Creative Art Director

About MATTA

MATTA is an independent creative agency focused on sports and lifestyle brands. The team believes sport can create positive change for people and communities, and they aim to make brands and campaigns more meaningful through bold thinking and high-quality delivery. Their work has earned industry recognition, including multiple awards, agency-of-the-year honours, and campaigns celebrated across the sports sector.

Role overview

MATTA is hiring a highly motivated midweight Art Director to join its Creative Team. The role is centered on creating original, refined campaigns, branding, and content for client brands. You should be full of ideas, confident in turning concepts into visual direction, and able to combine strong design ability with moodboarding and clear creative communication.

What you will do

• Develop creative work from initial brief through to final delivery, shaping the overall art direction across different project types.
• Translate ideas into clear visual and verbal direction for the wider team.
• Create moodboards, build polished examples, and hand over fully developed visual concepts to the design team.
• Present ideas and finished work internally and, when needed, directly to clients.
• Stay updated on current trends, campaign styles, and visual approaches, and apply them to sports branding and advertising.
• Support junior designers by mentoring and helping them grow.
• Coordinate with freelancers, illustrators, photographers, and printers to keep projects moving smoothly.

Requirements

• At least 3 years of experience in an art direction role within a design studio, creative agency, or similar environment.
• Strong working knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite, especially Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign.
• Ability to create and apply brand guidelines, retouch assets, and present ideas, inspiration, and reasoning using Keynote.
• A varied portfolio that includes social, web, and print work.
• Excellent understanding of design fundamentals, with a sharp eye for typography, composition, and layout.
• Experience building a creative vision from scratch and communicating it through moodboards and concepts.
• Comfortable pitching and selling creative ideas to colleagues and clients.
• Strong organisation, initiative, and the ability to manage changing deadlines and budgets.
• Natural relationship-builder who enjoys sharing knowledge and helping others develop.
• Genuine interest in sports marketing and the wider sports industry.

Benefits and perks

• 23 days of annual leave, increasing by 1 additional day each year, plus 3 extra days at Christmas.
• An additional MATTA Sports Day each year for watching or playing sport.
• Sabbatical policy that supports travel, volunteering, study, or a personal reset.
• Health and financial wellbeing support, including private health and dental insurance, 24/7 virtual GP access, life assurance, income protection, and expert financial advice tools.
• Quarterly team events, weekly Thursday drinks, and monthly PayDay Pizza.
• Flexible hybrid working between home and the London Bridge office.
• Access to discount platforms covering shopping, food, beauty, travel, and more.
• Dog-friendly office.

About the team and clients

MATTA works across major sports and lifestyle brands, creating and relaunching products, competitions, leagues, and tournaments. The agency has also delivered rebrands, participation campaigns, equality-focused work, and projects against discrimination and drugs. Its clients include UEFA, The International Cricket Council, Armani, Clinique, Budweiser, ATP Tour, England Football, England Rugby, and England Cricket.

Additional information

The working environment is described as fast-paced but relaxed, with a team that shares a passion for sport. MATTA believes healthy and happy people do their best work. Visa sponsorship is not available for this position. Agency applications are not being accepted.

How to apply

Applicants should submit their application together with a portfolio link.