Design Manager

Oldham College is looking to appoint a Design Manager

Salary: £40,036 - £42,574

Are you an experienced Design Manager or a senior-level Graphic Designer looking to take the next step in your career? We are seeking a talented and creative professional to lead the development, implementation, and production of Oldham College and University Campus Oldham’s brand assets across all publications and platforms.

About the Role

As Design Manager, you will oversee the creation and execution of high-quality creative assets for both online and offline platforms. From brochures, reports, and prospectuses to large-format graphics, print, advertising, and digital assets—including web, email, animation, and video editing—you will ensure all materials align with our brand identity, guidelines, and values.

Managing the entire design process, you will be responsible for creative positioning, graphic design, artwork, print specifications, supplier management, and quality control. Leading a small design team, you will oversee workload distribution and maintain the highest industry standards.

Key Responsibilities:

• Develop and deliver creative solutions that enhance the visibility and reputation of Oldham College and University Campus Oldham.
• Oversee brand management, ensuring consistency across all platforms and materials.
• Manage and produce marketing and communication materials aligned with the College’s Strategic Plan.
• Collaborate with external suppliers, such as print, signage, photographers, and creative agencies.
• Lead and oversee photo and video shoots, ensuring creative execution aligns with brand vision.
• Stay ahead of design trends, techniques, and technologies to drive innovation.
• Support and guide faculties in their marketing efforts, providing creative direction and insight.
• Contribute to key College events, including Graduation, Open Days, and Enrolment activities.

What We’re Looking For:

• Extensive experience in graphic design and brand management, ideally within Further or Higher Education.
• Strong proficiency in design studio software and a keen eye for creative detail.
• Ability to manage multiple projects in a fast-paced environment, meeting deadlines and quality standards.
• Excellent communication and leadership skills to engage with stakeholders at all levels.
• A strategic mindset, with the ability to advise on brand positioning and creative direction.

Why Join Us?

This is a unique opportunity to play a pivotal role in shaping the creative vision of Oldham College and University Campus Oldham. You’ll work in a dynamic and collaborative environment, driving the creative direction of our brand while contributing to an innovative and student-centred institution.

If you’re a passionate, forward-thinking design professional ready to take on an exciting challenge, we would love to hear from you!

Joining our Journey:

When you join our college, not only will you benefit from an annual reviewed salary but have access to numerous benefits and facilities:

• Generous Pension Scheme
• Fantastic Staff Benefits and Rewards platform
• Very generous holiday entitlement
• Employee Assistance Scheme
• Enhanced Maternity/Paternity provision
• Staff Development days/week (Jan, July, Aug)
• Free confidential counselling service
• Staff recognition awards
• Car Scheme
• Subsidised car parking
• On-site Day Nursery
• On-site hair and beauty salon

Oldham College is a great career choice for ambitious professionals. With one of the best apprenticeship programmes in the region, excellent 16-18 results and truly outstanding GCSE English results, we are already a high performer.

But we want to deliver much more than this. Our ambition is to be “The Best Place to Learn and Work” and we have a clear Strategic Plan which sets out what this means and what we will do to deliver it. We will keep on improving and innovating, and we are investing in new provision, new facilities, and new technology; including our state-of-the-art clinical simulation suite.

We expect a lot from you, so we want ambitious, open minded candidates, who are ready to give their best. But we give a lot in return, from training to pensions, our own benefits package, and one of the best and most helpful group of colleagues you could ever wish to meet.

The role will require you to embed and work to the college’s values; working with Integrity, having Ambition to help our learners succeed and being Inclusive to learners and colleagues alike.

At Oldham College, our mission is to welcome everyone and create inclusive teams. We encourage everyone to join us, as we create a workforce that is as diverse as our wonderful student community. We do monitor responses to our diversity questions in our application, to ensure that we can continue to build a workforce that is representative of the community that we serve.

We understand that not everyone works to the same timetable, and offer a range of flexible working options, including flexible start and finish times, part-time, term-time only or hybrid options, where the role permits.

We will do everything we can to support you during your application. If you need us to make any adjustments to our recruitment process, contact our HR team who will be happy to advise.

If your application is successful, your personal data may be used for a pre-employment screening check by a third party as permitted by applicable law. Depending on the vacancy and applicable laws, a pre-employment screening could include, employment history, education and other information (such as media information) that may be necessary for determining your qualifications and suitability for the role.

Oldham College is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share in this commitment.

Any appointments will be subject to enhanced DBS checks and a check of the DfE Barred List.

Further details including a Person Specification are included within the attached Job Description.

This role is exempt from the Rehabilitation Act 1974. It is an offence to apply for the role if the applicant is barred from engaging in regulated activity relevant to children and vulnerable adults.