WORKING WITH US

How we help our people to enjoy 'the work'.

Do great work without the big city bullshit.

We’ve always been an agency that’s punched above its weight. With a background working for international B2B brands and large agencies, for twenty years we’ve been applying the same high standards to everything we do. We just happen to be based in Stoke on Trent.

That’s a real advantage for our team – it means they’re able to work with the same quality of clients and campaigns they might if they were in London or any other big city, but still strike a good work life balance.

So younger team members benefit from the opportunity to learn from experienced pros who’ve been there and won the weird award trophies.

And the experienced pros can maintain the same award- winning standards they’ve achieved elsewhere. Without the torturous hours spent in traffic or the privilege of monthly parking permits that cost as much as your car.

If that makes sense to you, let’s talk about opportunities to work together.

Rabbit hat

Read on to find out more about how we work.
If you’ve landed here to see our current vacancies, carry on scrolling to the end or click here.

Culture eats oatcakes for breakfast

Or it would do if it worked here. A strong, positive culture underpins everything we do – airing opinions is encouraged regardless of your role, people are given the freedom to do their best work and support for training is open to all. Ultimately, if you’re enjoying your work then everyone’s a winner.

That’s complemented with regular social events factored into the working day, supporting our annual chosen charity and the occasional knees-up to mark big milestones or achievements.

We know a lot of agencies crow about their culture, but we’re one of only a few to have been awarded as one of Campaign’s Best Places to Work.

Campaign best places to work 2021

Got Spark?

Our summer placement program is a unique chance for students to get under the skin of how big brands communicate to business audiences. You’ll be working alongside our expert team to help develop a campaign, giving you first-hand experience of how an award-winning agency brings this to life – from strategy and creative right through to delivery.

See what the team thinks

Feel free to get in touch with the team and have a chat about their experience of working at Lesniak Swann. Here’s a few of the team across our various disciplines.

Flexible and Remote Working

We like to employ independent people with get-up-and-go, and this is reflected in the options we offer both for flexible working (when you work) and remote working (where you work).

Remote – choice on where you work

We believe that it’s important that people spend time together in the office, and for this reason everyone comes in each Monday and the last Friday of the month. Other than that we currently ask that people spend around 50% of their time in the office.

Skill behaviour

The driving force behind our success to date is hiring smart, independent minded people with the gumption to get stuff done. That means we’re pretty picky as to the behaviours applicants need to show to get through the door. We look for a fit across four key areas:

Is there a better way?

We want people who are bold in their work, approaching tasks by asking why so that we always get the most effective outcome for the client. They’ll need to speak plainly, too – we don’t use marketing or business bullshit.

Knowledge is power

Our people are curious. Quite possibly from a personal point of view, but in the main curious about the world in general. How things work, why they’re made the way they are, and how they might be improved. Because being inquisitive fuels personal growth, better creativity and greater success for us and our clients.

Show me the money

Marketing is a commercial function and as such clients should expect to see a justifiable return on the money they invest with us. So whilst having exciting ideas is one thing, these must always be assessed with clear commercial objectives in mind.

Be the giant

Humans are social beings – working together and looking out for each is how we all succeed. To do this we need to show care and consideration in our relationships with clients, colleagues, the community and the environment.

A strong development culture

We’ve sought to create a strong development culture because learning is a virtuous circle – the more smart, skilled people we have the happier they’ll be and higher the quality of work we all produce.

This is particularly important given the highly technical subject matter we deal with from day to day, which also means that our people tend to be naturally fascinated by how the world works in all its detail and weirdness.

As a result the development culture at Lesniak Swann is geared towards feeding inquisitive minds, as well as career ambitions sated.

Tailored development plans

The centrepoint to this is tailored development plans for each and every member of the team. These identify where progress can be made, what needs to be done and how the business will help you to get there. So whether you’re a junior PR recruit, a mid-weight designer or running client services you will have your next step in mind and understand the support you’ll receive to achieve it.

Brainfood

But our development culture is also much broader than this. Alongside helping to fund the likes of CIM and CIPR qualifications we also have a busy programme of more informal learning which includes work showcases to exchange new ideas and best practice, expert speakers and our regular book club. Recent titles have included Ogilvy on Advertising, Rory Sutherland’s AlchemyA Beautiful Constraint and the latest; How Brands Grow by Byron Sharp.

Book clubs on works from the latest trailblazers.

Our thought leadership events and workshops are always in demand.

Insight event with Anthony Tasgal
Insight event with Anthony Tasgal
Creative
Creative's latest read in their book club
Project Management workshop with Vistage speaker, Malcolm Smith
Project Management workshop with Vistage speaker, Malcolm Smith
Quenching our thirst for knowledge at every opportunity
Quenching our thirst for knowledge at every opportunity
Power of PR workshop
Power of PR workshop
Reading Oglivy on Advertising - in the garden
Reading Oglivy on Advertising - in the garden

Rewards season

We offer a package of rewards alongside the benefits covered above.

Pension

5% employer contribution to your pension scheme.

Christmas

Additional time for Christmas closing – usually at least an extra 3 days.

Flexible

Flexible working policy on your start and finish time, plus we currently offer remote working for 50% of your time.

Time

Time to attend children’s school events or other family occasions.

Bonus

Bonus scheme based on personal and agency performance.

Charity

Charity work time matched by the firm meaning that if you give up your own time to raise money for our annual chosen charity we’ll give you the time back.

25 days

25 days holiday plus bank holidays (usually 33 days a year in total).

Current vacancies

Account Manager
Do you have an impressive track record in marketing – either client or agency side? Are you looking for the next step in your career? If so, we might have the position for you.

Interested? Download the job spec and details of how to apply here.

Account Executive
Do you feel like a change? Just bored in your current marketing or agency role? Or just starting out on your career in marketing? If so, we might have the position for you.

Want to know more? Download the job spec and details of how to apply here.

No suitable vacancies?
There aren’t always positions available, but we do keep a black book for future opportunities. So if you think you might be a good fit for our team, send your CV and a covering note to: alexs@lesniakswann.com