Creative Director

About the company

Hey you! Come and change the world with us.

Shape History works with partners (we call our clients ‘partners’) – charities, brands, NGOs and more – to tackle some of the biggest issues facing humanity today. From Climate Change to Gender Equality to Digital health to Human rights and much more.

These are some big, tough, hairy challenges. To meet them, we’re looking for an experienced and forward-thinking Creative Director (CD) to head up our creative department and set the vision for the agency.

If you’re that rare someone who leads teams to both happiness and success, and you’ve got a passion for making the world a better place, then we want to talk to you.

This role is full time, with at least 2 days in our London office, reporting to our Co-Managing Directors. 

WHO WE ARE

We’re a full-service, social impact communications agency based in London. We work with partners all over the world – think charities, businesses, UN groups, academic brains, and big-hearted folks – to literally ‘Shape History’.

WHAT WE WANT

• Build the best culture, environment and working processes for our creative teams so they’re even more awesome at what they do too. Having a good understanding of what creative team members are working on.
• Pitch concepts and proposals to prospective partners
  • Our existing partner portfolio is primarily charities, NGOs and institutions – we’re really looking for the CD to help explore new opportunities with purpose driven consumer brands, while reinforcing our position as a top global agency in our current market.
• Build relationships with current & potential partners through your own networks, speaking engagements, and thought leadership.
• Oversee the quality of major creative projects from soup to nuts.
• Specifically supporting the professional development of the Associate Creative Director and Associate Design Director to realise their full potential.
• Working together with the Operations Team and Associate Directors to develop and implement creative processes and training across the different disciplines and workstreams.

YOU’RE EXCEPTIONAL AT (ROLE REQUIREMENTS)…

• Leadership: Excellent leadership and interpersonal skills as well as the ability to inspire the creative team to give their best.
• Creativity (well, of course): sparking ideas that win everything – all the partners, all the audiences, and all the awards.
• Communication: Exhibiting strong written and verbal communication skills, as well as presentation skills for outstanding pitches.
• Business: understanding how the creative teams complement other departments, such as strategy, project management, finance and data management
• Empathy: helping to foster inclusive and diverse creative teams.
• Resilience: Maintaining resilience under pressure and against deadlines
• Department integration:  Understanding  how creative roles complement other departments, such as finance and data management
• Creative tools: Proficiency with the software and applications involved in the creative process

EXTRA BIT OF AWESOME

• What’s that, you say?  You have a bank of relationships and contacts across brands and NGOs you can introduce Shape History?
• You demonstrate skills in art direction and design?
• Or sector-specific knowledge in the social impact/sustainability/charity/political sector?
• Oh, you speak another language?

Any and all of these things would be the icing on the cake.

INCLUSIVITY

We are committed to having an inclusive culture in which everyone feels safe and supported to achieve their potential. We recognise that there is a long way to go in implementing race equity in the sector and we have a robust strategy in place for delivering this at Shape History. We actively encourage applications from underrepresented and minority groups, including those with lived experience of social issues we are working to address.

Equally, we are committed to creating an environment that both celebrates and supports neurodiversity. We’ve put measures in place to support you throughout this recruitment but actively encourage you to ask us for any additional support.

PROCESS

• Applications open on Monday 18th November
• Applications close on Thursday 2nd January at 9am GMT
• A short task will be shared in advance of interviews, in which there will be two, with the first held in person w/c 13th January
• We aim to make a decision on the chosen candidate by Friday 17th January

Please note that we may review applications on a rolling basis