Senior Digital Designer Job Vacancy

The company:

Advantec Internet Services Ltd is a specialist web development and programming agency based near Southampton, Hampshire. We provide a range of web development, design, marketing and programming services to a variety of clients - from small local businesses up to multi-national corporations. Our typical projects can range from building a simple 10-page content-managed brochure website, to providing a large-scale, integrated online accounting system. We also provide extensive e-commerce services - including the design, build and marketing of online retail sites. We host and maintain a substantial number of existing client websites, which we operate under monthly support contracts. The front-end aspects of all our sites are built using W3C-compliant XHTML and CSS. Some are standard, static brochure sites, others employ the use of our content management system. Our e-commerce websites use an e-commerce software system that includes content and layout management tools - and our advanced development projects use html front-end templates, which integrate with the dynamic aspects of these systems.

The Role:

The Senior Digital Designer is responsible for the overseeing the entire graphical design output of the company - both in creating website layout designs - and monitoring and mentoring junior staff to ensure all work produced meets an exceptionally high standard of design quality. The primary objective in every website project we provide is that it exceeds the standard of our competitors' work. The majority of our new clients base their decisions to use Advantec on the quality of our previous work - so maintaining the highest possible standards of design is essential in ensuring the future success of the company. The Senior Digital Designer therefore needs to have an excellent eye for creative detail - capable of ensuring all visual work produced meets the required standards - and that the work of junior staff meets the same kind of standards.

The Senior Digital Designer's primary role will be producing the visual / graphical designs of new websites and pages for client sites. Visual designs will initially be built using Adobe Photoshop / Illustrator - and will need to conform to clients' briefs and branding guidelines. The design of each website we produce needs to be unique and stand out from other sites in the same field. The Senior Digital Designer will have a well-developed appreciation of what makes for 'good design' on the web and how this is constantly changing and evolving. The role will be involved in creating new website designs from scratch - as well as visualising templates for content managed sites, e-commerce websites and development projects.

An appreciation of how certain web-based techniques can enhance the design, usability and functionality of sites (e.g. the use of frameworks like JQuery to add interactive elements to a page) is also important - as is a dedication to cross-browser support and standards-compliant XHTML and CSS coding. Excellent typography, an eye for alignment and colour-use and an understanding of how these factors combine to create an overall impression of a company and brand are also important. Above all, an ability to create visually stunning on-screen designs with a real 'wow factor' is what's required. The role is supported by the Web Support Technician, who will provide assistance with website content and HTML layouts - and the Senior Digital Designer will directly supervise and delegate to this individual, while monitoring and quality-controlling their work at all stages.

The Senior Digital Designer will project-manage site-builds - from initial concepts through to site launch - pro-actively driving the project through from start to completion with clients and colleagues.

Experience Required:

It is very likely that the Senior Digital Designer will have considerable experience (probably 5+ years) in a previous design agency role - probably producing design work for various media - online and offline. If not within an agency environment, previous experience will still be strongly design-focussed - and involved in producing a wide range of work with different target audiences, messages and brands. As this is a supervisory role, some experience managing or supervising staff would be useful - although not essential. This role will involve significant client interaction, so experience in a customer-facing role - and competence and confidence dealing with clients professionally by phone, email and in person is essential. The Senior Digital Designer will have an extensive portfolio of live, current website design work, which will demonstrate all the abilities outlined for the purpose of the role.

Skills and Expertise Required:

• A full, extensive working knowledge of (X)HTML and CSS
• A track-record of producing visually-stunning and impressive website designs
• An understanding and ability to build web pages to W3C-compliant standards
• A working knowledge of JavaScript and JavaScript-related frameworks (e.g. JQuery)
• Experience using website content management systems
• An appreciation of current techniques for search engine optimisation best-practice
• An excellent working knowledge of Adobe Photoshop and Dreamweaver is essential
• A working knowledge of Adobe Illustrator, Flash - and other graphics tools is desirable
• An understanding of the technicalities of web hosting - including competence with FTP software
• Familiarity with the Microsoft Office suite of software - particularly Microsoft Excel and Access
• Any knowledge of programming languages such as PHP and ASP would be desirable - but not essential
• Experience with database admin / management (MS SQL Server and MySQL) would also be desirable

Personal / Professional Characteristics Required:

This role will involve significant client interaction - by email, telephone and in client meetings - so a friendly and confident manner is essential - as is the ability to present an appropriate image for the company to its clients via professional written, verbal and face-to-face communication. A commitment to a high standard of work, attention to detail and perfectionism is also important. The confidence to supervise and mentor the Web Support Technician is also important.

Salary and benefits:

We promote flexible working - including opportunities to work from home and flexi-time hours. There are 25-days holiday per year. The salary is negotiable depending on experience, but is expected to be within the range of £20,000 to £30,000 per year. We operate a bonus scheme, whereby if company sales targets are achieved, an annual bonus of 5% of salary is awarded to staff each year.

To apply:

Send your CV with examples of live URLs demonstrating some recent projects to the Managing Director - Andrew Brittain - at andrew@advantec-internet.co.uk