design studio manager jobs in Melbourne VIC

• Work across multiple leading property brands impacting a wide range of teams and customers!
• Lead a collaborative, supportive design team in a thriving, growth focused culture!
• Permanent full time role based in Richmond

We're REA
With bold and ambitious goals, REA Group is changing the way the world experiences property. No matter where you're at on your property journey, we're here to help with every step - whether that's finding or financing your next home.

Our people are the key to our success. At the heart of everything we do, is a thriving culture centred around high performance and care. We are purpose driven and collaborative, which drives innovation and our ability to make a real impact. As such, we’re proud to have been named in Australia’s “Top 5” Best Workplaces two years in a row, as well as being recognised as a Best Workplace for Women.

Where the team fits in

This role sits within Customer Marketing, a team focused on building deeper, more valuable connections with our customers in support of REA Group's strategic and commercial priorities. This team forms part of the Customer and Consumer group.

The Studio Manager plays a critical operational and quality leadership role within the Customer Marketing creative studio. This role ensures the design team is set up to deliver exceptional, high-impact work at scale by managing the systems, standards, relationships and workflows that connect strategic briefs to outstanding creative execution. They lead the creative studio's operations, quality, and stakeholder experience — ensuring work flows efficiently from brief to delivery, creative output meets our standards of excellence before it goes to market, and the design team can perform at its best.

What the role is all about

• Design and implement end-to-end workflow, traffic management, and resourcing across the Customer Marketing design studio (local and offshore)
• Continuously improve studio processes, tools, and systems in partnership with the Head of Content & Channel Strategy
• Acts as the bridge between internal stakeholders, external providers and our design team.
• Manage the intake, prioritisation, scheduling, and allocation of all creative briefs
• Maintain visibility of workload, capacity, and delivery timelines — proactively managing competing priorities and stakeholder expectations
• Identify and implement opportunities to automate, templatise, or streamline production
• Review and moderate all incoming briefs — filling gaps, clarifying ambiguity, checking alignment to objectives and challenging where needed
• Apply knowledge of marketing channels, formats and best practice to guide brief development and creative output
• Ensure the intent of a brief is preserved through to final execution
• Provide constructive first-round feedback to designers, acting as a creative checkpoint that lifts the standard and reduces rounds of revision
• Partner with the Head of Content & Channel Strategy to improve the quality, efficiency, and reputation of the studio as a true creative function
• Build fast, productive relationships across teams — be a trusted partner who understands business needs, balancing responsiveness with sustainable studio output

Who we’re looking for

• Experience in a similar role in studio management, traffic management, or creative production operations
• Track record running an effective multi-disciplinary studio team — you've worked at pace, managed high volumes, and know what good looks like
• Strong understanding of marketing channels, formats, and production requirements (digital, social, email, video, presentations)
• Ability to interrogate a brief, identify what's missing, and sharpen it before work begins
• A sharp, uncompromising eye for detail, quality, and consistency
• Experience implementing and improving production workflows and systems
• Familiarity with AI-assisted design and content tools and emerging production technologies
• Confident working with a range of stakeholders at all levels to manage the team’s workload and priorities
• Previous exposure to product marketing or B2B environments is desirable

The REA experience

The physical, mental, emotional and financial health of our people is something we’ll never stop caring about. This is a place to learn and grow.

Some of our Perks & Benefits include:

• A hybrid and flexible approach to working
• Flexible leave options including, birthday leave and purchase additional leave
• Flexible parental leave offering for primary and secondary carers
• Our Because We Care program offers employees volunteering leave, community grants, matched payroll giving and our Community Café donates 100% of revenue to charity
• Hackdays so you can bring your big ideas to life

Our commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

We are committed to providing a working environment that embraces and values diversity, equity and inclusion. We believe teams with diverse ideas and experiences are more creative, more effective and fuel disruptive thinking. If you've got the skills, dedication and enthusiasm to learn but don't necessarily meet every single point on the job description, please still get in touch.

Join our Talent Neighbourhood

Keen to be part of REA but didn't find a perfect match with this opportunity? Perhaps the timing isn't right? You should join our Talent Neighbourhood!

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