The Role
Lead Zinc’s brand and creative function while remaining hands-on in design execution. Own scalable brand systems, guidelines, and processes across UK and international markets. Create campaign, digital, print, event, social, and advertising assets using Figma and InDesign. Lead creative ideation, collaborate cross-functionally with marketing teams, manage and develop two designers, and improve production velocity, brand consistency, creative impact, and international adaptation.
Summary Generated by Built In
Most B2B brands in HR and TA look the same. Safe, buttoned-up, forgettable. The companies that stand out are the ones winning mindshare with the market, and we want Zinc to be one of them. Especially as we scale beyond the UK into new markets where how we look matters as much as what we say. That’s the gap this role fills. You’ll help build a brand that feels credible, distinctive and consistent wherever we show up, creating the scale, systems and processes to take Zinc’s visual identity into new markets while pushing the creative bar and what best in class looks like in B2B marketing.
You’ll report into the Head of Brand & Content and work closely with Demand Generation, Content, Lifecycle and Product Marketing to make sure Zinc looks as strong as it sounds. You’ll manage a small, established and lovely team, Jenny and Ren, our web and creative designers, from day one, with scope to grow it if there’s the need and commercial impact. This is a player-coach role, so being hands-on is just as important as leading others. You’ll be designing across multiple channels, shaping campaign creative and bringing big ideas to life, while also giving the team direction and building the foundations that allow Zinc’s brand to scale.
Key Responsibilities 🗝️
- Brand design systems and processes. Owning the execution of Zinc's brand kit and framework across all marketing assets, establishing the playbook for a consistent, scalable visual identity both internally and externally, while keeping craft, consistency and creativity sky high. If you've built brand design systems before, that's a huge plus.
- Hands-on design work. Personally creating digital and physical assets across Figma and InDesign — campaign creative, social and ad assets, print, event stands and physical collateral — not just briefing or reviewing someone else's work. This isn't a role for someone who thinks execution is beneath them.
- Cross-functional creative. Working closely with the wider Brand and Content team and Demand Generation to bring campaign ideas to life across multiple channels, platforms and audiences. You'll be the person pushing to make every touchpoint memorable without losing trust with new markets.
- Creative ideation. Leading campaign creative brainstorms alongside the brand and content pods, coming up with ways to make work cut through and supporting others in elevating our brand.
- Team leadership. Growing Jenny and Ren's impact, prioritising the biggest opportunities first, and building what's already strong into a proper creative production house.
- Brand development. As Zinc expands beyond the UK, keeping the visual identity consistent and credible across new markets through systems, processes, photography and collateral that flex without losing what makes Zinc recognisable.
Skills, Knowledge and Expertise 🚀
Background 📖📚
- Significant design experience - bonus points if its in B2B SaaS or high-growth companies, creating engaging campaign creatives that people actually notice.
- A clear perspective on world class brand visual identity in B2B SaaS, what makes a company stand out, and how to build upon and operationalise an existing identity without rebuilding from scratch.
- Real, hands-on production experience across digital and physical mediums, with a sharp eye for what good looks like across different channels, touchpoints and messages. You want to push boundaries where it counts and develop a B2B brand that's recognised across markets.
- A track record of building brand systems that scale a wider team's output, translated consistently and distinctively across every touchpoint, from paid ads to events to direct mail.
- Experience building brand systems that work across multiple markets, not just a single-market playbook. Comfortable adapting a visual identity for different regional or commercial norms while keeping it unmistakably on-brand.
Musts ✅💅
- A genuine player-coach: you lead and develop a team, and you still make things yourself.
- Evidence of building scalable brand and creative systems, bonus points if your portfolio demonstrates creative cut through in a traditionally dry industry across multiple mediums.
- People management experience: you can direct, support and develop direct reports, not just review their work.
- Proficiency in Figma and InDesign (or Adobe equivalents). Video skills a huge plus.
- Evidence of independently designing and delivering work from brief through to live, with sign-off as approval rather than production.
- The ability to work from imperfect briefs, challenge assumptions and shape the right solution.
Nice to haves ✨
- Experience designing for audiences where trust and credibility are essential - but bringing creative, confident ways of designing to it.
- Motion design or advanced prototyping experience.
