The Studio & Design Team Leader, leads Amart's in-house design and product imagery function, ensuring creative and product assets are delivered on time, on brief and to a consistently high standard. The role brings together people leadership, creative quality, studio operations and workflow management to support Amart's retail calendar, digital channels, in store execution and brand objectives.

Working closely with Marketing, Campaigns, Digital, E-commerce, Buying, Visual Merchandising and external production partners, the Studio Manager turns business priorities into clear briefs and practical delivery plans. The role balances pace, volume and commercial deadlines with brand consistency, product accuracy and continuous improvement.

Key ResponsibilitiesTeam Leadership and Development

• Lead, coach and develop the studio team, setting clear expectations, priorities and standards for quality, accuracy and delivery.
• Allocate work across the team based on capacity, capability, deadlines and business priority, and proactively resolve workload constraints.
• Conduct regular one-on-ones, performance conversations and development planning, building accountability and a collaborative, solutions-focused culture.
• Provide clear creative feedback and practical direction that helps team members improve their craft while delivering efficiently.
• Identify resourcing, capability and training needs and recommend appropriate internal, freelance or agency support.

Creative and Brand Quality

• Oversee the quality and consistency of print, digital, motion and product imagery outputs across paid, owned, in-store and e-commerce channels.
• Translate campaign objectives and brand guidelines into clear creative direction, templates and production standards for the team.
• Review and approve work at agreed stages, ensuring assets are accurate, compliant, channel-ready and aligned with the approved brief before release.
• Champion strong design fundamentals, effective retail communication and a consistent Amart visual identity across every customer touchpoint.
• Partner with the Head of Marketing Operations and Creative on brand evolution, campaign concepts and improvements to creative effectiveness.

Workflow and Delivery Management

• Own the end-to-end studio workflow from brief intake and prioritisation through allocation, review, approval, final delivery and archiving.
• Maintain a clear view of studio capacity, deadlines, dependencies and risks across the retail marketing calendar and product launch pipeline.
• Ensure briefs are complete, prioritised and ready for production before work begins, challenging unclear requirements and managing scope changes.
• Establish practical service levels, review stages, naming conventions, version control and escalation processes that reduce rework and late delivery.
• Provide stakeholders with clear progress updates and escalate risks early, including late inputs, approval delays, competing priorities and production issues.
• Use project and workflow data to identify bottlenecks, improve forecasting and support resourcing decisions.

Product Imagery and Studio Operations

• Lead the product imagery pipeline, ensuring new and promotional products are photographed, generated, edited, coded and made available in line with launch dates.
• Oversee studio scheduling, photography briefs, and coordination.
• Set and maintain standards for product accuracy, scale, colour, texture, file formats, and image naming across e-commerce and marketing use.
• Ensure imagery is quality checked, correctly filed and supplied to relevant teams and systems, with issues resolved before products go live.
• Maintain safe, organised and efficient studio operations, including appropriate handling, tracking and return of product samples and stock.
• Explore and responsibly implement technologies such as automation and AI-assisted imagery where they improve speed, consistency or cost effectiveness without compromising brand or product accuracy.

Stakeholder and Supplier Management

• Build effective working relationships with Campaigns, Digital, E-commerce, Buying, Visual Merchandising, and other internal stakeholders.
• Clarify requirements, negotiate priorities and manage feedback constructively so that decisions are timely and aligned to commercial objectives.
• Brief and manage external agencies, photographers, retouchers, printers, 3D providers and freelancers, holding partners accountable for quality, timing and cost.
• Support accurate approvals by ensuring promotional claims, product information, pricing and mandatory requirements are checked by the appropriate owners.

Budget and Continuous Improvement

• Manage approved studio, photography and external production expenditure, including quotes, invoices and spend tracking.
• Identify opportunities to simplify production, reduce avoidable rework and improve speed to market while protecting creative quality.
• Develop and maintain templates, production guides, asset libraries and ways of working that support consistent, scalable delivery.
• Monitor relevant creative, retail and technology trends and recommend improvements that provide a clear customer or commercial benefit.

Skills and Experience

Essential

• Five or more years of experience in graphic design, creative production, studio management or a related discipline, ideally in retail, e-commerce, furniture or another high-volume environment.
• Demonstrated people leadership experience, including workload allocation, coaching, performance management and capability development.
• Strong portfolio or track record of delivering integrated creative across print, digital, social, web, and retail channels.
• Advanced understanding of Adobe Creative Cloud and creative production workflows, with the ability to review technical execution and production-ready files.
• Experience managing a high volume of concurrent briefs, tight promotional deadlines and multiple stakeholder approvals.
• Strong knowledge of brand governance, print production, digital specifications, file management and quality assurance.
• Excellent communication, prioritisation, problem-solving and stakeholder management skills.
• Strong commercial judgement and attention to detail, with the confidence to make decisions and escalate risks early.

Desirable

• Experience managing product photography, e-commerce imagery, studio operations or image production pipelines.
• Knowledge of photography, retouching, colour management, 3D rendering, digital asset management or AI-assisted image production.
• Experience managing external creative suppliers, production budgets and procurement processes.
• Tertiary qualification in Graphic Design, Visual Communication, Creative Industries, Marketing or a related field.

Key Attributes

• Calm, decisive and organised in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.
• A supportive leader who sets clear standards and follows through on commitments.
• Strong creative judgement balanced with commercial practicality.
• Proactive, transparent and comfortable managing competing priorities and constructive feedback.
• Process-minded and curious about better ways to deliver high-quality work at scale.
• Collaborative, customer-focused and accountable for team outcomes.