Stylish, grounded, uplifting – these values live through everything we do at Boden. Without the collaboration, honesty and friendship between our teams, we wouldn’t be where we are today. We curate a world of beauty that’s ethical, inclusive – and importantly – good fun. We inspire you to live your best life. We are Boden.
As Lead Art Director, you’ll shape and lead the creative vision for Boden Womenswear, defining how the brand shows up across every channel. This is a senior leadership role with real influence, owning the look, feel and storytelling of our womenswear output and ensuring it feels modern, elevated and unmistakably Boden.
Reporting to the Associate Creative Director, you’ll work in close partnership with Design, Brand, Marketing and Production to lead everything from big seasonal campaign concepts to daily creative delivery. You’ll lead and develop the Art Direction team, alongside managing freelance talent, and collaborate closely with Shoot Production and Project Management to bring ideas to life.
You’ll bring a confident point of view, a deep understanding of womenswear, and the ability to balance creative ambition with commercial impact, always keeping the Boden woman at the heart of what you do.
What You Will Do
Define and own the creative vision for Boden Womenswear, ensuring consistency, quality and creative excellence across all channels.
Lead the development of seasonal campaign concepts and visual storytelling, from initial idea through to execution across print, digital, social and film.
Art direct key shoots (on set or remotely), setting the creative standard and elevating the final output.
Shape and maintain a clear, cohesive creative point of view across all womenswear content.
Partner closely with Brand, Marketing and E-commerce to deliver compelling content that builds brand love and drives commercial performance.
Work alongside Shoot Production and Project Management to ensure shoots are creatively ambitious, well planned and delivered on time and within budget.
Lead casting and talent selection, ensuring models authentically reflect the Boden woman and brand values.
Sign off imagery selection, retouching and post-production, maintaining exceptional creative standards throughout.
Communicate creative direction clearly through mood boards, shoot decks and presentations, confidently presenting to senior stakeholders.
Champion the Boden customer, keeping her front and centre in every creative decision.
Stay culturally and creatively curious, with a strong awareness of womenswear fashion, photography, art and visual culture.
What We Are Looking For
Extensive experience as an Art Director, with significant time operating at a senior or lead level, ideally within fashion or lifestyle.
A strong and established creative network across photography, styling, casting, HMU and production, with the ability to leverage these relationships effectively.
Proven experience leading large-scale fashion shoots and seasonal campaigns, including social-first content.
A confident and inspiring people leader, experienced in managing, mentoring and developing creative teams.
Deep understanding of womenswear fashion, styling, casting and visual storytelling.
High proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, InDesign) and Capture One.
Comfortable managing multiple workstreams in a fast-paced, commercially driven environment.
A clear creative point of view with strong aesthetic judgement and attention to detail.
Collaborative, open and engaging — able to bring teams together around a shared vision.
A strategic thinker who can balance creativity with commercial objectives.
An excellent communicator and presenter, comfortable influencing at senior level.
Calm under pressure, highly organised and passionate about delivering beautiful, impactful creative.
What We Offer
Competitive salary & targeted annual bonus scheme.
Generous Boden clothing allowance!
30% discount on all current clothing ranges.
25 days Holiday annually, plus Bank Holidays.
Online Portal with an array of discounts on retail & entertainment.
Virtual GP Service for you and your household!
Free onsite parking and subsidised café.
We want Boden to be the place everyone wants to work. Friendly, open and tolerant. A best-of-British company with diverse teams, equal opportunities, and fair working and recruitment practices. We believe in hiring the best person for the job, whoever they are, helping them thrive in it and celebrating their individuality.
We would like to encourage people from a diverse range of backgrounds to apply for our roles. If you need any reasonable adjustments or additional support during your application process, please do not hesitate to let us know.
We’re all about happiness you can wear. Our story begins in 1991.
Contrarian. How else would you describe a man who left a good job in the city – working in New York during its shiny ’80s heyday no less – to set up a mail-order clothes company at a time when buying things that got delivered was considered a bit, well, joke-worthy? Or was he just lucky – right time, right place, right instinct?
Johnnie launched Boden with a hand-drawn catalogue featuring eight menswear styles he wanted in his own wardrobe (and wanted to order from his armchair). That was 1991, and back then, catalogues for stylish people who like stylish clothes weren’t really a ‘thing’ in Britain.
Today, after a wild, unpredictable and exciting 30 years, Boden is a global company but it still has the same family vibes. It’s the opinion of the women in his life – his wife Sophie (who pushed him to follow his dream in the first place), his three discerning daughters and Johnnie’s new lovely female sidekick – Janet the dog – that he values over anything.
Originality is also so very important, with every step taken to set Boden apart from the rest. Whether that’s hand-drawn prints, doing our best to make sure we don’t cut corners and even listing words we cannot use (we copywriters love a challenge). Attention to detail is everything, and it shows. Johnnie has also been adamant that every factory we use respects its workforce in the same way he respects his workforce at home. And that Boden uses as many recycled materials as possible.
“His main piece of advice is always be yourself,” his daughter Katie adds. “I think we’re all flawed but that’s the one thing that we [the family] are – very honest. I just think you can’t go wrong by being honest.” And lastly? “He’s also never tried to be cool…which makes him cool.”
Boden isn’t about fast fashion and fads. It never was. It’s about making clothes that put a smile on your face, for a long, long time.
