Brand Manager: Spirits - Paarl

KWV a renowned South African brand and industry leader in the production of world-class wines, and other spirits a vacancy for a Studio Manager, based in Paarl.

• Reporting to: Executive: Marketing Spirits
• Department: Marketing Spirits
• Division: Commercial   

Purpose: The Studio Manager leads the in-house Design Studio team and owns its end-to-end operational workflow - from brief intake, prioritization, and resource allocation to creative direction, packaging compliance, and final artwork delivery. Serving as the operational and strategic bridge between Brand Managers, Marketing Leadership, and the Design team, this role fosters a structured, predictable, and high-performing studio environment. The Studio Manager balances team capacity, leads direct reports, optimizes workflows, drives brand consistency, and manages external creative resources to consistently deliver premium output on time and to specification.

The Studio Manager is authorised to reject incomplete briefs, negotiate or reset timelines, sequence work against agreed business priorities, recommend external support where internal capacity is insufficient, and escalate unresolved priority conflicts to the Executive: Marketing Spirits.

Minimum Requirements:

• Qualification: Relevant tertiary qualification in Project Management, Creative Direction, Brand Management, Business Administration, or Design (advantageous, or equivalent practical industry experience).
• Experience: Minimum 5+ years’ experience in a senior creative studio management, traffic management, design operations, or agency production role. Specific experience within FMCG, spirits/beverages, premium packaging design, or regulated consumer goods is highly required.
• People Leadership: Proven track record of managing, mentoring, and developing creative professionals and technical designers in a high-volume environment.
• Systems & Platforms: Expert proficiency in workflow platforms (ClickUp, Asana, or similar), Microsoft 365, and studio reporting tools. Ability to maintain operational dashboards and translate workload metrics into actionable business recommendations.
• Technical Packaging & Workflow: Solid technical understanding of creative and packaging workflows, pre-press standards, die-lines, substrates, regulated label compliance, and print production processes.
• External Network Management: Experience sourcing, negotiating with, and managing external freelance talent, repro houses, and specialized creative agencies.

Stakeholder Management: Outstanding communication and negotiation skills with the confidence to challenge unrealistic briefs, manage expectations, and maintain cross-functional alignment across senior stakeholders.

Job Summary

• People Leadership & Studio Management: Provide line management, day-to-day operational guidance, regular performance reviews, and career development support for the internal design team. Build a high-performance studio culture focused on creative excellence, accountability, and continuous development.
• End-to-End Workflow & Prioritization: Oversee the full lifecycle of creative projects across spirits brands. Review intake, prioritize assignments based on commercial urgency and team skillsets, track project milestones, and proactively mitigate bottlenecks or risks to delivery.
• Briefing Integrity & Brand Governance: Vet all incoming creative briefs to ensure clarity, completeness, and alignment with brand guidelines before work commences. Enforce strict brand governance and visual consistency across all packaging, promotional, and commercial assets.
• Systems Optimization & Reporting: Own, configure, and drive compliance in ClickUp and studio management systems. Maintain real-time dashboards detailing capacity, utilization, throughput, rework rates, and project status for executive visibility.
• Packaging & Regulated Materials Oversight: Coordinate complex design workflows for beverage packaging and regulated marketing assets. Ensure technical print specifications, legal requirements, brand standards, and quality approvals are met prior to final artwork release and handover.
• Capacity Planning & External Resource Management: Monitor studio utilization and balance internal workload. Build and manage a vetted roster of external creative freelancers, repro houses, and external agencies to scale output during peak campaign periods within budget parameters.
• Digital Asset Management (DAM) & Administration: Implement and maintain standardized folder structures, naming conventions, version controls, and secure digital asset archives. Oversee studio administrative functions including PO generation, invoicing, supplier management, and operational expenditure tracking.
• Process Improvement: Continuously evaluate and refine studio operating procedures to reduce turnaround times, improve rework metrics, and optimize cross-functional collaboration between marketing, commercial, and production teams.

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (KPIS)

• On-Time Delivery Rate: Percentage of projects delivered against agreed deadline schedules.
• Brief Acceptance & Rework Rates: Reduction in brief rejections and revisions due to complete upfront specification.
• System Compliance & Visibility: 100% team compliance with ClickUp tracking and accurate capacity reporting.
• Team Productivity & Well-being: Balanced capacity utilization across internal design resources.
• Stakeholder Satisfaction: Positive operational feedback from Brand Managers and Marketing Executives.
• Budget & External Vendor Adherence: Effective cost management of external creative, freelance, and repro expenditure.

Preference will be given to suitably qualified candidates from under-represented groups aligned with our Employment Equity Plan.

Should you not hear from us within one month of the closing date of the advert, kindly regard your application to have been unsuccessful.

Please note that any personal information that you shared will be used for the purposes of applying for a role with KWV as advertised above. This information may be shared with authorised Warshay Investments (Pty) Ltd (“KWV”) representatives (internal and contracted external parties) as required. Should you have any questions related to how we process your personal information, please refer to the privacy policy.