Deputy Manager - Design Lead

Job Description - Design Lead About the Role Key Responsibilities 1. Creative Leadership

• Own the overall creative direction for Marketing campaigns, product launches, promotions, and brand initiatives.
• Translate campaign briefs and marketing objectives into strong visual concepts.
• Develop creative approaches, visual themes, campaign identities, and communication systems.
• Ensure all creative output is aligned with brand guidelines and positioning.
• Push the team towards better, more strategic and differentiated creative work , rather than execution-only design.

2. Team Management

• Lead and manage the design team and allocate work based on priorities, skills, and timelines.
• Conduct regular reviews of team output and provide constructive creative feedback.
• Mentor designers and help improve their design thinking, execution quality, and productivity.
• Identify skill gaps and recommend training or development requirements.
• Build a culture of ownership, accountability, creativity, and timely delivery.

3. Campaign Marketing Support

• Work closely with the Marketing Head and campaign teams to understand objectives and translate them into creative requirements.
• Develop creatives for:
  • Social media
  • Performance marketing
  • E-commerce
  • Product campaigns
  • School coaching campaigns
  • Retail promotions
  • Events and activations
  • Email/WhatsApp communication
  • Websites and landing pages
  • Print and offline branding
• Create campaign-level visual consistency across multiple platforms and touchpoints.

4. Quality Brand Management

• Review and approve creative output before publishing or delivery.
• Maintain consistency in typography, layouts, imagery, colours, messaging hierarchy, and overall brand identity.
• Establish creative quality benchmarks for the team.
• Ensure designs are not only aesthetically strong but also clear, communication-focused, and conversion-oriented .

5. Workflow Delivery Management

• Maintain visibility of the design teams workload, priorities, and deadlines.
• Plan creative requirements around campaign calendars and business priorities.
• Ensure timely delivery of creatives without compromising quality.
• Coordinate with Content, Digital Marketing, E-commerce, Product, Sales, and external agencies/vendors where required.
• Identify bottlenecks in the design process and implement improvements.

6. Hands-on Design

• Personally handle high-priority, complex, or strategically important design projects.
• Create key campaign creatives, master designs, presentations, product communication, and brand assets when required.
• Stay involved in concept development rather than functioning only as an approval layer.

7. Innovation Creative Development

• Stay updated with current design, advertising, social media, and visual communication trends.
• Experiment with new creative formats, AI tools, motion/design technologies, and emerging content formats.
• Introduce new creative approaches to improve audience engagement and campaign performance.
• Encourage the team to test, learn, and continuously improve.

Key Deliverables

• High-quality creative output across marketing channels.
• Timely delivery of campaign and business-critical creatives.
• Strong and consistent brand representation.
• Improved design teams productivity and creative quality.
• Effective creative resource allocation.
• Strong visual concepts for major marketing campaigns.
• Reduced dependency on the Marketing Head for day-to-day creative execution.
• A structured and efficient design workflow.

Required Skills

• Strong understanding of graphic design, visual communication, branding, typography, layout, colour theory, and composition .
• Strong conceptual and creative thinking.
• Excellent understanding of digital and social media creatives.
• Ability to design for both brand building and performance/conversion objectives .
• Strong presentation and communication skills.
• Good understanding of marketing and campaign requirements.
• Ability to manage multiple projects and tight deadlines.
• Strong attention to detail.
• Ability to give and receive creative feedback constructively.

Software Tools

• Adobe Photoshop
• Adobe Illustrator
• Adobe InDesign
• Figma
• Canva
• Premiere Pro / After Effects - added advantage
• AI-assisted design and creative tools - added advantage

Education Experience What We Are Looking For

• A designer who thinks beyond make this creative and understands why the creative is being made .
• Someone who can challenge weak creative briefs and suggest better solutions.
• A leader who can manage people while maintaining high creative standards.
• Someone who can balance speed, quality, creativity, and business requirements .
• A hands-on creative leader who can both strategise and execute .