Ideas + Outcomes
Head of Creative (Mat Leave Contract)
Get notified of more jobs like this · No spam, ever
How your CV stacks up
Upload your CV to see how well it fits this job role
?%
THE QUICK VERSION
Package: £65,000 full-time equivalent. At our preferred 4 days a week that is £52,000.
Contract: Fixed term maternity cover, 4 January 2027 to 17 December 2027. As this is maternity cover, we may need you to start a little earlier, or to be available for a handful of handover days in December 2026.
Hours: 4 days a week preferred. Full-time is possible, subject to discussion and agreed at offer stage.
Location: Central London, hybrid. 3 days in the office, flexible hours between 08:00-18:00.
Team: Compact and talented. You will lead the creative output of two agency brands and still be on the tools yourself.
How to apply: Do not just send a portfolio link. Tell us which of our sectors you know best and what you would do differently in the first ninety days. Then send the work. Applications without context will not be prioritised.
Please note: We receive 400-500 applications per role and cannot respond to everyone. There is no visa sponsorship available. Applicants must have permanent right to work in the UK.
ABOUT US
Ideas + Outcomes and Pull London are two agencies in the Common Thread Group of Independent Agencies. Same building, same creative resource, two propositions.
We are built on one truth. When you know your customer, you change the game.
Our work sits in four sectors: health, beauty, retail and consumer goods. Superdrug, Schwarzkopf, Jo Loves, Futura Foods, Eakin Healthcare. Brands with real distribution, real category pressure and real regulatory constraint. Much of it is complex. All of it matters.
We are Drum Recommended and rated 9.3/10 by our clients. We are independent. There are no layers between the idea and the person who signs it off.
THE ROLE
You have overall responsibility for the quality of everything creative that leaves the building, across both agency brands.
- You set the standard.
- You review work before it goes out.
- You decide what is good enough and you say so early, when it is still cheap to change.
- You stop ideas that are off brief before they eat a week.
You turn strategy into ideas. You work closely with the Chief Strategy Officer to turn customer insight, strategic propositions and brand challenges into creative platforms and big ideas. Strategy and creative work well together here. We are always looking to make that partnership produce better work, and you will lead that.
Reasons to use Rodeo
Start with a chat, not a search bar
Grad scheme, placement, apprenticeship? Not sure what you want yet — that's fine. Your agent talks it through with you and turns "I have no idea" into a shortlist.
It searches the market for you
Every day your agent scans the market matching roles against what actually matters to you, not just keywords on a CV.
Only hits
No noise. No "maybe this fits." Just roles with a clear explanation of why they're right — and where to focus when applying.
You lead the work. You are hands-on across advertising, brand, campaign, packaging, retail, social and video. On the biggest briefs and the pitches, you are in the concept yourself, not supervising from a distance.
You are obsessive about quality. Exceptional attention to detail, with a rigorous approach to creative QA. You take responsibility for the final quality and output of the work.
You run the department effectively. You manage the creative resource intelligently. You know when to use the strengths of the team, when to bring in freelance expertise, and how to balance ambition, quality, time and budget.
You grow the team. You lead a small team of brand specialists, designers and video producers, supported by trusted freelancers. You mentor them, you give clear critique, and you make it a place where people do better work than they did last year.
You work in close partnership with strategy and account management, from the brief through to the presentation. You present your own work to clients and push them to be braver than the brief asked for. You build trusted relationships with senior clients, becoming a creative partner rather than simply the person who presents the work. You will report to the Group CEO.
THE SECTORS
Health and pharma. Copy that has to survive medical and regulatory review and still land emotionally. Patient, practitioner and carer audiences that behave nothing alike.
Beauty. Craft-led categories where the standard is high, competition is intense, and every detail matters in creating desire and distinction.
Retail and consumer goods. Work that has to perform at point of sale and in a two-second scroll, across a lot of SKUs, on a budget, at speed.
You do not need all four. You need genuine depth in at least two and the appetite to learn the rest fast.
WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE
- Creative quality is held or improved across both agency brands over the term, measured by client satisfaction and Drum Recommends ratings of 9/10 or higher.
- The creative team is stronger at the end of the cover than at the start. Named individuals have visibly progressed.
- Pitch conversion is maintained. You are personally involved in every significant new business pitch.
- Two pieces of work produced in your tenure are strong enough to enter for awards or to lead our credentials.
- Less time and money spent on work that was never going to fly, because it was challenged earlier.
Get help with your application
Your very own career expert that helps elevate your application to the next level.
WHO YOU ARE
- 8+ years in creative agencies, currently leading a team. Head of Creative, Associate Creative Director, Senior Art Director with reports, or equivalent.
- Still hands-on. As comfortable creating the work yourself as reviewing someone else's.
- A serious love of craft. Typography, art direction, the cut of an edit. You notice the millimetre and you care about it.
- A portfolio with genuine ideas in it, not just well-executed layouts. We want to see the thinking.
- Proven experience leading and mentoring creative teams, including freelancers.
- Confident presenting your own work to senior clients and defending an idea without being precious about it.
- Practical fluency across advertising, brand identity, campaign, packaging, design and video. Broad, not siloed.
- Real understanding of video and film, from concept and storyboard through to direction and edit.
- Working knowledge of AI tools in a production and concepting context. We use them and expect you to have an opinion.
- Commercially aware. You understand that creative time costs money, that margins matter, and how to scope work realistically without compromising the ambition.
- Calm under pressure. Decisive. Able to give hard feedback kindly and take it the same way.
BENEFITS
- Salary: £65,000 FTE. £52,000 at 4 days a week
- Contract: Fixed term, 4 January 2027 to 17 December 2027. 4 days a week preferred, full-time possible. Some handover days may be required in advance of the start date.
- Hybrid working: 3 days per week in the office
- Flexible hours: 08:00-18:00
- Annual leave: 25 days (FTE) plus bank holidays
- Pension: Penfold
- Recognition: Employee of the Quarter and Year Awards, including an extra half-day holiday for quarterly winners
“It took my CV and asked me questions relevant to understanding what kind of jobs to suggest for me. Suggestions were almost perfect. Jobs were exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
Jessica, London
Location