Creative Assistant

A Creative Assistant supports the people who make advertising, marketing and brand content - copywriters, art directors, designers, creative directors and producers. The work is a mix of practical support (sourcing images, building decks, formatting artwork, chasing approvals, keeping files and schedules in order) and genuine creative input (idea generation, mood boards, draft copy, social posts). You'll find the title in advertising and design agencies, in-house brand and marketing teams, publishers, retailers, broadcasters and production companies, and what it actually involves varies a lot depending on which of those you join.

Starting salary: £22k–£28k
Live graduate jobs: 1 open now
Main way in: Direct application to junior/assistant creative roles…
They usually ask for: Degree subject matters less than you'd think for marketing-side…

Approximate graduate salary

Typically around £22,000–£28,000 to start, though this varies widely - London agency and in-house brand roles tend to sit at the upper end or above it, while regional roles, small studios and some publishing and fashion employers pay at or near the lower end. Some entry points are advertised as paid internships or fixed-term contracts at lower rates.

What you'd actually do

Pulling together presentation decks and mood boards - sourcing reference images, laying out slides, making sure the creative work is shown off properly before a client or internal stakeholder sees it
Producing or amending artwork and assets: resizing a social graphic for different platforms, swapping copy on a banner, retouching a product shot, preparing files for print or upload
Writing first-draft copy for things like social captions, product descriptions, email subject lines or internal briefs, then handing it to a senior creative or copywriter to sharpen
Sitting in on brainstorms and briefing sessions, contributing ideas and then writing up the notes and actions afterwards

Show 3 more

Admin that keeps creative work moving - booking in freelancers or photographers, tracking where each job is in the approval process, filing assets so people can find them, logging usage rights on images and music
Research: competitor and trend scans, finding reference work, pulling together what rival brands are doing on a given platform
Being on set or at a shoot as an extra pair of hands - prepping props, keeping a shot list ticked off, handling sample products

How graduates get in

Direct application to junior/assistant creative roles advertised by agencies, brands and publishers - this is the most common route, and these jobs are usually filled on portfolio and relevant experience rather than through formal graduate schemes
Agency graduate schemes and placement programmes - these exist at larger advertising, media and design agencies, are competitive, and often stream you into creative, account management or strategy rather than a generic 'assistant' role
Internships and work placements, including sandwich-year placements on marketing, design or advertising degrees - extremely common as a feeder into assistant jobs, and many assistants are previous interns
Moving sideways from a related junior job - marketing assistant, studio runner, production assistant, retail or e-commerce content roles - which is a realistic route if you can't get in directly

Show 2 more

Freelancing or self-initiated work while applying: building a body of real work (brand concepts, social content for a small business, a self-published zine or film) is often what gets you shortlisted
Apprenticeships in creative, digital marketing or design - a genuine non-degree route that some employers use, though less common than direct graduate entry

What employers ask for

Degree subject matters less than you'd think for marketing-side assistant roles - English, history, media, business and humanities graduates all get in. For design-leaning roles, a degree in graphic design, illustration, advertising or a related creative subject is usually expected because the employer is buying craft skills
A portfolio, folio or showreel for any role with a design, copy or film element. This matters far more than your degree classification, and can be self-initiated work rather than paid commissions
Most employers ask for a 2:2 or 2:1 if they specify a classification at all; many creative employers don't filter on grades and some don't require a degree
Working knowledge of the relevant software - typically Adobe Creative Suite (InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, sometimes Premiere Pro or After Effects) for design and content roles, and tools like Canva, Figma or PowerPoint/Keynote in more marketing-focused teams

Show 2 more

Some relevant experience is near-universal for the more desirable agency jobs: an internship, placement year, student media or society work, or a side project with real output
For in-house brand teams, familiarity with social platforms and how content performs on them is often asked for explicitly

Skills that matter

Taking a brief and asking the right questions about it

Most wasted work in creative teams comes from someone producing the wrong thing confidently - knowing what to clarify before you start saves days.

Visual layout and typography sense

Even if you're not the designer, you'll be building decks and amending artwork, and work that looks shabby undermines good ideas in front of a client.

Writing short, clear copy to a word or character limit

A huge share of the output is captions, headlines, straplines and subject lines where there's no room to waffle.

Version control and organisation

Creative jobs generate dozens of rounds of amends and you will be the person expected to know which file is the approved one.

Taking critical feedback without deflating

Your work gets pulled apart in reviews as a matter of routine, and the people who progress are the ones who turn around a second version fast.

Working to a deadline you don't control

Client sign-offs, shoot dates and campaign launches slip and compress constantly, so you need to prioritise when three people all need something by five.

Putting these on a CV? We counted which skills 12,914 live graduate adverts ask for, and what to do with the answer — part of our application advice.

Where it leads

Creative Assistant into a specialist junior role - Junior Designer, Junior Copywriter, Junior Art Director, Content Executive or Marketing Executive. Most people make this step within a couple of years, though it depends heavily on whether your employer has a vacancy to grow into.
Mid-level craft roles: Designer, Copywriter, Midweight Art Director, Content Manager. This is where you start owning projects rather than supporting them.
Senior creative roles - Senior Designer, Senior Copywriter, Creative Lead - usually with some responsibility for briefing and reviewing more junior people's work.
Creative Director, Head of Brand or Head of Content for those who stay on the creative track. Timelines here vary enormously and are driven by the quality of your portfolio and who you've worked with, not years served.
Common sideways moves: into production or project management (Producer, Studio Manager), into strategy or account management on the agency side, into freelance work, or into client-side brand roles if you started agency-side.

What people get wrong

“You'll spend your days coming up with big ideas.”

Early on, a substantial chunk of the job is logistics and tidying - resizing assets, chasing approvals, naming files, booking couriers. Idea generation is real but it's a slice of the week, not the whole of it.

“It's a design job, so you need a design degree.”

It depends entirely on the employer. In-house brand and marketing teams often hire assistants with no design training at all and value writing, organisation and platform knowledge. Agency studio roles genuinely do want craft skills and a portfolio.

“Creative work means an unstructured, loosely-managed environment.”

Commercial creative work runs on briefs, deadlines, approval chains, brand guidelines and legal sign-off. There's often more process than in a general office job, because every asset has to be checked before it goes public.

“The title is standardised, so one Creative Assistant job is much like another.”

It's one of the vaguest titles in the market. The same words can mean a design studio assistant, a social content producer, a production runner, a publishing editorial assistant, or an e-commerce team's junior all-rounder. Read the actual duties in the advert rather than the title.

Where this varies

The biggest split is agency versus in-house. In an advertising, design or content agency you work across several clients at once, the pace is faster, hours can be long around pitches and deadlines, and you're likely to specialise quickly into copy, art direction or production. In-house - at a retailer, brand, charity, publisher or broadcaster - you work on one brand in depth, the work is more repetitive but the hours are usually more predictable, and you tend to pick up broader marketing exposure. Sector matters too: publishing and fashion assistant roles are known for low pay relative to competition, while roles attached to e-commerce or performance marketing teams tend to pay better and lean more data- and volume-driven. Geographically, London has the deepest concentration of agency jobs, but Manchester, Bristol, Leeds, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast all have real creative sectors; outside the big cities, roles are more likely to be in-house or at small studios where you do a bit of everything.

See all 1 live Creative Assistant jobsFrom employers' own careers sites, updated daily Tailor your CV for this roleFree with an account, 3 a month

General guidance about the role across the UK market, not about any specific employer. Entry routes and requirements vary — always check the individual job advert.