Magnetic is a leading independent design and innovation company — B Corp certified, London-based, and built on a decade of delivering real impact for ambitious organisations. Our partners have included Google, Mars, Waitrose, Bupa, Save the Children, the London Stock Exchange, and Innovate UK. We work with startups, governments, and global brands across healthcare, FMCG, and financial services to create products, services, and strategies that drive growth and make a difference.

Our purpose is simple: designing better futures. It's shaped everything we've built — our culture, our work, and how we show up for our clients.

We've always punched above our weight. Now we're scaling with sharper focus and greater ambition — evolving from a trusted delivery partner into a strategic innovation partner embedded in our clients' most complex challenges. That means shaping markets, not just responding to them. Designing for the future, not just the brief.

We're committed to building a diverse, inclusive workplace where everyone can be themselves. This role is full-time and based at our London studio 5 days per week. 

Why this role matters

As Magnetic enters an exciting new chapter, this role is central to it.

We believe the quality of work we deliver is inseparable from the culture we build. Great client outcomes don't happen by accident; they're the product of a studio that runs well, a team that feels energised and an environment that reflects the ambition of the work itself.

As we evolve Magnetic, we're being intentional about both sides of that equation: sharper, more disciplined client delivery and a more deliberate, rewarding people experience. This role sits at the intersection of the two — protecting and elevating both.

There's real work to be done here and real space to shape it. If you're someone who thrives on building structure where there's ambiguity, who cares as much about how a place feels as how it functions, who brings creativity and a sense of fun to even the operational side of studio life, and who wants to leave a visible mark on a company in motion, this is the role for you.

What will you be doing?

As the Studio Operations Manager, you are the heartbeat of the company. You will balance operational discipline with cultural intuition, ensuring that our "lean" model never feels "thin." Your mission is to oil the wheels of daily operations to enable the team to focus on world-class client delivery.

This doesn't mean doing everything yourself. You are empowered to delegate, lean on partners, and ask for support — and encouraged to do so. You’re the orchestrator of how things get done, not the default fixer for every problem. Magnetic's strength lies in its network and its people; your role is to direct that energy, not absorb it all.

Core Accountabilities

1. Cultural Custodianship & People Experience

• Rebuild and embed our values so they manifest in everyday behaviours, not just on walls.
• Design and lead our company rituals (meetings, social touchpoints, grassroots movements) that make a smaller team feel powerful and connected.
• Own the end-to-end employee journey, ensuring high-impact onboarding and thoughtful offboarding.
• Manage the People Experience budget, ensuring spend is used intentionally to drive engagement and culture.

2. Client Experience Excellence

• Be the face of the studio, ensuring every brand touchpoint—from arrival to the final meeting—feels innovative, premium and considered.
• Partner with client teams to execute workshops and brand moments. This includes coordinating F&B partners, managing on-site logistics, and working with delivery partners.
• Support the Marketing Director with off-site events and alumni community outreach to maintain the Magnetic standard beyond our walls.
• Manage physical assets, collaborating with designers to ensure physical assets are produced to a high standard.

3. Operational Management

• Manage relationships with external partners (IT, Facilities etc) to ensure we remain lean and focused on high-value work.
• Audit and manage all service provider contracts (including serviced studio providers) to ensure best-value and business growth.
• Partner with Tech delivery providers to define and maintain a clear, functional tech stack for the team.
• Maintain the physical environment to a "client-ready" standard at all times, overseeing setup and delegating the breakdown of events.

4. Systems & Compliance

• Keep the business safe, compliant, and organised (GDPR, Health & Safety) without introducing unnecessary bureaucracy.
• Gather client and community feedback to iterate on our internal systems and tools where applicable.
• Work alongside the Chief of Staff (CoS) and Leadership Teams to manage the company budget and monitor overhead costs.

If you’re an experienced studio, operations, or office manager who's comfortable with a broad remit — and energised by it — we want to hear from you! You probably don’t wait to be told what needs fixing; you've already spotted it, thought through the options, and started making it better.

What are we looking for?

• Health & Safety and compliance ownership — you've held this responsibility before, kept documentation current, and made compliance feel effortless; the business stays safe without it becoming a burden on anyone
• Supplier and contract management — you build strong partner relationships, negotiate confidently, and keep external partners cost-efficient and accountable
• Operational initiative — you're a self-starter who reduces friction before people notice it's there; ways of working become clearer because of you, not in spite of you
• Tech and systems fluency — you're comfortable working with IT partners, evaluating tools, and helping a team adopt a clear, functional tech stack; curious and confident, even if not technical
• People and culture instinct — you understand that operations and culture aren't separate things; you bring warmth, creativity, and a sense of fun to both, and you take onboarding seriously enough that new joiners consistently rate it highly
• HR administration — familiar with people admin processes (contracts, onboarding paperwork, CEST forms and similar) and happy to be the first port of call for the team
• A high bar for quality — whether it's a client visit or a supplier invoice, the standard matters to you; workshops and client moments feel seamless and premium because you've thought through every detail

You're equally comfortable building a process from scratch and rolling up your sleeves on the day-to-day. You take pride in the environment around you — and the people in it.

What we offer

We take good care of our team. Alongside a competitive salary, you'll have access to a benefits package that includes:

• Private Medical Insurance
• Dental Insurance
• Group Life Assurance
• Income Protection
• Enhanced pension with employer contributions of 4% 
• Profit share membership
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Gender-neutral parental leave

We also make sure everyone has time to rest and recharge:

• 25 days annual leave, increasing by one day for every two years served, up to 30 days.
• 3-day Christmas shutdown
• 8 bank holidays (which can be repurposed to align with your religious beliefs)
• One additional Magnetic holiday 

We're committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace and we welcome applications from people of all backgrounds. If you require any adjustments during our recruitment process, please let us know. 

Use of AI in applications

We recognise that you may choose to use AI tools to support aspects of your application – such as grammar, formatting, or drafting. We understand that using AI tools in this way can help you express your strengths more clearly. However, your final submission must be a genuine, accurate reflection of your own skills, experience, and understanding of the role.

To support integrity and transparency in our recruitment process, we ask that you include a brief note explaining where and how AI tools were used. Magnetic may use AI checking tools should this be deemed appropriate. Applications that appear overly generic, inconsistent with interview performance, or rely heavily on generative AI without clear attribution may raise concerns during the selection process.