Design Team Lead

Design Team Lead

Belfast. 30 hours a week across four days. Fully flexible. £35k depending on experience.

You won't just work with the best person in the room. You'll work with the best people on the planet.

We have a network of thinkers who will stretch you, argue with you and inspire the best work of your career. You'll work on brands from the UK and Ireland to the USA and the Middle East.

Inside the Box

At Thought Boxes, we help brands turn complex stories into clear, compelling communications. Our lean model and smart tools let us wrap around internal teams, delivering big ideas with precision and purpose. From cultural discovery to advertising, animation and film, we deliver high-end work usually reserved for global brands, now accessible to ambitious SMEs.

Everything we make starts with a big idea. There is a reason and a purpose behind every decision, which is the only way to defend work in the room.

Anyone can execute an idea. Protecting one, all the way to delivery, is the job.

Role overview

Thought Boxes is seeking a Design Team Lead to support the delivery of high-quality creative work across branding, campaigns, video, digital, animation and content projects.

This role combines hands-on design and art direction with studio management and creative oversight.

You'll set the visual direction of the work as well as making it, and help maintain the quality, consistency and efficiency of creative output across the business, while supporting the wider team through project coordination, feedback and workflow management.

01 Creative delivery and art direction

• Create high-quality design work across digital, print, branding, presentation, social and campaign assets.
• Provide art direction across campaigns, film, animation and photography, from concept through to finished asset
• Set and hold the visual direction of an idea so it survives every format it appears in
• Work closely with strategy, creative, animation and production teams to develop ideas and deliver projects
• Translate client briefs into strong visual communication and creative solutions
• Prepare artwork and assets for client delivery across multiple formats

02 Studio and creative management

• Oversee the quality and consistency of creative output across studio projects
• Review work internally before delivery, to creative and technical standards
• Help manage day-to-day studio workflow alongside directors and project leads
• Support prioritisation of workloads and deadlines across active projects
• Maintain brand consistency and attention to detail across all client work

03 Team support and collaboration

• Provide art direction, guidance and feedback to designers, freelancers and collaborators
• Support a collaborative and organised studio environment
• Contribute to the development of internal creative processes and workflows
• Assist with onboarding and raising presenting to clients where required

04 Essential criteria

• Significant experience in graphic design and creative production, typically 10 years or more
• Proven experience building a brand platform and executing it consistently over time
• Art direction experience across campaigns, film, animation or photography, from concept to finished asset
• Experience building a consistent brand platform.
• The ability to manage multiple projects, plan workloads and see work through to delivery
• Proven experience working across multiple teams and stakeholders
• Strong communication and organisational skills
• Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite and relevant creative software
• The ability to look at the same thing as everyone else and come up with something new

05 Desirable criteria

• A relevant degree or equivalent experience in Design, Advertising, art direction or a related field
• Knowledge of modern design tools and methodologies, design systems and Asana (or equivalent)
• Experience providing guidance and feedback to junior designers, freelancers or collaborators
• Experience of quality control, or reviewing others' work before client delivery
• Experience contributing to internal creative processes or workflow improvement

Purpose of the role

This role strengthens our internal creative management capacity by introducing dedicated oversight of studio quality control, workflow coordination and creative consistency. It supports business growth while ensuring a high standard of creative delivery across all projects and clients.

Working here

30 hours a week, worked across four days. Which four is up to you, and you can spread the hours differently if that suits you better, including as half days. Set hours per day, and you choose when. Life happens on the other side of that, and we'll support you when things come up.

We are a Living Wage accredited employer and we are carbon negative. A small team doing work we're proud to put our name to.

How to apply

Send your CV and a portfolio or link to your work to Sign in to view email by Friday 4 September 2026. A covering note is welcome but not required. If there is one piece of work you would want us to look at first, say which and why.

Adjustments, and how we recruit

If you need us to do anything differently so that you can apply or attend an interview, tell us at Sign in to view email and we will make the adjustment. It plays no part in how your application is assessed. We are happy to provide this advert or the role description in another format on request.

Every application is scored against the essential and desirable criteria above by the same panel, using the same scale.

The successful candidate must have the right to work in the UK. Thought Boxes is an equal opportunities employer. We welcome applications from all suitably qualified people regardless of religious belief, political opinion, racial group, age, marital or civil partnership status, sexual orientation, sex, disability, or whether or not they have dependants.

This post is part-funded by Invest NI. As a condition of that funding, we must provide Invest NI with a copy of the CV or application form of the person appointed. No other application is shared with the funder.