House of Commons
The House of Commons is a unique and exciting place to work right at the heart of the UK's thriving democratic system.
Behind the scenes, the House of Commons Service is made up of more than 3,000 employees who support and facilitate the smooth day to day running of the House. They provide professional services to Members of Parliament, their staff, and the wider parliamentary community.
Staff Benefits
In addition to your salary, we offer an attractive range of benefits including:
- 30 days' annual leave (increasing to 35 days after first full leave year).
- Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%.
- Access to training and development.
- Flexible working.
- Interest free season ticket loan and bicycle loan.
Introduction
The Communications Office is responsible for the House of Commons communications strategy, delivering internal and external communications to and on behalf of the whole House, as well as learning and development for the profession and delivers significant bicameral communications on behalf of the House of Commons and House of Lords. The team sits within the Office of the Executive and provides communications support (including branding and design, social media, photography, a 24/7 press office, internal communications, planning and comms strategy) to all House teams and Joint Departments.
The Role
We're looking for a senior design decision maker who can help shape and evolve how the team delivers, positively impact our design maturity, and develop our design resource while providing cost/time savings for the organisation. Attitude is as important as experience & skill set for us, as we look to build an enthusiastic, driven, and enterprising team.
The Creative Lead will be responsible for visual communications standards across the organisation, building integration between design and digital within the Creative Content Team and the wider Communications Office through improved ways of working and identifying opportunities for closer collaboration. They will deliver excellent creative while inspiring and leading the team to produce creative solutions for digital and print communications, campaigns, and events for a wide variety of business areas such as the Education and Engagement team, Parliamentary Archives, Historic Furniture, the Speakers Office, Strategic Estates and Committees.
The role will also provide creative direction to our external creative partners and lead the network of communications and content producers across the business to deliver consistently on-brand high-quality creative content on all internal and external campaigns, across our owned, earned and paid for touchpoints.
This role is key to setting and maintaining the creative quality of the team's work, you will lead and mentor designers, drive standards, champion best practice and help build a culture of continuous improvement and creative excellence. Working closely with the Head of Visual Brand and the Brand Designer you will steer the future direction of the House of Commons and UK Parliament brand identities and develop an understanding across Parliament of the value and impact of design. Ensuring consistency in the application of our visual identity guidelines by the in-house team and embedding best practice on designing for accessibility for the widest possible audience, while supporting colleagues across the organisation to develop effective print and digital communications.
Some of the responsibilities for this role include:
- Lead and own the conceptual ideas, development, quality control and completion of your and the team's work. Take project briefs from concept through to final delivery - providing creative leadership, inspiring designers, and supporting across technical design skills.
- Deliver impactful and creative design solutions, adopting a proactive and innovative approach from template generation to high end ideation.
- Bring specialist professional design knowledge to oversee and influence the creative work of the team and drive projects ensuring they are delivered to a high standard, on time and within budget, identifying cost-saving opportunities where possible.
Skills and Experience
To be successful in this role you will demonstrate:
- Experience successfully managing and leading a team to deliver print and digital communications/campaigns. Significant experience of mentoring designers and promoting cross-team working whenever possible to build a collaborative culture, whilst upholding the values of equality, diversity and inclusion
- Highly creative with proven ability to interpret briefs to deliver imaginative and compelling design across digital and print media that supports organisational objectives.
- Openness to learn, with a focus on own professional development as well as the continuous improvement of the team. An ability to accept and improve from feedback, and comfortable with gaining new skills and knowledge.
- Excellent organisational skills, with the ability to prioritise effectively to managing competing demands, work at pace while remaining calm under pressure, and delegate as necessary to ensure that their own work and the work of the team is delivered against tight deadlines and to quality standards.
- Experience collaborating with and influencing senior stakeholders to develop, manage and maintain brand identities and guidelines.
- Strong communication skills, particularly the ability to explain design concepts to senior stakeholders and colleagues who lack a background in design.
Next Steps and Additional Information
- CV, Supporting Statement & Portfolio - If you would like to apply for this role, please submit your CV, covering letter with a 700 word limit and portfolio (max 6 projects including a short synopsis of each project. To be supplied as a PDF or website link).
More information on the role and the full criteria can be found in the Job Description.
We may close the vacancy prior to the closing date stated due to a high volume of applications.
Please note that most job offers will be made at the minimum of the salary range, other than in exceptional circumstances.
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About Disability Confident
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