Where this isn't the right role 🚨❌
- If you've moved into managing designers and away from making things.
- If you'd rather set direction and review work than design it yourself.
- If you want a mature brand to maintain rather than a system to define.
- If you need a complete brief before you can start.
What success looks like (you'll be measured against) 📏⚗️
- Brand consistency: visual identity working seamlessly across the UK and new markets, with clear guidelines that let the team and partners execute confidently.
- Creative cut-through: campaign creative that lands with HR and TA audiences, measurable through engagement (shares, comments, recognition) and third-party coverage.
- System evolution: a brand design system documented and accessible enough that non-designers can produce simple collateral without you, freeing your time for strategic work.
- Team growth: Jenny and Ren's scope and output expanding, with the biggest creative opportunities prioritised first.
- International traction: the brand holding up visually and strategically in new markets, not just UK assets reused elsewhere.
- Production velocity: major external work owned end-to-end by you, from brief through to live, without handoffs bogging down the timeline.
Your support system 👯♀️👬
You won't do it alone. You'll work alongside the wider Brand and Communications team, Content, Demand Generation, and a Head of Brand & Content helping you shape strategy, direction and visual positioning.
*PLEASE FIND FULL DETAILS ON THE JOB SPEC ON OUR WEBSITE*
What we offer 🍉
- 24 days holiday + Bank Holidays + your birthday off 🎉
- £1200 annual benefits allowance (ThanksBen, from month 2)
- Early finish Fridays (16:00)
- Yearly company retreat abroad ✈️
- 30 days to Work from anywhere 🌍
- Enhanced Maternity, Paternity, and Adoption Leave (13 weeks full pay, 17 weeks half pay, then SMP for maternity, 1 month full pay for paternity/adoption) 🐣
- Statutory pension with NEST (3% employer, 5% employee)
- Zinc shares, issued through the EMI Scheme
- Unlimited access to Spill Therapy
- Company socials, quarterly team socials Free Monday lunches
- Nursery workplace benefit scheme (Yellownest)
- Option to lease an electric car through Electric Car Scheme
- Celebrated Zinc anniversaries 🥳
About
Who are Zinc? ⚡️We believe in better background checking: making them easy, instant and delightful - for candidates and HR teams across the world 🌎. Founded in 2017, we've grown year-on-year, reaching the Times Top 100 fastest growing businesses, the Deloitte EMEA fast 500 and winning the 2026 HSBC x WIRED Award in the Trailblazers Category.But we're not all work, our founders Luke and Charlotte are hot on being a culture first business. By this, we don't just mean an active calendar of company and team events (although these are great! 🍻 🥂🍕🎯) - our culture is defined by respect, fostering support for new ideas, promoting flexible work environments and operating with autonomy and low ego. 🔥💥❤️It's not just us who think they've done a stellar job - we've won awards for being a Top Place To Work in 2025 and 2026 from Tembo and SeedLegals 💚What are our values? 🧩🧩🧩Our values are: Pragmatism, Integrity, Empathy, Collaboration, Empowerment and Speed. We call them the PIECES that make Zinc (see what we did there 😂).How do we work? 🧑🏽💻👩🏼💻👨🏿💻We operate on a hybrid working model, with everyone coming to our Shoreditch Offices on Mondays and Thursdays, and working from home on the others. We believe this is a great balance between having space for deep work and in-person collaboration ⚡️⚡️⚡️
Skills Required
- Significant design experience, preferably in B2B SaaS or high-growth companies
- Experience building and operationalizing scalable brand and creative systems
- Hands-on production experience across digital and physical media
- Experience adapting brand systems across multiple markets
- Player-coach leadership style with hands-on design involvement
- People management experience, including directing, supporting, and developing direct reports
- Proficiency in Figma and InDesign or equivalent Adobe software
- Ability to independently design and deliver work from brief through launch
- Ability to work from imperfect briefs and shape creative solutions
- Experience designing for audiences where trust and credibility are important
- Motion design or advanced prototyping experience
- Video skills
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The Company
What We Do
Zinc builds automated reference and background checking tools designed to improve candidate experience and set new industry standards, offering automated pre-screening employment software for HR and recruiting teams to verify candidates' backgrounds and hire at scale.
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