About Special Projects

Special Projects is a design and invention studio in Richmond, London, founded by designer Clara Gaggero Westaway and magician Adrian Westaway. Our mission is to enhance the unquantifiable aspects of life (empathy, wellbeing and delight) through meaningful design and invention.

We're a small team of designers, researchers and inventors, guided by five values: relevance, empathy, clarity, magic and optimism. We're also a certified B Corp. We work with brave companies to bring clarity to complex problems and turn them into products and experiences people love. Our clients include the BBC, Braun, Google, Lego, Logitech, Samsung, Sonos and the University of Oxford. You can see more of our work at specialprojects.studio.

The Role

We are looking for an enthusiastic, hyper-organised Operations & Growth Lead to join Special Projects for a 12-month maternity cover starting February 15, 2027.

We are looking for someone who takes immense pride in maintaining an immaculate physical space, greeting clients with warmth, running smooth operational systems, and seamlessly managing our commercial pipeline from lead triage to project proposals.

Core Responsibilities

1. Studio Experience & Director Support

• The Right Hand: Act as a polite but firm gatekeeper for the Directors' diaries, intercepting non-urgent queries to protect their deep-work focus. Proactively unblock your own workflows by extracting the decisions and approvals you need from them.
• Studio Hospitality: Ensure the first point of contact with Special Projects is empathic, magical, and efficient. Create a welcoming space for clients, prepare meeting rooms, and organise refreshments.
• Immaculate Environment: Take absolute ownership of the studio's physical state. Manage the canteen, coordinate repairs, maintain plants, and ensure the space is exceptionally tidy and fully stocked at all times.

2. Growth & Commercial

• Pipeline & CRM Management: Meticulously maintain our CRM, triage inbound leads, execute outbound target outreach, and run relentless follow-ups so no prospect ever goes cold. Produce quarterly sales and pipeline reviews for the Directors.
• Proposals & Procurement: Work autonomously to draft project proposals (including project team, budget, and timeline) after an initial strategic briefing with the Directors.
• Client Nurture & Marketing: Project-manage the seasonal newsletter, organise quarterly check-ins with past clients, and act as the event producer for intimate networking dinners for our core advocates.

3. Operations, Cadence & B-Corp

• Studio Rhythm & Logistics: Own recurring internal meeting agendas and follow-ups (Ops, New Business Pulse, Strategy Reviews). Organise logistics for interviews, workshops, photoshoots, travel, and health & safety compliance.
• Project Close-Out & Frameworks: Monitor weekly time logging, compile post-project profitability data, run client satisfaction surveys, and oversee project archiving.
• Talent & Culture: Manage recruitment communications, schedule candidate interviews, onboard new staff on studio manuals**,** and organise quarterly team-bonding initiatives.
• B-Corp Champion: Act as the studio's B-Corp lead, preparing the end-of-year impact report and taking full responsibility for the recertification process.