Designer (12-month FTC)

We are recruiting a designer to join our marketing and business development team.

The role will initially be on a 12-month fixed-term contract with the possibility it could be made permanent in the future.

The role

We are looking for a designer to join a design team of three within the wider marketing and business development department. The role is varied and ideal for a generalist designer/artworker with experience working in a corporate/professional services firm.

The successful individual will create and edit branded external marketing materials and internal communications across print and digital. They will be comfortable taking on day-to-day design requests with differing deadlines and priorities including using InDesign to edit a pitch document before sending it to print, switching to Canva to create a social media post for LinkedIn before moving to PowerPoint to edit a slide deck for a client training session. They will also help monitor the design team inbox, edit video/audio, and produce new and edit existing digital experiences.

This role requires strong layout skills, attention to detail, effective communication, and a collaborative can-do attitude. The marketing team is busy, and requests often have tight deadlines, so strong organisation and time management skills are essential.

Core responsibilities

• create and edit on-brand marketing materials, primarily using InDesign, like pitch documents, brochures, and standard marketing editorial content – mostly using existing templates;
• create and edit on-brand digital assets for websites, email marketing, and social media;
• source on-brand images (we use Getty images) and image editing/resizing;
• video (Premiere Pro) and audio editing (Audition) may be required;
• help monitor the design inbox by logging, prioritising, and communicating requests sent to the design team;
• quality control and proof materials for final sign-off;
• send print ready artwork, mainly from InDesign like A4 pitch documents, to our internal printing team; and
• work flexibly with the design team across the week to support the business for key time periods – covering one of three time periods: 8.30am–4.30pm, 9.30am–5.30pm (mostly this) or 10.30am–6.30pm. Not often needed or encouraged, but there may be times you will need to work outside of these hours.

This job description encompasses the main duties of the role and is by no means exhaustive. It is anticipated that duties may vary from time to time according to the needs of the department.

The candidate

The successful candidate will have the following required skills/experience:

• four or more years’ experience working in a corporate/professional service environment with shifting priorities, deadlines, and deliverables. Whilst the role is well supported, it’s important the individual is comfortable managing their own deliverables and deadlines;
• a strong sense of layout and typography design principles and will know how to layout a standard branded page of information with a clear hierarchy;
• the ability to work efficiently and consistently with accuracy and attention to detail;
• experience working in core Adobe CC software: InDesign (main day-to-day application), Illustrator and Photoshop;
• experience creating and editing slides and charts in PowerPoint; and
• proficiency with key business applications, including Outlook, Word, Excel, Teams and Zoom.
• Other desirable skills and experience include:
• editing video, primarily in Adobe Premier Pro;
• creating and editing social media artwork in Canva;
• creating and editing digital experiences and mini sites in Ceros;
• experience with rebrands and creating new assets from brand guidelines;
• experience in digital layout applications such as Figma (which we plan to introduce in the next 12-months); and
• website content editing using Umbraco CMS.

Application screening

Any offer of employment with us is subject to our pre-employment checks which are conducted by a third-party screening provider. These may include but are not limited to your professional and academic qualifications, any criminal records and employment references. These checks will be initiated with your consent and your offer will be subject to the successful completion of these checks.

About Macfarlanes

We are a distinctive London-based law firm with a unique combination of services built and shaped around the needs of our clients. Our unrivalled blend of expertise, agility and culture means we have the flexibility to meet their most challenging demands and adapt to the changing world around us. While many of our services can be found at other firms, the mix cannot.

We find, recruit and train talented people from all backgrounds, building careers for the long term, to one day shape and lead the firm. We know each other personally which means we work together with more cohesion, and less formality. Our culture is thoughtful, challenging and supportive, and we are a place where everyone, at whatever level, can thrive. We remain focused on equal treatment in recruitment, retention and promotion.

Our commitment to inclusion

We are committed to increasing the diversity of our employees and partners. Improving diversity is one of our key priorities and it is a goal we are actively working towards. We believe that an inclusive, forward-thinking culture is intrinsically important and enables us to provide innovative solutions to our clients.

We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, bringing different perspectives and experiences, making Macfarlanes an exciting and stimulating place to work. We seek to recruit the best candidates, regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity, social or economic background, religion, disability, sexual orientation or any other characteristic.

As part of this commitment, we will ask you certain diversity questions. We would really appreciate you and/or your recruiter completing these questions when submitting an application to Macfarlanes as this data enables us to measure our progress towards improving the diversity of our applicants, and ultimately, our hires. This data is anonymised to maintain the privacy of applicants. If you have any questions relating to how this data is used, please contact a member of the recruitment team.

Should you require any adjustments during the application and/or interview process, please do not hesitate to inform your recruiter or a member of the recruitment team. Please note, the job description is available in other accessible formats (for example, large print).

We are a Disability Confident Employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who best meet the essential criteria for the role. If you would like to apply through the Disability Confident Interview Scheme, please email the recruitment team at recruitment@macfarlanes.com.