Aquent is partnering with a thriving boutique design studio, renowned for its exceptional work with premium, design‑led brands. This studio is not just about executing briefs; it's about pushing creative boundaries, transforming strategy into distinctive, memorable experiences, and shaping the future of design for clients in property, construction, lifestyle, and beyond. This is an unparalleled opportunity to join a team where your creative leadership will directly influence the studio’s output and growth, making a significant impact on groundbreaking projects and the evolution of design itself.

About The Opportunity

Are you a visionary creative leader ready to make a significant impact? This pivotal creative leadership role offers you the chance to immerse yourself in the creative process from concept to execution, driving genuine influence over the work, the team, and the studio’s trajectory. You will be the senior creative voice, collaborating closely with the Founder and the design team to sculpt ideas, define creative direction, and elevate every project beyond the expected. This isn’t a role for sideline observers; it’s a hands‑on opportunity to shape the narrative and design direction for diverse clients.

What You’ll Do

You will lead creative thinking across a diverse portfolio, ensuring every project is an opportunity for innovation and impact across branding, campaigns, digital, social, content, and communications.

- Lead the creative process, developing compelling creative directions in response to client briefs.
- Translate complex brand and business strategies into distinctive and impactful creative concepts.
- Champion fresh perspectives and push creative boundaries to deliver unexpected and effective solutions.
- Establish creative direction across various platforms, including brand identity, campaigns, digital experiences, social media, and content.
- Maintain a hands‑on approach to conceptualization and key creative deliverables.
- Facilitate and lead dynamic brainstorming and creative development sessions.
- Articulate and present creative concepts with confidence, effectively conveying the strategic thinking behind them.
- Provide expert art direction for photography, video, and various content initiatives.
- Mentor and empower the design team, offering clear creative guidance while fostering their ownership and growth.
- Proactively identify opportunities to strengthen client relationships through innovative creative solutions.
- Contribute significantly to new business pitches and the ongoing strategic development of the studio.

Where Creative Thinking Matters

This role transcends mere aesthetics; it demands deep engagement with the strategic “why” behind the work. You will be expected to dissect a brief, uncover its core idea, and envision how that idea can be brought to life both visually and verbally. While copywriting isn’t your primary focus, you will be comfortable developing headline concepts, campaign lines, or concise copy that integrates seamlessly with the creative vision, especially for promotional campaigns. Your ability to shape both the narrative and the design direction will be key.

Commercial Acumen

Beyond the creative output, you’ll possess strong commercial acumen, understanding the business imperatives that underpin successful creative ventures. This involves skillfully balancing creative ambition with practical considerations such as budgets, resources, timelines, and the commercial objectives of both the studio and its clients. You will thoughtfully consider how creative time is allocated, projects are resourced, and where efficiencies can be achieved without ever compromising the quality of the work.

Qualifications We’re Looking For

Whether you currently hold a title like Senior Design Director, Design Director, Associate Creative Director, or are an experienced Senior Designer ready for greater creative leadership, your unique thinking and portfolio quality are what truly matter.

- Proven background within a design studio, brand studio, or a similarly design‑led environment.
- Demonstrated experience working with premium, design‑led brands.
- A compelling portfolio that showcases strategic ideas and creative thinking, not just execution.
- Extensive experience across brand identity, campaigns and broader design disciplines, including digital, social, and content.
- Exceptional visual judgment encompassing typography, composition, imagery, and narrative development.
- The ability to seamlessly transition from high‑level strategy and big ideas to meticulous execution details.
- Confidence in developing robust creative concepts and defining clear design directions.
- A proven ability to contribute headline and campaign line ideas as an integral part of the creative process.
- Experience directing photography, video, or various content productions.
- Solid presentation skills and excellent client communication abilities.




- Experience in mentoring and fostering the development of design talent.
- Sound commercial judgment and a clear understanding of creative team profitability.
- A collaborative spirit, a low‑ego approach, and the confidence to offer constructive challenges to ideas.
- A genuine curiosity for design, culture, technology, and the broader creative industry.

Who You Are

You possess strong opinions, yet you’re generous in sharing your insights. You intuitively recognize an idea’s potential and understand when to push it further. You effortlessly navigate between the overarching creative vision and the smallest design detail. You are deeply passionate about the quality of your work, yet you also grasp that exceptional creative must serve the client and the business effectively. No ego, just a dedication to outstanding work.

About Aquent Talent

Aquent Talent connects the best talent in marketing, creative, and design with the world’s biggest brands.

Our eligible talent get access to amazing benefits like subsidized health, vision, and dental plans, paid sick leave, and retirement plans with a match. We also offer free online training through Aquent Gymnasium. More information on our awesome benefits!

Aquent is an equal‑opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, and other legally protected characteristics. We’re about creating an inclusive workplace—one where different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives are valued, and everyone can contribute, grow their careers, and thrive.

Client Description

Senior Design Director

Location: Melbourne

Work arrangement: Hybrid

Salary: $130,000 – $140,000 + super

Reports to: Founder

Position purpose

The Senior Design Director is responsible for providing senior creative and design leadership across the studio, from strategic thinking and concept development through to execution.

The role is responsible for maintaining a high standard of creative output, developing strong creative ideas and design direction, providing leadership and mentorship to the design team.

