8 Freelance Art Directors jobs in London

Brilliant opportunity for a social first Art Director to join highly respected creative agency

This London-based creative collective is independently owned by its employees and places collaboration at the heart of everything it does. The team blends strategic thinking with imaginative storytelling to produce brand work that feels culturally relevant, socially attuned, and beautifully crafted down to the smallest detail. Guided by a commitment to positive impact, they balance commercial creativity with a strong sense of responsibility, creating an environment where respect, shared ownership, and purposeful ideas shape both the work and the workplace.

The Role

As an Art Director (Always On Social), you’ll be:

• Leading a small, dynamic hub of social creatives, facilitating brainstorms and reviewing content concepts for a major global beauty brand.
• Partnering with strategists to develop culturally relevant, insight-led ideas that excite clients and audiences alike.
• Presenting ideas directly to clients, earning their trust with your vision and creative expertise.
• Taking a hands-on role in content creation – from reference sourcing and storyboarding to editing and post-production.
• Applying platform-specific knowledge to deliver work that is social-first, slick and trend-savvy.
• Mentoring and motivating junior creatives, helping to elevate the team’s creative output.

The Ideal Candidate

To succeed in this role, you’ll need to be:

• Experienced: 3+ years as a Social Creative or Art Director.
• Immersed in social culture: with a finger firmly on the pulse of trends, insights, and brand storytelling.
• Ideas-driven: excited by insights that spark bold, scroll-stopping content.
• Client-ready: confident in presenting and selling in ideas to senior stakeholders.
• A natural mentor: keen to inspire and guide junior creatives.
• Team-orientated: happy to attend shoots, collaborate in person, and contribute to the vibrant office culture.

The Benefits

This position offers more than just a role – they offer an environment to thrive in:

• Flexible hybrid working (2–3 days per week in the London office)
• Beautiful, dog-friendly workspace with access to local cultural events and exhibitions.
• Regular team lunches, drinks, and a genuinely supportive team culture.
• The chance to work on global beauty and lifestyle brands at the forefront of social innovation.

Art Director- Creative Agency

• London based- 3 days in the office
• Competitive salary and great benefits (To be disclosed on receipt of a CV)
• Permanent position

A fantastic opportunity has arisen to join a multi-award winning, integrated creative agency in London as their new Art Director! This is a great opportunity to join an a very well respected independent agency who are working with instantly recognisable clients on multiple award winning campaigns.

This position is an essential part of the creative team and will work closely with the Head of Copy and 2x reports to lead the division to deliver effective and high achieving creative campaigns.

This position would suit someone in their career ready to take a step up to Art Director. You will be responsible for developing the creative strategy, as well as getting hands on with all aspects of the delivery too.

You must be based in the UK and have the right to work to be considered

Key Responsibilities:

• Work with clients to create big channel-neutral advertising ideas and social concepts with beautiful design and art direction
• Create unique concepts for a range of clients including FMCG, software, beauty. B2B and more
• Mentor the 2 junior members of the department and support their growth and development
• Responsibility for signing off on the creative assets ensuring it hits the brief created with the client
• Develop creative campaigns to win awards. This will require submissions
• Be the face of the agency and the main contact for key clients with creative goals. A client facing position
• Create presentations to delivery to clients to showcase the concept/ideas
• Work with stakeholders across the agency to ensure the campaign delivery goes as smoothly as possible
• Utilise AI to “tidy” or “streamline” work. This is NOT an AI creative role but some experience of AI design tools would be useful
• Work closely with senior stakeholders both internally and external to the business. You will report directly to the board of directors

Experience Required:

• Previous experience in a creative/design led role is essential
• You must have experience working in a marketing/creative agency in a client facing role
• Manage and develop a team of 2 junior designers
• High level, hands on skills in Adobe Suite- Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and XD
• Knowledge of print and digital design best practices
• An understanding of AI tools
• A creative mindset capable of creating and delivering award winning concepts

Benefits:

• A competitive salary- This will be confirmed on receipt of a CV
• An opportunity to lead a creative team in a multi-ward winning agency with a fantastic reputation
• Healthcare
• Pension
• An amazing culture
• Loads loads more

Brilliant opportunity for a social first Art Director to join highly respected creative agency

This London-based creative collective is independently owned by its employees and places collaboration at the heart of everything it does. The team blends strategic thinking with imaginative storytelling to produce brand work that feels culturally relevant, socially attuned, and beautifully crafted down to the smallest detail. Guided by a commitment to positive impact, they balance commercial creativity with a strong sense of responsibility, creating an environment where respect, shared ownership, and purposeful ideas shape both the work and the workplace.

