces innovation and creative problem-solving. Come and drive positive change in the world – through design!"

You’ll be working with a passionate, fun and best-in-class team to help genuinely make energy better for people and the planet. Using innovation and creative-problem solving, come and drive positive change in the world - through design!

Where you’ll work:

At OVO, we understand that a one size fits all approach doesn’t work for everyone. That’s why we created the OVO Way of Flexibility.

All our roles are hub based (Bristol, Glasgow or London), providing a dedicated space for collaboration, connection and teamwork. You’ll also have the flexibility to work from home. For this role - we require candidates based in London with a hybrid working approach due to the nature of the role. 

Everyone belongs at OVO

At OVO, we are on a mission to solve one of humanity's biggest challenges, the climate crisis. And we know it takes all of us to change the world. That's why we need diverse people from all abilities, gender identities, ethnicities, ages, sexual orientations, life experiences and backgrounds to join us.

Teamworking for the planet

Everything we do here spins around Plan Zero. So, naturally, the Creative Studio plays a vital role in making that happen – whether it’s through customer interaction or how we show up as a brand. 

The impact of design is huge. At every touchpoint, we have the opportunity to help customers make positive changes for them and the planet. That’s what we want to make OVO famous for. 

And you’ll work with some amazing people along the way. Our mission takes teamwork, so you’ll be a trusted partner for stakeholders all over the business – working particularly closely with our Brand team.  

This role in a nutshell:

We’re looking for a creative leader with design and branding expertise, to manage and guide our established in-house design team, and support our embedded agency design team. You’ll report to the Head of Creative Studio, who leads the creative and project management teams and work alongside the Copy Lead, your counterpart for creative copy.

The Design Lead will work with the Copy Lead to help shape the creative direction of the brand (under the guidance of our Head of Brand). You’ll  be the guardian of OVO visual identity and support the team in producing on brand, design excellence.

We’re looking for someone who is as comfortable directing their team and helping them to craft brilliant work as they are presenting to stakeholders, identifying business needs and raising the profile of the in house creative studio and the work we do.

Substantial experience and a huge passion for building and developing a team of creatives is a must. You’ll have cross channel expertise, with a strong portfolio made up of design, branding, art direction and motion. We work in Figma as well as Adobe Creative Suite, so expert knowledge of both is  needed.

Your key outcomes will be:

• Setting the principles behind strong creative in order to support commercial success and make our brand stand out 
• Giving strategic creative direction and guiding the creative team in reaching a high standard consistently, in collab with the Copy Lead
• Shaping the vision and purpose for the Creative Studio in collaboration with the Copy Lead and the Head of Creative Studio, answering the business’ needs and supporting the creative strategy and vision from Head of Brand
• Setting the art direction for photography, film and motion, bottoming out production best practices, keeping up to date with different production methods and technologies and fostering a collaborative space with our production partners (with support from our Integrated Producer)
• Collaborating with the UX team on maintaining great design standards across all of OVO’s touchpoints
• Being immersed in business priorities, determining what guides and toolkits need creation, to drive consistent application across our channels. Proactively identifying new creative initiatives that ladder up to our brand strategy
• Being connected to the wider business, aligning and consulting with them to help form briefs from business problems. Innovating and collaborating with stakeholders across the business to get great results and help them reach their goals 
• Guiding internal teams and external agencies on our visual identity and finding the best ways to tailor it for their various needs and different channels 
• Ensuring all design and creative is on brand and ladders up to our brand platform with the Copy Lead and Brand team 
• Supporting the Head of Creative Studio in making structural or wider process improvements for efficiency and effectiveness
• Collaborating in the development and implementation of any new tools to support the running of Studio
• Creating an inspiring environment where creativity thrives and team members can widen their skill sets and improve their craft

You’ll be a successful Design Lead here at OVO if you…

• Have proven success of managing a team of designers, with a passion for developing and nurturing talent
• Can present an outstanding portfolio of published work spanning different channels, from print to digital, including advertising, branding, motion and art direction
• Can share examples of high quality design work that you have directed a team to create, demonstrating excellent attention to detail
• Are ambitious, strive for exceptional standards, and passionate about championing a high performing in house creative studio
• Have a customer first approach, with experience collaborating with UX teams
• Are strategically minded, with commercial and brand objectives at the forefront of what you do or how you guide your team
• Are an excellent communicator, with your team, with senior stakeholders, and with those not au fait with creative language or approaches. Articulation of rationale and understanding business needs will be a large part of your day to day
• Have brilliant creative problem solving skills. You’ll be adept at understanding what the creative challenge is (even if it’s not included in the brief!) You’ll have experience of coaching individuals to problem solve and think divergently
• Are proactive, keen to identify opportunities to drive us forward and able to put a plan in place to make them happen
• Have enthusiasm for balancing creativity and excellent output with an efficient operation 
• Possess the ability to collaborate with cross-functional teams, working very closely with our copy and brand experts and encourage collaborative behaviour amongst the creative studio
• Are open-minded and receptive to feedback

Let’s talk about what’s in it for you

We’ll pay you between £70,000 and £80,000, depending on your specific skills and experience. If your expectations are a little different, have a chat with us!

We keep our pay ranges broad on purpose to give us, and you, flexibility to match your experience to our zero carbon mission.

You’ll be eligible for an on-target bonus of 15%. We have one OVO bonus plan that focuses on the collective performance of our people to deliver our Plan Zero goal. 

We also offer plenty of green benefits and progressive policies to help you feel like you belong at OVO…and there’s flex pay. We'll give you 9% Flex Pay on top of your salary – 4% of this is auto enrolled into your pension, and the remaining 5% is yours to do what you like with. You can use this to buy from our extensive range of flexible benefits, including our green benefits which we've put at the heart of our offering, add to your pension or even take it as cash.

Here’s a taster of what’s on offer: 

For starters, you’ll get 34 days of holiday (including bank holidays).

For your health
With benefits like a healthcare cash plan or private medical insurance depending on your career level, critical illness cover, life assurance, health assessments, and more

For your wellbeing
With gym membership, travel insurance, workplace ISA, will writing services, dental insurance, and more

For your lifestyle
With extra holiday buying, discount dining, home & tech loans, and supporting your favourite charities with give-as-you-earn donations

For your home 
Get up to £400 towards any OVO Energy plan, plus great discounts on solar, smart thermostats and EV chargers

For your commute
Nab a great deal on ultra-low emission car leasing, plus our cycle to work scheme and public transport season ticket loans

Want to hear about our full range of flexible benefits and progressive people policies? Our People Team can tell you everything you need to know.

For your Belonging

To find better ways to support our people, we need to listen to each other’s experiences and find ways to build a truly inclusive and diverse workplace. As part of this, we have 8 Belonging Networks at OVO. Led by our people, for our people - so when you join OVO, you can play a part - big or small - with any of the Networks. It's up to you.

Oh, and one last thing...

We’d be thrilled if you tick off all our boxes, yet we also believe it’s just as important we tick off all of yours. And if you think you have most of what we’re looking for but not every single thing, go ahead and hit apply. We’d still love to hear from you!

If you have any additional requirements, there’s a space to let us know on the application form; we want to make the process as easy and comfortable for you as possible..