Studio Manager

Studio Manager

Salary: Competitive salary plus company benefits

Location: 2 King Edward Street, London EC1A 1HQ

Contract: Permanent, full time

Hours: 37.5 hours per week

Shifts: Monday – Friday 9am until 5:30pm with a 1-hour unpaid lunch break

Work model: Fully onsite

Williams Lea seeks a Studio Manager to join our team!

Williams Lea is the leading global provider of skilled, technology-enabled, business-critical support services, with long-term trusted relationships with blue-chip clients across investment banks, law firms and professional services firms.

Williams Lea employees, nearly 7000 people worldwide, who provide efficient business services at client sites in often complex and highly regulated environments, from centralised Williams Lea onshore facilities, and through best cost company offshore locations.

Purpose of role

The Studio Manager will oversee the entire creative production output for a Creative Services studio based onsite at a global banking client, operating from within their IT environment. Being based at a client site, the role involves regular interaction with both clients of the studio and the Senior Account Manager.

As a Studio Manager, you will have strong communication skills, a professional manner and be willing to proactively support and engage with your surrounding colleagues and clients. You will be responsible for the operational aspects and direct management of the studio. You will report into the Senior Account Manager, who has overall accountability for delivery of three services provided to this client and be part of the wider account management team for this client. Applicants must have previous experience managing a creative team of at least eight staff in order to be considered for this role.

Key responsibilities

• To develop and upskill the Designers and Videographers within the team and grow the capability
• To lead develop and inspire the creative team
• To coordinate the Creative Services team to work together to provide a seamless service to our clients
• Ensuring delivery of high-quality creative production material from the Creative Services studio, matching and surpassing client briefs
• To build strong client relationships with key stakeholders and global clients, winning work, key projects and large campaigns to help grow the WL Creative Services Studio and volume of work and requests
• To bring creativity and innovation to the Creative Services teams and clients they serve
• Inspire, lead and drive high quality creative production output from conception through to completion
• Build strong relationships with key stakeholders to deliver value, quality and strategic output for them
• Identify creative production opportunities within the bank, helping to create a pipeline of work for the studio
• Align approach within the studio with client strategies from across the business, including brand marketing, events, and corporate communications
• Deliver industry insight and market trends to drive innovation
• Collaboration with the wider WL creative production community
• Identify and develop solutions which meet client requirements, work within the client brand guidelines and are accessible for the intended audience
• Provide creative consultation as part of the briefing process with the studio on best solutions and media, to ensure a successful output and happy client
• Hands on management of complex jobs, pre-empting issues, coordinating work and production, including print and delivery
• Monitor progress of activities to ensure adherence to deadlines, quality standards, and client brand guidelines
• Ensure that message quality, format, and content meet the brief and are consistent with firm-wide communication guidelines
• Guide and advise members of the team in the design and use of template material, providing training where necessary
• To be a technical expert in all areas of design for print and digital media and video
• To ensure quality control and pre-flight checking procedures are adhered
• To support the Studio Manager in ensuring internal workflow practices are adhered to within the studio, and all billable work is recorded
• Management of the team, ensuring that all team and operational requirements are met
• Ensuring adherence to all departmental, company and client policies and procedures
• Manage annual leave and staff planning
• Manage team’s performance, development, attendance, time keeping and conduct annual appraisals.
• Completing annual reviews
• Developing development plans for direct line reports fostering the culture of continuous improvement
• Setting SMART Objectives and Goals
• Ensuring teams have regular 1-2-1’s and Team meetings
• Ensuring team feedback is captured and recorded
• Monitor and manage SLA adherence in line with contractual requirements

Personal attributes

• Excellent communication skills, articulate, personable and confident
• Enjoys working with and presenting to clients with excellent client relationship and management skills
• Experienced leading a team of designers and takes a collaborative, proactive approach to handling issues and supporting clients
• In depth knowledge and understanding of design and production across printed and digital disciplines
• Highly organised managing yours and others workloads, managing multiple projects effectively with a polite confident manner
• Calm and mature personality with the ability to work both on own initiative and in a team environment, often under pressure and to strict deadlines
• Strong level of technical and integrated creative design knowledge

Rewards and Benefits

We believe in supporting our employees in both their professional and personal lives. As part of our commitment to your well-being, we offer a comprehensive benefits package, including but not limited to:

• 25 days holiday, plus bank holidays(pro-rata for part time or fixed term roles)
• Salary sacrifice schemes, retail vouchers – including our TechScheme which can be used on a range of gadgets such as Smart TV’s, laptops and computers or household appliances.
• Life Assurance
• Private Medical Insurance
• Dental Insurance
• Health Assessments
• Cycle-to-work scheme
• Discounted gym memberships
• Referral Scheme

You will also have the opportunity to work for a global employer who is dedicated to offering each and every employee an enjoyable, challenging and rewarding career with future career development prospects!

Equality and Diversity

The Company values the differences that a diverse workforce brings to the organisation and will not discriminate because of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race (which includes colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins), religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation (each of these being a “protected characteristic” in discrimination law). It will not discriminate because of any other irrelevant factor and will build a culture that values openness, fairness and transparency.

If you have a disability and would prefer to apply in a different format or would like to make a reasonable adjustment to enable you to make an interview please contact us at careersatWL@williamslea.com (we do not accept applications to this email address).