Head of Design (Maternity Cover) - London or Remote

Location: You can join us either in one of our offices in Hamburg, Berlin or Barcelona or 100% remotely in one of the 11 countries where we have a legal entity**

As Head of Design (Maternity Cover) (m/f/d)  you will be part of the FREE NOW global marketing team reporting into the Director of Brand. As a team you will be responsible for taking the FREE NOW brand to great new heights, delivering strategies, plans and executions that build brand awareness, increase consideration, and ultimately lead to advocacy. In your capacity as Head of Design you will lead a team of 10 in house designers delivering on the creative needs of the business. 

We’re looking for an energetic, charismatic and self-starting design superstar who can take the reins of the design team and support them to deliver creative impact. The team is responsible for the majority of creative assets you see across the FREE NOW ecosystem including all digital and social content and printed materials for passenger, driver and B2B marketing. As Head of Design you will also be directly involved in global marketing campaigns, alongside the brand team. 

We are in the process of a brand repositioning, working with world class creative and design agencies to establish the foundations of FREE NOW’s future, and you will be expected to jump straight in and support the team to lock this foundational work. You will also support the rollout across the business, with direct accountability for locking brand guidelines and embedding them within the organisation.. 

We are also taking this pivotal moment to shake things up, and as such we need someone who can critically assess the way we do things today and implement changes which will set us on the right path for the future. We want someone who can help transform our in-house design team, to an in-house creative hub - a melting pot of design, creativity and innovation; the envy of other in-house departments at FREE NOW and of design teams at other businesses. 

This is a really exciting role for an experienced designer who likes to get their hands dirty and wants to make a huge and visible difference in just a short space of time. You’ll need to be passionate, full of energy, strategic, creative, collaborative and a natural born leader - it’s not the role for everyone, but could it be the role for you?!

The role:  

• Lead and manage a team of 10 in house designers

• Support, motivate and nurture talent
• Creatively lead and inspire
• Strategically coach and develop
• Foster a data based approach to design
• Build the perception of the team as high performers
• Protect the team from external noise and pressures
• Celebrate the team internally for great creative work

• Ensure quality and timely delivery of creative assets that drive the business

• Global Activations - Concept through delivery of assets for PR, Social and Digital
• Global Content - Concept through delivery of assets for Social and CRM

• Partner with brand team to deliver brand & design strategies, and Global Campaigns

• Support local markets in the adaptation of global assets

• Support in finalising the new brand positioning and foundations

• Input on brand positioning
• Lead the development of brand guidelines
• Support on the development of TOV guidelines

• Develop processes for embedding brand guidelines into the business

• Ensure brand guidelines are understood by all internal/external stakeholders
• Partner with functional heads to plan to update of all existing brand assets
• Manage the design workloads to update all existing brand assets

• Audit the current design processes and look for ways to improve creativity and impact

• Review meeting cadence and quality
• Review collaboration with key stakeholders (e.g. digital) to improve learning
• Review tools for storing and sharing creative assets and templates

• Be the FREE NOW Design expert, educating and bringing the best of what’s outside in

• Monthly Design newsletters 
• Quarterly Design reviews

Our requirements:

• +10 years experience in Design
• Demonstrable experience in leading and shaping a design team 
• Dynamic design portfolio showcasing strengths in typography, design, visual storytelling, campaign concept creation, (motion), and art direction across all mediums - print and digital
• Passion for various creative disciplines including branding, concepting, content, motion.
• Design obsessed with finger on the pulse of what’s hot and what’s not. 
• Ability to work efficiently with tight deadlines.
• Agility to adapt to changing requirements.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Data literate and motivated by learning approach to design
• Self starter with an always can-do attitude
• Natural leader with energy and passion for people
• Bias for action with a proven and demonstrable impact on a business
• Highly critical thinker with willingness to shake things up
• Collaborative, influential and with strong power of persuasion.
• Highly organised and detailed approach to planning and budgets. 
• Genuine interest in, and passion for, the mobility industry.

** legal entities: France, Spain, Germany, Austria, Portugal, Italy, England, Ireland, Poland, Romania & Greece 

Diversity and inclusion:

At FREE NOW, we commit to being an equal opportunity employer. We consider qualified applicants regardless of race, religion, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability or age. We celebrate diversity and have a clear vision: to be the place where a diverse mix of talented people want to come, stay and do their best work. Together with passionate, creative and collaborative colleagues, we are following our purpose of making mobility available for everyone.

Move like you

At FREE NOW we have colleagues from over 70 nations! We value open communication and welcome everyone as they are. We are all one team and follow the same goals – that’s why we share our insights and results to get on track together every month. 

Your wellness and work-life balance matters to us. We offer trust-based and flexible working hours as well as the option to work from home. In the office, you can enjoy our free drinks and daily fresh fruit. Do you like to be active? Take part in our subsidised gym membership. Bigger plans? Take a sabbatical leave and get out there!

Let’s grow together! We believe in a transparent career growth plan, quarterly development sessions with your team lead as well as regular 1:1s to help you thrive! For your own ideas, you’re welcome to set up initiatives and projects.

Need a lift? We offer Udemy e-learning platform, subsidised language classes, internal peer-to-peer trainings and more to support your learning & development opportunities.

More Benefits? ? Monthly mobility budget for FREE NOW rides, quarterly team events, company-wide onboarding days at our HQ in Hamburg, relocation assistance for internationals, birthday-off, kudos and many more!

About FREE NOW:

FREE NOW is the Mobility Super App with the largest vehicle choice for consumers across Europe. More than 54 million users in 16 markets and in over 170 cities today are already moving freely from A to B by accessing the largest selection of mobility options available in one app.

Through the unique integration of mobility brands and payment services, they can book their nearest taxi, private hire vehicle, car sharing or micro-mobility option such as eScooters, eMopeds, and eBikes within the app. FREE NOW aggregates numerous mobility brands with the ambition to make urban mobility more efficient and sustainable without adding new vehicles on the street.

The German based company is backed by the BMW Group and Mercedes-Benz Mobility. In total, around 1,850 employees in more than 27 offices work for the services of FREE NOW, which is led by CEO Thomas Zimmermann.