Senior Art Director (6 Month FTC)

Company Description

Our Media is a leading special-interest content business, based in the buzzing, creative city of Bristol. We're home to market-leading brands in craft, cycling, science and nature, homes and music. We help our audiences pursue their passions through highly trusted, original content – in print, video and online. Our much-loved brands include BBC Science Focus, BBC Wildlife Magazine, Your Home, Gathered.how, BikeRadar and Cycling Plus. We also have an award-winning content agency that works with major charities, brands and membership organisations to help them tell their stories and engage audiences better – in print, video, and online.

Position

We are looking for a highly skilled and experienced Senior Art Director to lead creative across one of the agency’s most high-profile accounts — a major UK supermarket brand. You’ll be responsible for setting the visual tone across a range of print and digital assets — from stunning food photography and recipe layouts in magazines to engaging social and digital-first formats. You’ll lead on art direction for shoots, inspire junior creatives, and play a key role in creative ideation, layout design, and content planning. This is a hands-on role for an experienced food and drink specialist with deep knowledge of both print production and digital channel best practices. You’ll combine brilliant design execution with strategic creative thinking and have the confidence to lead shoots, shape visual storytelling, and collaborate directly with clients and content teams to elevate every piece of work. For a full list of responsibilities, please see the attached job description. Please note, this is a part time 6 month fixed term contract.

Requirements

Essential

• Substantial experience in art direction, design or creative roles, ideally within food and drink publishing, brand or content marketing.
• Deep understanding of magazine production processes, including flatplanning, design systems, proofing, and iterations.
• Expertise in Adobe Creative Cloud
• Experience working across both print and digital/social-first formats.
• Strong track record leading creative shoots (studio and location).
• Excellent communication and presentation skills — both internally and client-facing.
• A seasoned art director and designer with an exceptional eye for detail and layout.
• A proven specialist in food and drink visual content, with a portfolio and book of contacts that demonstrates sophisticated print and digital execution.
• Experienced in directing food shoots, collaborating with stylists, photographers, and home economists to create beautiful, appetising imagery.
• A confident leader in both concept and craft.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced agency environment with multiple projects and priorities
• Collaborative, constructive, solutions-focused and driven to produce best-in-class work.

Desirable

• Experience with motion or video art direction
• Familiarity with emerging digital formats such as interactive recipes or in-app content
• A well-developed visual instinct for seasonal or trend-driven food aesthetics
• An understanding of brand strategy, shopper marketing or customer journey touchpoints in retail

Other information

We respect and value differences. We believe that when people from different backgrounds and with different perspectives work together, we can create the most value for our people, readers, customers, and society. If you are excited about this role but your experience doesn't align perfectly with everything listed in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway, as you may still be a good fit for this or other roles. We’re striving to create a more diverse and inclusive environment and to ensure our content is representative of all our audiences. We have established six internal D&I network groups to help our people feel supported and included, and to provide an open environment for people to network, mentor and exchange ideas, solutions, and experiences. If there is anything we can do to make our recruitment process more accessible for you, please do let us know at recruitment@ourmedia.co.uk.

Flexible and hybrid working

We know we create great things and have fun when we come together in person and collaborate. We also know that working from home brings great benefits in terms of being able to focus on our work, and manage our personal lives around our roles. With this in mind, we have established a hybrid working pattern, with 60% of the working week spent in the office. Our people also benefit from a flexi time policy, and a flexi location policy which gives everyone the opportunity to work from another location for two weeks during the year. We are open to discussion about flexible working requests for any flexibility needs not covered by these policies.

Company benefits include

• Pension contribution matched to 5%
• Season ticket loan
• Hybrid working pattern, flexi start/finish time
• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays, plus Christmas closure, plus your birthday off
• Option to buy/sell up to 5 days holiday a year
• Social committee, regular in-house learning events
• 4x life assurance

Our values

We strongly believe that work is not just about what we achieve, but how we achieve it. We want our people to thrive and develop, and we want to effect positive change in the world. To put that spirit at the heart of our business, we co-created a set of values with input from everyone here. Our values are:

• Be kind
• Always curious
• Be the best we can be

We also have a sustainability strategy that is built on five key pillars: Research, Reduction, Recycling, Responsibility, and Reporting. We take pride in our strong partnerships across our complex supply chain to drive emission reductions. Additionally, our office building, Eagle House, is a zero-waste facility powered by solar and renewable energy.

Apply today to take the next step in your career with Our Media.