Working closely with the Founder, clients and wider studio team, the Senior Design Director will contribute to the development of brand, campaign, digital, social and communications work, ensuring creative outcomes are strategically relevant, visually considered and commercially viable.

The role also has responsibility for effective management of creative resources, ensuring the design function operates efficiently and profitably.

Key accountabilities

Creative leadership

- Provide senior creative leadership and establish a high standard for creative and design output.
- Translate brand and business strategies into creative strategies and design directions.
- Lead creative development from initial brief and ideation through to concept and execution.
- Develop original creative concepts and ideas that respond to the brief and challenge conventional thinking.
- Establish clear creative direction across branding, campaigns, digital, social, content and communications.
- Review and refine creative work to ensure consistency, quality and relevance.
- Identify opportunities to strengthen and extend the creative response to client briefs.

Design and creative direction

- Provide creative and design direction across a range of client projects and deliverables.
- Maintain involvement in the development and execution of key creative work.
- Provide direction across visual identity, campaigns, digital experiences, social content and communications.
- Develop visual concepts, storyboards and creative approaches where required.
- Provide art direction for photography, video and content.
- Ensure a high level of craft and attention to detail across creative output.
- Ensure creative thinking is effectively translated across different channels and formats.

Concept and headline development

- Contribute to the development of creative concepts for campaigns and projects.
- Develop creative directions that integrate verbal and visual ideas.
- Contribute headline, tagline and campaign line concepts where appropriate.
- Work collaboratively with account and other studio teams to develop and communicate creative concepts.
- Clearly articulate the rationale and strategic thinking behind creative work.

Team leadership and development

- Provide creative leadership, direction and mentorship to the design team.




- Support the development of designers across creative thinking, design craft and professional capability.
- Provide clear and constructive feedback and direction.
- Lead creative brainstorming and collaborative ideation sessions.
- Establish processes that allow appropriate exploration and development of creative ideas.
- Foster a collaborative and high‑performing creative environment.
- Allocate and oversee creative work in line with team capability, project requirements and timelines.

Client relationships

- Present creative concepts and design solutions to clients.
- Clearly communicate creative rationale, strategic thinking and design decisions.
- Develop strong working relationships with clients and understand their business and commercial objectives.
- Respond appropriately to client feedback while maintaining the integrity of the creative direction.
- Work with the Founder and wider studio team to identify opportunities to add value to client relationships.
- Contribute to new business presentations and pitches where required.

Commercial management

- Contribute to the profitable operation of the creative function.
- Manage creative resources in line with project scope, budgets and timelines.
- Monitor the allocation and utilisation of creative team resources.
- Balance creative quality and ambition with commercial requirements.
- Identify opportunities to improve efficiency without compromising creative standards.
- Consider the commercial impact of creative decisions and project requirements.
- Contribute to the identification and development of additional opportunities within existing client relationships.

Studio development

- Contribute to the ongoing development of the studio’s creative offering and reputation.
- Identify opportunities to strengthen the studio’s creative capability and portfolio.
- Contribute to case studies, studio content, events and industry activity.
- Maintain awareness of developments across design, culture, technology and the wider creative industry.
- Introduce relevant tools, references, approaches and emerging technologies where they can improve creative outcomes or studio capability.

Experience

Required experience and capabilities

- Significant experience in a senior design or creative role within a design studio, brand studio or similarly design‑led environment.
- Experience delivering work for premium and design‑led brands.
- Experience across brand identity, campaigns and broader design disciplines including digital, social and content.
- Experience providing creative direction from strategy and concept through to execution.
- Experience mentoring and providing creative leadership to designers.
- Experience presenting creative concepts and strategic thinking to clients.
- Experience directing photography, video or content projects.

Creative and design capability

- Strong creative and conceptual thinking.
- High level of visual and design judgement.
- Strong understanding of typography, composition, imagery and visual storytelling.
- Ability to develop creative concepts that can be applied across multiple channels.
- Ability to contribute headline and campaign line ideas as part of the creative development process.
- Strong attention to detail and commitment to quality.
- Ability to balance big‑picture creative thinking with hands‑on design execution.

Leadership and commercial capability

- Demonstrated ability to provide clear creative direction and develop design talent.
- Strong communication and presentation skills.
- Ability to manage competing priorities, timelines and resources.
- Solid commercial acumen and understanding of creative team profitability.
- Understanding of project budgets, resource allocation and team utilisation.
- Ability to balance creative ambition with commercial requirements.
- Ability to identify opportunities to improve client value and studio growth.

Personal attributes

- Collaborative and low‑ego approach.
- Strong creative judgement and confidence in decision-making.
- Curious and engaged with design, culture, technology and the wider creative industry.
- Proactive approach and strong sense of ownership.
- Comfortable challenging ideas constructively and responding positively to feedback.
- High level of professionalism and accountability.
- Commitment to creative excellence and commercially effective outcomes.

Measures of success

- Consistent delivery of high‑quality, strategically relevant creative work.
- Strong creative direction and development across the design team.
- Effective management and utilisation of creative resources.
- Projects delivered within agreed scope, timelines and commercial parameters.
- Positive and trusted client relationships.
- Growth in the quality and scope of the studio’s creative work.
- Identification of new creative and commercial opportunities.
- Continued development of the studio’s creative capability and reputation.

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📌 Senior Design Director (Melbourne)
🏢 Aquent
📍 Melbourne