Senior Art Director, Waitrose

**About the role**: We have an exciting opportunity for a Senior Art Director to play a pivotal role within the Waitrose brand. In this dynamic role, no two days will be the same as you strategically translate creative briefs into compelling visuals across all customer touchpoints, from packaging and Point of Sale to social and online. We're looking for an expert in food and lifestyle art direction with a strong understanding of set design, camera angles, cropping, lighting, and post-production, ensuring a cohesive and impactful brand experience. You'll be a confident, proactive creative leader who not only delivers on the Waitrose brand vision but constantly evolves and elevates it, pushing boundaries and driving innovation in food and lifestyle imagery. This role demands close collaboration with internal and external creative teams, directing external talent, and mentoring junior team members. You'll bring expert knowledge of photography, filmmaking, and post-production processes, balancing creative excellence with commercial objectives to manage multiple projects in a fast-paced environment with meticulous attention to detail from concept to delivery.
**At a glance**:

- ** Salary Range**: £45,000.00 - 71,000.00 per annum
- ** Expected salary**: £45,000.00 - £60,000.00 per annum
- ** Contract type**: This is a permanent position
- ** Hours and location of the role**:

- 35 hours per week
- Your home location will be our Bracknell Head Office
- The Partnership has adopted a hybrid working approach meaning you'll be able to work a mixture between the office, on location, studio and home based upon your personal needs whilst balancing the needs of the business. The team tend to be on shoots approx 3 days a week and in the office to connect and attend key meetings on a more ad-hoc basis

**Key responsibilities**:

- Respond to creative briefs with art direction that aligns with Waitrose's brand vision, while continuously evolving to be industry-leading and informed by expert knowledge of food and industry trends, seasonal colour palettes, styling, and relevant customer insights and cultural trends
- Own the concept development for food and lifestyle shoots (stills and motion), creating compelling mood boards and visualisations to present to stakeholders
- Develop robust Art Direction decks that clearly articulate the vision and required assets for internal sign-off and effective briefing of external teams
- Effectively brief and direct external teams (photographers, stylists, set designers, and Freelance Art Directors), ensuring talent selection aligns with brief and brand objectives
- Proactively engage and collaborate with a wide range of internal stakeholders across the partnership (including Product Developers, Account Managers, Creative Producers, and Senior Designers) to enable effective shoot execution (e.g., mood boards, style guides, traces & shot lists)
- Collaborate closely with external partners, including our production partner, repro house, adaptive agencies, and freelance talent to provide comprehensive art direction, fostering a shared understanding of the brand's visual direction
- Work closely with our production counterparts to interrogate briefs and provide creative solutions, ensuring the delivery of accurate, compelling, and commercially effective imagery across all channels (packaging, Point of Sale, editorial, social, and online), captured efficiently, brand-aligned, on deadline, and within budget
- Be accountable on set for the final output, demonstrating a keen eye for detail across lighting, set design, styling, and composition. Possess the ability to quickly adapt and problem-solve when unexpected challenges arise
- Take full responsibility for the retouch process, from initial editing and mark-ups to final grade and sign-off, ensuring image quality is delivered to the highest standard in collaboration with external reprographic and production agencies and working closely with creative producers
- Act as a brand guardian for Waitrose, providing support and guidance in meetings and on set with freelance or junior art directors
- Work collaboratively and in tandem with the wider internal and external creative and content teams to ensure alignment
- Set an example as a creative leader within the business, fostering a positive and nurturing environment and acting as a mentor for junior members of the team
- Contribute to resource planning by identifying and researching new talent, including photographers, videographers, food stylists, and prop stylists
- Provide regular updates to the Art Direction Lead
- Present concepts and proposals to senior management within the business for approval.
- Able to take a nugget of an idea and develop an original concept
- Equally confident at concepting and directing motion and stills
- Ideas driven - not complacent and always thinking about how to take creative to the next level
- Has a wider interest and knowledge outside of Food which you bring i