Senior Creative Lead at Colonial First State

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia -

Full Time

Start Date

Immediate

Expiry Date

20 Aug, 26

Salary

0.0

Posted On

22 May, 26

Experience

10 year(s) or above

Remote Job

Yes

Telecommute

Yes

Sponsor Visa

Skills

Creative Direction, Art Direction, Design Craft, Stakeholder Management, Team Leadership, Brand Strategy, Multi-channel Campaign Management, Workflow Optimization, Production Management, AI Tools for Creative, Visual Systems Development, Quality Assurance, Resource Planning, Digital Design, Motion Graphics, CRM Design

Industry

Financial Services

Description

Are you ready to be part of an organisation that values expertise, passion and diversity? At CFS we know that the foundation of our success lies in our exceptional people. We believe in celebrating individuality, have a passion for high performance and creating an environment where you can unleash your full potential. Our people enable us to make a difference and deliver exceptional experiences to help our customers achieve financial freedom. Your Team The Senior Creative Lead reports to the Director, Brand and leads the in-house Creative Studio: the function responsible for turning business, brand and campaign priorities into high-quality, on-brand creative across channels and formats. The studio plays a critical role in translating strategy into expression: developing campaign creative, social assets, digital and email design, presentations, motion/video, sales enablement materials, templates and scalable asset systems that can be used consistently across internal and external environments. This role sits within the Customer Office at CFS, working closely with colleagues across marketing and the business to deliver on-brand creative that supports our company priorities. Your Responsibilities * Lead creative direction and studio standards: Set the creative bar for the studio across conceptual thinking, art direction, design craft, motion and execution quality. Ensure CFS’s creative output is not only on-brand and consistent, but also clear, compelling and distinctive in market. * Lead and develop the Creative Studio team: Lead a small in-house studio team with a clear standard for quality, pace, collaboration and constructive challenge. Coach designers and producers, provide clear creative direction and feedback, and build a culture where people are respected for their expertise and supported to do their best work. * Shape how the brand comes to life: Elevate the day-to-day creative expression of the CFS brand across campaign, content and core customer communications. Translate brand strategy into strong visual systems, creative approaches and execution principles that can flex across audiences, formats and channel needs while maintaining coherence and quality. * Translate briefs into strong creative responses: Turn business and brand needs into clear creative concepts, asset families and scalable execution systems. Help teams move beyond one-off outputs by developing work that is idea-led, fit for channel and designed to scale. * Own the studio prioritisation filter: Help ensure work is prioritised by business priority, customer value, strategic importance, channel need, effort and capacity. Protect studio focus by helping the business make better trade-offs and by keeping attention on the work that creates the most value. * Run clear creative governance and quality assurance: Implement review practices that maintain brand quality, improve feedback quality and reduce unnecessary iteration. Help stakeholders understand how to review creative constructively and at the right moments, so outputs stay strategically aligned and consistently on brand. * Ensure outputs are channel-ready and adaptable: Guide how creative is adapted efficiently for different audiences, formats and placements without losing quality or strategic intent. * Help CFS stakeholders contribute more effectively to creative outcomes: Improve the quality of briefs, strengthen brief readiness, support better upstream challenge, enable clearer reviews and reduce late-stage changes. Build stronger shared understanding across the business of what good creative outputs look like and what the studio needs in order to produce better work. * Strengthen workflow and delivery discipline: Work closely with the Traffic Manager to manage priorities, resourcing, deadlines, handoffs and capacity trade-offs across campaigns and BAU. The Senior Creative Lead should shape what matters and what good looks like; the workflow discipline should help the team deliver that well and consistently. * Drive continuous improvement and modern ways of working: Introduce smarter production approaches, lightweight process improvements and practical tool usage that improve speed, consistency and quality. Look for ways to modernise how the studio operates without adding unnecessary complexity. * Adopt AI-enabled ways of working: Actively explore and use AI tools to improve ideation, versioning, adaptation and production efficiency, and share learnings across the team as capability grows. Your Capability and Experience * Strong experience leading creative direction for multi-channel brand and campaign work across social, digital, CRM, web, presentations and sales enablement. * Proven leadership experience in a studio, agency or in-house creative team, with a track record of lifting creative standards, team capability and delivery discipline. * Strong stakeholder management skills, including the confidence to challenge briefs, clarify expectations and manage trade-offs under pressure. * Strong understanding of production realities and workflow, with the ability to balance quality, speed, volume, capacity and operational constraints. * Experience improving intake, prioritisation or workflow practices in a creative or marketing environment. * Comfort using workflow, capacity or project data to identify bottlenecks, reduce rework and improve planning conversations. What to Expect At CFS, you'll be working among the very best in the wealth management industry. It's an inspiring environment that encourages development and celebrates success. Other things to look forward to: * Access to CFS Employer Super, which offers an expansive investment menu and flexible insurance solutions * Support with financial services, including discounts on home loans and daily bank accounts through our partnership with a leading financial institution * Access to 24/7 confidential support covering safety, medical and mental health services * Additional leave day to celebrate your birthday * Life Leave - 3 days per annum to focus on your wellbeing or celebrate a special event * Exclusive discounts on retail, travel and entertainment CFS Culture At CFS we are committed to creating a thriving environment where individuals can flourish. We believe that success is built upon strong teams, and we are dedicated to celebrating uniqueness, championing individuality and supporting a diverse and inclusive workforce. We believe that when you can truly be yourself, you can unlock your full potential. Apply today and join us in helping Australians to achieve their financial freedom. Please note, CFS requires all candidates to have full work rights in Australia. Where we have preferred candidates, background checks (including Police, Employment, Bankruptcy checks, ASIC banned and disqualified persons) will be completed prior to the final preferred candidate’s employment being confirmed. The outcomes of the background checks do not preclude the preferred candidate, however, they will be assessed against the inherent requirements of the role. This role is based on Gadigal Land (Sydney).

Responsibilities

Lead the in-house Creative Studio to translate brand strategy into high-quality creative assets across multiple digital and physical channels. Manage the creative team, oversee studio prioritization, and implement governance to ensure consistent brand expression.