External Partners

Architects, interior designers, creative agencies, photographers, and brand collaborators across European markets.

Key Responsibilities

Interior & Architecture Direction

• Provide creative leadership on property design for new builds, refurbishments, and conversions — working alongside the Chief Development Officer, Chief Projects Officer, external architects, and interior designers.
• Set the creative brief and direction for all new Wilde and Staycity properties at concept stage, ensuring design intent is rooted in brand values and neighbourhood context.
• Review and sign off on interior design proposals, materials specifications, FF&E selections, and artwork programmes.
• Build and manage relationships with a roster of preferred architects and interior designers across European markets.
• Ensure design decisions are commercially viable and operationally achievable without compromising creative standards.
• Champion locally-rooted design thinking - particularly for Wilde, where neighbourhood identity is central to the brand proposition.

Brand & Visual Identity

• Staycity and Wilde are two distinct brands that must feel meaningfully different to guests, owners, investors, and the wider market. The Chief Creative Officer is the guardian of that differentiation, defining each brand’s creative direction, setting the standards, and ensuring every evolution is intentional, commercially relevant, and true to its identity. They own, collaborate and maintain the Brand Standards for both brands, encompassing brand, design, guest experience principles, and the creative frameworks that ensure consistency and quality across every touchpoint.
• Articulate and protect the positioning of each brand clearly: Wilde as a neighbourhood-rooted lifestyle brand with genuine cultural credibility; Staycity as a premium aparthotel brand that competes on consistency, warmth, and value for the long-stay guest, both brands distinct, neither one diluting the other.
• Lead periodic brand reviews, commissioning research where needed, to keep both brands culturally relevant and commercially sharp, without chasing trends or sacrificing the coherent identity that returning guests recognise and trust.
• Manage the briefing and output of external brand agencies, creative studios, photographers, and copywriters, setting clear standards and maintaining quality control across all brand-originated content.
• Define and maintain comprehensive brand systems for both Staycity and Wilde, covering visual identity (logo, colour, typography, photography, illustration, iconography) as well as tone of voice, naming conventions, and design language, and ensure these are applied consistently across every touchpoint, from OTA listings and digital channels to in-room collateral, signage, and staff presentation.
• Build the internal creative team's capability to be a genuine centre of brand excellence, not simply an execution function.

Guest Experience Design

• Shape the sensory and emotional experience of every guest, ensuring that the atmosphere, ambiance, and feel of each property is intentional, memorable, and on-brand.
• Define the experience pillars for each brand - from arrival and lobby atmosphere through to in-room sensory elements including lighting, scent, sound, and texture.
• Work closely with Operations leaders and F&B leader to ensure the guest journey is coherent and emotionally considered at every stage - and that brand standards are embedded in day-to-day operational delivery.
• Develop and document brand experience standards that translate consistently across properties in different cities and markets.
• Champion the guest perspective in internal decision-making, acting as a voice for what guests see, feel, and remember.

Product & Merchandise

• Direct the development of branded products, in-room amenities, and guest-facing collateral, ensuring every physical touchpoint reinforces the brand's values and aesthetic.
• Lead the creative selection and curation of in-room amenity ranges for both brands.
• Oversee the design of all branded merchandise, retail items, and gifting - particularly for Wilde where lifestyle retail represents a brand-building opportunity.
• Ensure sustainability and quality credentials of products align with the Group's broader values and guest expectations.

Innovation & Trend Intelligence

• Keep Staycity Group ahead of the cultural, design, and hospitality trends that will define the next generation of aparthotel travel.
• Actively scan culture, design, travel, food, and lifestyle trends globally to inform creative strategy and brand evolution.
• Build and nurture relationships with artists, designers, architects, and cultural figures who can bring genuine creative energy to the brands.
• Identify opportunities for brand partnerships, collaborations, and cultural moments that extend both brands beyond the hospitality category.
• Champion innovation in guest experience and brand expression - from emerging technologies to new spatial concepts.

The Person We Are Looking For

Experience & Background

• Significant creative leadership experience, ideally including a senior role (Creative Director, Head of Brand, CCO, or equivalent) within luxury or premium lifestyle hospitality, branded residences, luxury retail, or a closely related lifestyle or cultural sector - with a clear understanding of what it means to build brands that guests feel genuine affinity for.
• A demonstrable portfolio of brand-building work - someone who has built or evolved a brand with real emotional resonance and commercial impact.
• Experience working across both physical spaces and digital creative - comfort with the full spectrum of a brand's visual life.
• Familiarity with European markets and an understanding of what it means to build a brand that works across cities with different cultural identities.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary creative teams - ideally spanning interior design and brand strategy - alongside external agency and specialist relationships.

Skills & Capabilities

• Exceptional visual taste and a strong point of view - someone who knows what great looks like and has the conviction to hold the line.
• Strategic thinking combined with hands-on creative instinct: able to write a brand positioning document and also brief a photographer.
• Strong communication and storytelling skills - able to articulate creative vision compellingly to the board, to development partners, to architects, and to guests.
• Commercial awareness: understands how creative decisions affect revenue, occupancy, and brand equity.
• Collaborative and influence-led leadership style - most of this role's impact will come through working with and through others, not through direct authority.
• Curiosity, taste, and genuine engagement with culture: this person reads, travels, eats well, and pays attention.

Role at a Glance

• Reports to: Chief Executive Officer
• Two brands: Staycity Aparthotels & Wilde
• Scope: Brand, design, guest experience, product
• 40 properties across 20 European cities
• Pipeline of 4,500+ rooms under development
• London pipeline GDV: £800m+
• Target: 18,000 keys by 2