Senior Social Art Director

About the roleThe Senior Social Art Director role requires an exceptional creative with a deep understanding of social content and how to inspire engagement. Leading the social creative team you should have a background in social-first art direction, with experience in either fashion, beauty or home.

Reporting into the Content Lead, this is a pivotal role within the wider Content and Creative team and the Social marketing team. You will have a dotted line into the Social Lead, working closely, and at pace, with the social marketing team to deliver innovative content for multiple social platforms, often working reactively and to tight deadlines. You will be creating content across multiple categories including Womenswear, Menswear, Beauty, Home and Tech, as well as adapting seasonal brand campaigns.

You should have an ambition to create work that is imaginative, thoughtful and brand building, and be able to deliver content that is optimised for social channels while being true to the brand’s visual tone of voice. Understanding the nuances of social media platforms is critical.

This role must proactively lead from concept through to delivery and be confident with graphic design, typography, editing, grading and creating basic motion graphics. You are aware of cultural moments, have impeccable taste levels, and are curious by nature.

• Expected Salary - £53,000 - £70,000 

• Contract type - This position is a 12month Secondment/Fixed Term contract 

• Working pattern/flexible working - The Partnership has adopted a hybrid working approach meaning you'll be able to work a mixture between the office and home based upon your personal needs whilst balancing the needs of the business. The Creative team aims for around 2 days a week in the office to connect and on a more ad-hoc basis to attend key meetings. 

• Location - This role is based at our Pimlico Head Office campus. Please note, any cost incurred as a result of travel to the office is the responsibility of the successful candidate. There is no travel allowance for this role. There is also a responsibility to visit our John Lewis branches when necessary. You will be able to claim travel expenses for these journeys 

• Next steps - The application form consists of a CV upload followed by application questions and a portfolio upload. Please ensure you refresh the page each time you complete a task to ensure you complete everything that you need to in time. There is a 2 stage interview process for this vacancy.

Key responsibilities

• Own the conception and delivery of social-first content to be published across John Lewis channels, overseeing each step of the process

• Lead and nurture the creative social team ensuring they are working to a high standard and are receiving the right support to fulfil their role

• Foster a strong working relationship with the social media team, ensuring that all content produced is in service of the social channel strategy and marketing priorities

• Work with the social producer to ensure concepts are achievable within the timeframe and budget

• Develop content franchises, as well as shaping daily content and campaigns that resonate with our online community and fit into social channel strategy and brand tone of voice

• Use learnings and results provided by social media managers to iterate on content and optimise for best performance

• Brief and lead a team of external creatives including editors, photographers, directors, animators and creators

• Act as the go-to for the creative social team; this means having status updates on projects that you and your team are working on and an understanding of the deliverables

• Be aware of global cultural and social trends as well as industry nuances to create innovative ideas and concepts

• Collaborate with the social and production teams to identify best suited collaborators and challenge briefs to balance creative and business needs

• Working cross functionally with the wider creative team to adapt campaigns for social media, and make recommendations for how they can be optimised

• Maintain quality across all platforms ensuring it is to a high standard and consistent with brand tone of voice

• Research and present trends within social media including possible collaborators and technology that could deliver content

Essential skills/experience you’ll need 

• Proven and extensive experience in art direction and content creation, specifically for social media

• Adobe Premier, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Creative Suite, Final cut pro, Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, TikTok, Instagram, FB, Pinterest

• Knowledge in camera operations, including lighting as well as post production including editing, grading, graphics and sound

• A strong portfolio showing social first work within the fashion, beauty or lifestyle industry

Desirable skills/experience you may have

• Previous management experience

• Experience with various levels of stakeholders

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About The Partnership

We’re the largest employee owned business in the UK and home of our cherished brands, John Lewis and Waitrose. We’re not just employees, we’re Partners, driven by our purpose to build a happier world. As we look to our future, there’s never been a more exciting time to join us.

We’re ruthlessly focused on being brilliant at retail. We continue to innovate, adapt and diversify. Never Knowingly Undersold on price, quality and service in John Lewis and passionately serving food-lovers in Waitrose.

As Partners we all share the responsibility of ownership and in its rewards. We use our voices to contribute to our success, working together through the good and challenging times, holding true to our behaviours and treating everyone with kindness and respect.

We all own making the Partnership somewhere we belong. Embracing our differences and creating an environment where we’re free to be ourselves and can THRIVE. Growing ourselves individually, and as a collective.

As Partners, we make all the difference. And, we all own it.

Important points to note:

It’s important to note that some of our roles are subject to pre-employment vetting. If required, you’ll find out more about vetting throughout the recruitment process and we encourage you to complete any vetting documents quickly to avoid delays.

We also recommend that you apply as soon as possible as vacancies can close early if we see a high number of applicants.

We want all of our Partners to have a good work-life balance and we support flexible working. This might mean flexible or compressed hours, job sharing or shorter hour contracts, where possible. Please discuss this further with the hiring manager during your interview.