Senior Designer - Art Director at Dept

JOB DESCRIPTION: Senior Designer / Art Director London, Hybrid WHO ARE WE? DEPT® is a Growth Invention company built to help the world’s most ambitious brands grow faster. Operating at the intersection of technology and marketing, our 4,000+ specialists deliver growth invention services across Brand & Media, Experience, Commerce, CRM, and Technology & Data. We’re 50|50 tech and marketing, partner-led, and first to move. Clients include Google, Lufthansa, Meta, eBay, and OpenAI. We have been certified B Corp and Climate Neutral since 2021. JOB PURPOSE This is an embedded role working directly within the marketing team of a UK Award winning bank, based at their offices in Canary Wharf. You will sit at the heart of their in-house function, acting as a senior creative voice and the primary design partner to their Creative Director. The role sits at the intersection of Art Direction and Senior Design, you are equally comfortable shaping a concept from a blank brief as you are crafting the final execution. You will be responsible for translating performance marketing strategy into distinctive, insight-led creative that drives measurable results across paid social, display, and digital channels. Day-to-day, you will collaborate closely with the inhouse Creative Director to develop concepts, produce storyboards and performance marketing assets - and oversee the quality of work produced by the support design team. You will bring creative ambition and a performance mindset in equal measure, understanding not just how things look, but why they work. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES • Concept and develop performance marketing creative across paid social, display, and digital channels in close collaboration with the Creative Director • Translate briefs and data insights into compelling creative territories, campaign ideas, and executional frameworks • Produce storyboards, visual mock-ups, and creative rationales to communicate ideas clearly to stakeholders • Art direct and produce a select range of assets across the campaign lifecycle, from concept to final delivery • Review and approve work produced by other team members, ensuring quality, brand consistency, and on-brief accuracy • Bring performance thinking into the creative process - understanding metrics such as Click through rates, CAC, and Conversion rates and how creative decisions influence them • Stay current with trends across financial services, and digital marketing to bring fresh & relevant thinking to the work • Build and maintain scalable creative systems, developing modular templates, repeatable frameworks and structured experimentation loops that allow the team to test, learn and scale winning creative efficiently. • Build a productive working relationship with the wider client team, contributing positively to culture and collaboration SKILLS AND PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE Essential: • Proven experience in a Senior Designer, Art Director, or hybrid Creative role within an agency or in-house environment • A strong portfolio demonstrating conceptual thinking and high-quality execution across performance marketing or digital advertising • Solid understanding of paid social and digital marketing — how creative decisions drive performance outcomes • Expert-level Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign) • Proficiency in Figma for layout, design systems, and collaborative review workflows • A solid understanding of motion principles and their role in performance creative. You don't need to be a motion specialist, but you must be able to brief, direct and evaluate motion work confidently, and produce lightweight animatics or storyboard-level motion where needed. • Experience reviewing and directing the work of other designers, with the ability to give clear, constructive feedback • Strong visual communication skills; able to storyboard ideas and present creative thinking confidently • Comfortable working at pace within a client-side or embedded agency model • Excellent attention to detail and the ability to manage multiple briefs simultaneously Nice to have: • Experience working within banking, financial services, or other regulated industries • Comfort with AI-assisted creative workflows — whether that's using generative tools for ideation, rapid concepting or production efficiency. You don't need to be an expert, but an experimentation mindset and willingness to explore emerging tooling is valued. • Familiarity with HTML5 banner production or working alongside front-end developers • Background in brand design or visual identity work • Understanding of A/B testing frameworks and creative experimentation methodologies • Familiarity with After Effects WE OFFER • A flexible, hybrid working policy • The choice of medical healthcare providers (Bupa or Medicash) • 25 days holiday plus bank holidays and your birthday off each year • Company pension scheme • EAP scheme • Ride to work scheme • Enhanced family friendly policies • Buddy Program: You will be paired with a ‘Buddy’ to help you through your first weeks’ at DEPT®. • A reputation for doing good. DEPT® has been a Certified B Corp® since 2021 and named ‘Agency of the Year’ at both The Lovies and The Webby Awards. • Awesome clients. Whether big or small, local or global — at DEPT® you’ll get the opportunity to work with clients of all sizes and across all industries. And we celebrate all of our successes together! • The opportunity for possibility. We want to enable you to do what you do best and help you develop your skills further with training, development and certifications. • Global annual DEPT® Cares Month in which employees come together and donate their skills to support local charities. WHO ARE WE? We are pioneers at heart. What does that mean? We are always looking forward, thinking of what we can create tomorrow that does not exist today. We were born digital and we are a new model of agency, with a deep skillset in tech and marketing. That’s why we hire curious, self-driven, talented people who never stop innovating. Our culture is big enough to cope and small enough to care. Meaning, that with people across 30+ countries, we’re big enough to provide you with the best tools, global opportunities, and benefits that help you thrive. While acting small by investing in you, your growth, your team, and giving you the autonomy to solve our clients problems, no matter where you are in the world. DEPT® is committed to making a positive impact on the planet and since 2021 has been Climate Neutral and B Corporation certified. DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION At DEPT®, we take pride in creating an inclusive workplace where everyone has an equal opportunity to thrive. We actively seek to recruit, develop, nurture, and retain talented individuals from diverse backgrounds, with varying skills and perspectives. Not sure you meet all qualifications? Apply, and let us decide! Research shows that women and members of underrepresented groups tend not to apply for jobs when they think they may not meet every requirement, when in fact they do. We believe in giving everyone a fair chance to shine. We also encourage you to reach out to us and discuss any reasonable adjustments we can make to support you throughout the recruitment process and your time with us. Want to know more about our dedication to diversity, equity, and inclusion? Check out our efforts here.