Conceptual Designer

Job description

KAYAK, part of Booking Holdings (NASDAQ: BKNG), is the world’s leading travel search engine. With billions of queries across our platforms, we help people find their perfect flight, stay, rental car and vacation package. We’re also transforming business travel with a new corporate travel solution, KAYAK for Business. As an employee of KAYAK, you will be part of a travel company that operates a portfolio of global metasearch brands including momondo, Cheapflights and HotelsCombined, among others. From start-up to industry leader, innovation is in our DNA and every employee has an opportunity to make their mark. Our focus is on building the best travel search engine to make it easier for everyone to experience the world. KAYAK is seeking a Conceptual Designer to join a newly forming creative hub in London covering UK and EMEA. We’re looking for a modern, multidisciplinary designer with a strong eye for art direction, who’s immersed in the design world and the latest trends. You’ll be the visual engine behind London’s studio, bringing bold, beautifully crafted ideas to life across brand campaigns, OOH, social media, and short-form content. You're a designer who can set a creative vision, and then happily get on the tools to make it real. Comfortable working solo or in collaboration with writers, editors and production partners. You’ll ideally come from a creative agency, or in-house background, with a portfolio that clearly demonstrates your taste for design, art direction and passion for visual storytelling across all formats. This role is based in our London office 3 times a week. IN THIS ROLE, YOU WILL: - Conceive and develop original visual concepts for multi-channel campaigns — from OOH and social media to short-form video — ensuring each idea is tailored to the format, audience, and communication objective. - Own the visual direction of creative work from initial concept through to final execution, maintaining the integrity of the idea across production, iteration, and adaptation. - Partner closely with a Conceptual Copywriter to build an integrated creative hub in London, developing ideas together from the earliest stages of ideation. - Translate briefs, brand strategy, and cultural insight into visually compelling concepts that cut through in a crowded category — work that earns attention and drives results. - Bring a strong aesthetic sensibility and taste level to every project, setting a high bar for visual quality and pushing the work beyond the expected. - Present and defend creative concepts to stakeholders with clarity and confidence, articulating the thinking behind visual decisions and remaining open to feedback. - Collaborate cross-functionally with video editors, campaign managers, and performance marketers to ensure creative concepts are both ambitious and executable within real-world constraints. - Contribute actively to concept sessions — bouncing ideas, building on others' thinking, and helping the wider team unlock stronger creative directions. - Leverage AI tools for rapid concept development, moodboarding, storyboarding, and visual exploration — using them resourcefully to do more with less, without compromising taste or craft. - Stay curious about emerging creative technologies, cultural trends, and visual storytelling formats, bringing fresh perspectives and references into the team's creative process. PLEASE APPLY IF YOU ARE: - 5-7+ years into your creative career as a Designer or Art Director, with strong thinking, craft, and a portfolio that shows what you can do, rooted in campaign work and not purely product or UI design. - Deep knowledge of advertising formats and how visual ideas must be tailored — not just adapted — to work across OOH, social media, and short-form content. - Strong aesthetic sensibility and taste — you have a clear visual point of view and know how to push creative work further within them. - Proficiency in design tools such as Figma and the Adobe Creative Suite; experience with motion graphics or video editing is a strong plus. - A collaborative, ego-free mindset — you're a natural creative partner who gives and receives feedback constructively, understands that great work serves business and communication goals, and thrives in a cross-cultural team environment. - Confidence presenting and defending ideas — you can pitch a visual concept clearly to stakeholders and adapt it with grace when the brief evolves. - Curiosity about AI as a creative tool — you're open to using generative AI for ideation, moodboarding, and rapid concept exploration, with the taste and judgment to know when it enhances the work. - Experience with cinematography, film production, or motion design is a plus — an understanding of how visual ideas translate to moving image is valued. BENEFITS AND PERKS: - 5 weeks of paid vacation - Generous paid vacation + time off for your birthday - Private health & dental insurance - Income protection and life assurance - Pension plan contributions - Work from (almost) anywhere for up to 20 days per year - Focus on mental health and well-being: - Company-paid therapy sessions through SpringHealth - Company-paid subscription to Headspace - Company-wide week off a year - the whole team fully recharges (and returns without a pile-up of work!) - No meeting Fridays - Paid parental leave - Paid volunteer time - Focus on your career growth: - Development Dollars - Leadership development - Access to thousand of on-demand e-learnings - Travel Discounts - Employee Resource Groups - Employee Assistance Program - including 24/7 GP & free legal advice - Discounted gym membership - Bike2Work - Season ticket loan - Social events & Thursday happy hours - Free lunch 2 days per week INCLUSION At KAYAK, we want everyone to have the space to grow, share ideas and do great work. That’s why we’re focused on hiring the best talent from all walks of life and experiences, supporting them well and making sure no one feels like they have to fit a mold to belong here. Need an accommodation for the interview, application or on the job? No problem - just give us a heads-up. We’ve got you. #LI-AS1