The Role

As an Art Director (Always On Social), you’ll be:

• Leading a small, dynamic hub of social creatives, facilitating brainstorms and reviewing content concepts for a major global beauty brand.
• Partnering with strategists to develop culturally relevant, insight-led ideas that excite clients and audiences alike.
• Presenting ideas directly to clients, earning their trust with your vision and creative expertise.
• Taking a hands-on role in content creation – from reference sourcing and storyboarding to editing and post-production.
• Applying platform-specific knowledge to deliver work that is social-first, slick and trend-savvy.
• Mentoring and motivating junior creatives, helping to elevate the team’s creative output.

The Ideal Candidate

To succeed in this role, you’ll need to be:

• Experienced: 3+ years as a Social Creative or Art Director.
• Immersed in social culture: with a finger firmly on the pulse of trends, insights, and brand storytelling.
• Ideas-driven: excited by insights that spark bold, scroll-stopping content.
• Client-ready: confident in presenting and selling in ideas to senior stakeholders.
• A natural mentor: keen to inspire and guide junior creatives.
• Team-orientated: happy to attend shoots, collaborate in person, and contribute to the vibrant office culture.

The Benefits

This position offers more than just a role – they offer an environment to thrive in:

• Flexible hybrid working (2–3 days per week in the London office)
• Beautiful, dog-friendly workspace with access to local cultural events and exhibitions.
• Regular team lunches, drinks, and a genuinely supportive team culture.
• The chance to work on global beauty and lifestyle brands at the forefront of social innovation.

International, intelligent and influential, Wallpaper* is the world’s most important design and lifestyle magazine, leading the way in architecture, design, art, entertaining, beauty & grooming, transport, technology, fashion, and watches & jewellery.

We're now looking for an Art Director to oversee the creative direction across all Wallpaper* platforms.

What you’ll be doing…

As the Art Director for Wallpaper* you'll innovate and push forward the relationship across platforms, ensuring content works harder, identify new creative talent for illustration, photography and typography and manage a designer across print and online, assigning their day-to-day responsibilities and liaising with all the section editors on the magazine.

You'll represent Wallpaper* at key meetings and industry events, design covers and layouts in the print edition, work directly with Limited Edition cover artists and art direct photoshoots and come up with and oversee all ideas and concepts.

Experience that will put you ahead of the curve…

• Be analytical, highly literate and numerate, with excellent interpersonal and organisational skills.
• Be computer literate with excellent attention to detail and the ability to meet deadlines. Intermediate excel skills will be a distinct advantage.
• Good, clear communication in written and verbal form.
• Strong attention to detail and a tenacity to push activity through.
• Highly organised, able to prioritise and work to tight time-tables.

What's in it for you…

We have a number of awesome perks available to our staff. We offer huge opportunities to learn and develop, whether through professional qualifications, exposure to incredible business projects or informal lunch & learns, hosted by your colleagues. We have a fantastic culture where we really do care about our people and want everyone to succeed. Varied roles mean you’re not pigeonholed in to one finite area but get the opportunity to develop a wide range of skills and experience

And to top it all off, not only do we offer unlimited holiday because we trust you to manage your workload and time but we also offer a share in our success whereby every colleague is eligible to join our profit pool bonus scheme - if Future hits their performance targets all colleagues may receive a bonus.

Internal Job Family E5.

The expected range for this role is £29,000 - £41,000.

This is a Hybrid role from our London Office, working three days from the office, two from home

Who are we…

We’re Future. We’re 3000+ colleagues over 250+ brands speaking to 400 million people every month across the globe through websites, events and magazines. We’ve got ambitious plans that build on our growth momentum and unlock new opportunities and we’re looking for talented people who want to be a part of it.

