Creative Manager - 6-month fixed-term contract - Jet - JHB

The Creative Manager is responsible for developing and driving the creative vision across digital, product, and brand experiences. They lead senior design teams and collaborate with executive stakeholders to align creative output with brand essence. This role is responsible for innovation, consistency, and strategic impact across all creative initiatives.

The Creative Manager oversees the creative implementation and direction of the marketing strategy to align to overarching business objectives. The role combines creative vision, strategic thinking and leadership skills to drive innovation and growth as well as a motivated team to deliver business KPI's & a positive ROI.

Leadership and Management:

• Develop and implement creative strategies to align to business objectives, across Apparel & home - seasonally.
• Guide on Conceptualising and implementing concepts through guidelines and strategies for various creative projects that include BTL as well as ATL campaigns and oversee them to completion by the creative team. Consistency, brand strategy & golden thread objectives is critical.
• Coach, guide and support the creative team to deliver creative campaigns and projects to align to brief objectives and to utilize the strengths within the team effectively.
• Encourage collaboration and knowledge sharing across the JET business.
• Lead brainstorming and creative sessions/ workshops with the team to deliver campaigns that drive differentiation and innovation within the fashion & home industry.
• Support the personal development and performance enablement of each member of the team including the creative team ( Senior & junior designers) and external supporting agencies & suppliers.
• Monitor results of team concepts and execution, enabling accountability through guidance within the senior team and thereafter provide feedback for future consideration.
• Responsible for growing talent in the team and hiring new associates ensuring their competency meets job requirements.
• Manage and drive the team by setting agreed upon deliverables, exhibiting the culture and values of the business and to achieve / exceed KPI's at the expected business standard of excellence.
• Identify and drive training needs for the team, coaching and development with a key focus on talent management, performance management and succession planning.
• Creating a team culture that is responsive and professional when meeting deadlines as a key support function and providing a business focused service to internal / external customers.

Vision and strategy:

• Define the creative vision and strategy to achieve the business and marketing objectives for each year through the business strategy initiatives.
• Staying ahead of industry trends and emerging technologies to appeal relevantly to the target audience of the business.
• Creating campaigns and strategies that align to the brand identity of the business and creating a cohesive direction for the creative projects.
• Continuously have an eye on competitive movements, in order to stay ahead of the trend whilst remaining true to brand identity.

Creative Direction:

• Review the creative concepts across the team and give feedback to the team ensuring consistency and quality of all creative projects / campaigns.
• Oversee the development of creative concepts and ideas, giving clarity to the team on the direction for the project that aligns to marketing objectives and CI – whilst enabling the team to grow through taking responsibility for their work with the correct guidance.
• Close collaboration with the Production Leader, Digital manager & marketing team as well as merchants to ensure clarity on project objectives and deliverables, timing and budgets so that creative team is clear on key guidelines on all projects for execution.

Resource Management:

• Ensure efficient use of budgets and resources that will enable us to achieve business goals.
• Oversee project timelines and deliverables and working closely with the Production team on timing and resource allocation across the creative team.
• Ensure effective communication with all stakeholders.
• Develop and implement processes and workflows.
• Oversee the management of creative projects from concept to production, ensuring projects are approved by you before presenting final to the key exco stakeholders.
• Ensuring all shoots (in house vs external) are achieving the brand objectives, and well within budgets.

Innovation and Growth:

• Constantly Drive innovation and experimentation within the creative team.
• Stay up to date with relevant industry developments and best practices. (local and international) through comp reviews and learnings from analytics team.
• Pushing innovation through AI whether regarding processes or actual creative outputs.

Presentation:

• Represent the creative team in internal and external meetings including creative reviews, brand reviews and management presentations.
• Build and maintain relationships with external partners to enable creative.
• Communicate creative vision and strategy to all stakeholders.
• Convincing presentation of creative concepts and effectively communicating with all parties for clarity of concept and workflow.

Diploma in Graphic Design, Visual Communication, Digital Media, or related field.

Experience:

• 5+ years experience in Creative art direction and management in a Retail environment
• Leadership and development skills, DTP design, multi-media knowledge ,trend forecasting & research, an innate sense of styling, research interpretation, VM conceptualisation & implementation, comp reviews, creative concepts to deliver objectives, keeping abreast of developments within ATL campaigns, social and digital marketing experience & leading a team to deliver objectives timeously and according to brief.
• Ability to implement overarching creative seasonal strategies into monthly capsules that align with brand objectives across Apparel and Home.
• Understanding of fashion, Home, publication, VAS (Value added services such as CCFSR, CLUB, rewards, cellular), marketing processes, the merchant processes & E-commerce business advantageous
• Driving AI implementation & innovation viewpoints are critical
• Knowledge of packaging/labelling concept & implementation

Skills:

• Brand Strategy
• Budget Management
• Creative Direction
• Customer-focused Approach
• Planning and Organising
• Presentation Creation
• Project Management

Behaviours:

• Being Resilient
• Build Effective Teams
• Builds Networks
• Cultivates Innovation
• Decision Quality
• Ensures Accountability
• Manages Complexity
• Organizational Savvy
• Situational Adaptability
• Strategic Mindset

Preference will be given, but not limited to candidates from designated groups in terms of the Employment Equity Act.