Product Photography jobs in Staffordshire

Can you lead an established creative team, bring fresh ideas and turn busy production schedules into engaging content that helps customers buy?

Vanilla Underground is looking for a Studio Manager to lead our Creative Studio across product photography, video, editing, retouching and AI-assisted imagery.

Working with licensed clothing and character-led ranges, you’ll ensure our creative output presents products accurately, strengthens our brand and supports sales across our website, marketplaces, advertising and retail partners.

This is a people-management role with creative and commercial responsibility. You’ll need to be confident setting priorities, developing team members and providing constructive direction to experienced specialists.

What you’ll be doing

• Lead the day-to-day running of the Creative Studio, providing clear direction, support and accountability.
• Manage and develop the team through regular catch-ups, coaching, feedback and clear performance expectations.
• Guide established team members, respecting their expertise while confidently challenging approaches and introducing improvements.
• Plan studio workloads around product launches, campaigns and commercial priorities.
• Coordinate photography, video, editing, retouching and AI-assisted content, ensuring work is delivered to brief and on time.
• Develop fresh ideas for product presentation, lifestyle imagery and campaign content.
• Maintain consistent visual standards, ensuring imagery accurately represents product colours, graphics, fit and details.
• Improve briefs, scheduling, production tracking and asset organisation to reduce delays and unnecessary rework.
• Work closely with Brand, E-commerce, Buying, Marketplace and other commercial teams to agree priorities and manage expectations.
• Explore creative tools and AI-assisted workflows where they improve quality or efficiency while protecting product accuracy and licensing requirements.

What we’re looking for

Essential experience and skills:

• Previous team management experience, including setting objectives, managing workloads, developing people and addressing performance concerns.
• Proven experience guiding established or highly experienced team members, including specialists with deeper technical expertise than your own.
• Commercial experience in B2C clothing retail or fashion e-commerce, with a clear understanding of how creative content supports customer purchasing decisions.
• Experience working within a creative studio, photography, content production or a comparable commercial environment.
• A strong understanding of creative production workflows and the ability to coordinate several projects at once.
• Confidence giving creative direction, providing constructive feedback and maintaining quality standards.
• Strong organisation, communication and decision-making skills.
• The ability to balance creative ambition with deadlines, available resources and business priorities.

It would also be helpful to have:

• Experience working with licensed clothing or character-led products.
• Experience creating content for marketplaces such as Amazon or Next.
• Working knowledge of product photography, image editing or video production.
• Experience with AI-assisted creative tools and quality controls.
• Experience improving studio processes or coordinating larger shoots and external creative support.

What success looks like

You’ll build a well-organised studio where people understand their priorities, feel supported and take ownership of their work. Content will be accurate, consistent and delivered on time, with fresh ideas that serve a clear customer and commercial purpose.

Working pattern

This is a 12-month fixed-term contract based at our Tamworth studio. We welcome applications from candidates seeking full-time hours, three or four days per week, or 20 hours per week. The agreed working pattern will need to support studio coordination and team management.

Pay: £37,000.00-£40,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Casual dress
• Free parking
• On-site parking

Work Location: In person