Our Future, Our Responsibility - Inclusion and Diversity at Future

We have a voice and we’re going to use it. We promote diversity and inclusion not just in our recruitment processes, but everything we do. We’re an equal opportunity employer and we will continue to ensure our recruitment process is free of bias and our workplaces are inclusive, positive, free of discrimination and respecting of all backgrounds and beliefs. Our culture is underpinned by our values and employees - current and future - are treated with respect and fairness.

Please let us know if you need any reasonable adjustments made so we can give you the best experience!

Find out more about Our Future, Our Responsibility on our website.

#LI-HD1

Mode Executive is exclusively partnered with a fast-growing luxury fashion house in their search for a Senior Art Director to lead on spatial design and experiential brand projects.

This is a rare opportunity to join a globally admired brand at a pivotal moment of creative growth, working in close collaboration with the Creative Director to shape immersive environments and storytelling across retail, exhibition, and brand spaces.

Role location: London / Paris

This strategic, highly visible role reports directly into senior leadership and offers exciting scope for creative ownership and long-term progression.

Responsibilities

• Define and lead the global vision for spatial storytelling across retail, wholesale, and cultural touchpoints.
• Deliver innovative concepts for seasonal installations, pop-ups, window displays, and in-store experiences.
• Ensure consistency and brand integrity across all physical environments.
• Collaborate closely with creative, buying, marketing, and retail teams to execute aligned, high-impact spatial narratives.
• Oversee creative development and execution of brand exhibitions and event spaces.
• Manage and mentor a talented team of regional and in-house creatives.
• Conduct store visits and experience audits across key global markets.
• Use insight and performance data to refine experiential strategy and customer flow optimisation.

Requirements

• Extensive experience in spatial design, visual storytelling, or experiential direction within the luxury or premium fashion space.
• A deep cultural awareness and appreciation for design, fashion, art, and architecture.
• Strong leadership skills with experience managing and inspiring creative teams.
• A strategic thinker with an instinctive eye for aesthetics and atmosphere.
• Hands-on and collaborative with excellent communication and project management skills.
• Proficient in Adobe Creative Suite or similar tools.
• Flexible and open to regular international travel.

To apply, please send your CV to or click the apply button.

Please note: due to high volumes of interest, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Mode Executive is exclusively partnered with a fast-growing luxury fashion house in their search for a Senior Art Director to lead on spatial design and experiential brand projects.

This is a rare opportunity to join a globally admired brand at a pivotal moment of creative growth, working in close collaboration with the Creative Director to shape immersive environments and storytelling across retail, exhibition, and brand spaces.

Role location: London / Paris

This strategic, highly visible role reports directly into senior leadership and offers exciting scope for creative ownership and long-term progression.

Responsibilities

• Define and lead the global vision for spatial storytelling across retail, wholesale, and cultural touchpoints.
• Deliver innovative concepts for seasonal installations, pop-ups, window displays, and in-store experiences.
• Ensure consistency and brand integrity across all physical environments.
• Collaborate closely with creative, buying, marketing, and retail teams to execute aligned, high-impact spatial narratives.
• Oversee creative development and execution of brand exhibitions and event spaces.
• Manage and mentor a talented team of regional and in-house creatives.
• Conduct store visits and experience audits across key global markets.
• Use insight and performance data to refine experiential strategy and customer flow optimisation.

Requirements

• Extensive experience in spatial design, visual storytelling, or experiential direction within the luxury or premium fashion space.
• A deep cultural awareness and appreciation for design, fashion, art, and architecture.
• Strong leadership skills with experience managing and inspiring creative teams.
• A strategic thinker with an instinctive eye for aesthetics and atmosphere.
• Hands-on and collaborative with excellent communication and project management skills.
• Proficient in Adobe Creative Suite or similar tools.
• Flexible and open to regular international travel.

To apply, please send your CV to or click the apply button.

Please note: due to high volumes of interest, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

We look forward to hearing from you!