AS Design is an established Cumbrian sign and graphics company. We design, produce and install signage, vehicle graphics, banners, exhibition and display work for retail, commercial, industrial and domestic customers across the North West. Everything is produced in house - from the first artwork through to print, cut, finish and fit. We are a small team, which means the work is varied and what you do actually matters. It also means we need someone who can turn their hand to more than one thing.
IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ BEFORE APPLYING
Shortlisted candidates must complete a design assessment and a practical exercise. This is a required part of our recruitment process, not an optional extra. We will not consider or progress any application where the assessment has not been completed. Please do not apply unless you are willing to complete it.
ABOUT THE ROLE
This is a broad, hands-on role built around large format design and production. You will take customer briefs and turn them into production-ready artwork, then see that artwork through our machines and out onto the van, wall or shopfront. Around that core, you will also take on our garment and workwear proofing, CNC routing, our social media and marketing, some general admin, and help us make better use of AI tools across the business. The heart of this job is large format print and signage. Your work ends up two metres wide on the side of a van or four metres up on a shopfront, coming off a Roland print-and-cut machine. If your background is mainly social media, web or digital marketing graphics, or your main tool is Canva, this is not the right role for you
- the social side here sits on top of a full production design job, it is not the job itself. If you have prepared production files, set up cut paths, and stood next to a printer while your work came off it, please read on. This is an office-based role in Cleator Moor. Hybrid working is available only in exceptional circumstances, but we are open to flexible working - if you have a particular arrangement in mind, talk to us about it.
WHAT YOU WILL BE DOING
Design and production - the core of the role: - Taking customer briefs and turning them into visuals, mock-ups and proofs- Preparing production-ready artwork: correct colour, bleed, scale, cut paths and layers- Vehicle wrap and livery design, working to accurate vehicle templates- Signage and fascia design - retail, commercial, industrial, interior and exterior- Banners, display graphics, window vinyl, exhibition and event work- Recreating and redrawing supplied customer logos as clean vector artwork- Setting up files for wide-format print, cut vinyl and contour cutting Garment, workwear and clothing: - Producing customer proofs and visuals for clothing and workwear, both printed and embroidered- Preparing artwork for DTF transfers and dye sublimation- Preparing and setting up customer logos for embroidery- Advising customers on what will and will not work on a given garment CNC routing: - Programming and preparing design files for our CNC router using VCarve (Vectric)- Toolpaths, material setup and test cuts for routed and shaped signage- No prior VCarve experience needed - full training will be provided Running the machines: - Operating our Roland print-and-cut machines, Graphtec cutter, CNC router, DTF printer, sublimation printer and embroidery machine- Loading media, running jobs, and daily machine checks and maintenance
- Weeding, laminating, finishing and preparing work for installation- You will be trained on all of it, but this is a role where you run the kit, not just hand files to someone else Marketing and social media: - Running our social media - content, posts, showing off the work we produce
- Photographing finished jobs on site and in the workshop- Marketing material for the business: brochures, mailers, website graphics Admin and systems:
- Quoting and raising jobs in shopVOX, our workflow management system - training provided- Managing your own job queue and deadlines- General office admin as part of a small team AI tools: - Helping us find, test and roll out AI tools that genuinely save time in a design and production business- You do not need to be an expert - you need to be curious, willing to experiment, and sensible about what actually works rather than what is hype
WHAT YOU WILL NEED - Proven commercial experience designing for large format print - signage, vehicle graphics, banners or display. This is the one we cannot train around.- Strong vector skills in Adobe Illustrator and/or CorelDRAW - we run both- Confident with Photoshop for image prep, retouching and cleanup- Experience preparing files that go directly to a printer or cutter, including cut paths and registration- A solid working understanding of vector vs bitmap, resolution, scale and file formats- Colour knowledge - CMYK, RGB, spot and Pantone matching, and why they do not all agree- Happy to get hands-on with machines and materials, not just sit at a screen- Accurate, organised and comfortable working to deadlines- Good communication - you will speak to customers and to the workshop- Full UK driving licence DESIRABLE - Roland VersaWorks or other RIP software- Hands-on experience with Roland print-and-cut machines, Graphtec or similar plotters, CNC routers, laminators or heat presses- VCarve (Vectric), Aspire or other CNC/CAM software - useful but not required, we will train you- DTF, dye sublimation or embroidery experience- Vehicle wrap design and knowledge of wrap templates- Knowledge of substrates - vinyl, Foamex, Dibond, ACM, acrylic, correx- Experience with shop management software (shopVOX, Cyrious, PrintSmith or similar)- Social media and content experience for a business, as a supporting skill- Photography - being able to take a decent picture of a finished job- Site survey and measuring experience
WHAT WE OFFER
- Permanent, full-time contract- Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 5:00pm, 37.5 hours per week. No evenings, no weekends.- Workplace pension- Private healthcare available as an option- 20 days holiday plus bank holidays, rising by one day per year of service up to 25 days- Discretionary sick pay- Free on-site parking- Free uniform supplied- Full training provided on any of our machines and software you have not used before, including VCarve for the CNC router and shopVOX, our workflow management system- A varied workload - no two jobs the same- A small, established team where your work goes out into the world, not into a folder
HOW TO APPLY
Send your CV and a portfolio or examples of your work. We are more interested in a handful of jobs you can talk us through - the brief, the constraints, how you solved it - than in a large volume of work. If you have examples of production artwork (cut files, wrap layouts, sign visuals), please include them alongside the finished results. Please note again: completion of our design assessment and practical exercise is mandatory. Applications that do not complete the assessment will not be considered. AS Design (Cumbria) Ltd is an equal opportunities employer.
Pay: From £25,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Additional leave
- Company pension
- Free parking
- On-site parking
- Private medical insurance
- Sick pay
Experience:
- workplace: 1 year (required)
Work Location: In person
