Lead Photographer

About the Role

As the Lead Photographer within HelloFresh Studio, you will join the dedicated Photography team, delivering across diverse areas including food, product, lifestyle, and marketing shoots. This position demands an exceptional photographer with profound technical knowledge and refined visual expertise, serving as the standard bearer for photographic excellence, craftsmanship, and production quality throughout the Studio.

You will spearhead through your expertise and leadership by example, enhancing the skills of the photography team and upholding superior standards during substantial asset production projects. The role also encompasses nurturing photographic talent, refining operational methods, and promoting continuous advancements.

Close collaboration with Producers, Styling, Culinary, Post-production, and Creative units is essential to ensure the delivery of high-grade, scalable visual assets spanning multiple brands. Staying informed about industry trends and actively engaging in AI initiatives within the Studio and wider company, you will facilitate the integration of emerging technologies into effective production procedures.

Key Responsibilities

• Exemplify and elevate photographic quality and execution standards across the Studio continuously.
• Conduct and supervise photography sessions in food, product, lifestyle, and marketing, aligned with top commercial benchmarks.
• Provide coaching, mentorship, and support to photographers through constructive feedback and practical guidance to boost team competence.
• Establish, uphold, and progressively enhance photographic standards, shooting protocols, and best practices.
• Collaborate with Studio leadership to heighten production quality, optimize studio workflows, and develop scalable operational strategies.
• Work closely with Art Direction, Styling, Culinary, Post-production, and Creative teams to ensure visually consistent and impactful outputs.
• Manage complex productions, addressing creative, technical, and operational challenges on set.
• Maintain consistency and visual superiority across extensive asset volumes while safeguarding efficiency.
• Contribute actively to organizational AI projects by supporting experimentation, crafting practical applications, and fostering AI-assisted and hybrid content creation methods.
• Serve as a trusted authority and escalation resource for photographic quality, technical resolutions, and production excellence.

Qualifications and Experience

• Minimum of seven years' professional experience in commercial photography, preferably with expertise in food, lifestyle, product photography, and volume e-commerce content creation.
• Outstanding photographic skill set and technical mastery, supported by a mandatory portfolio submission.
• In-depth knowledge of lighting, composition, camera systems, color science, production settings, and storytelling through visuals.
• Proven track record in high-paced production environments with cross-disciplinary stakeholder collaboration.
• Strong aptitude for uplifting colleagues through coaching, feedback, mentorship, and sharing of industry best practices.
• Experience in leading photographers or creative production teams is advantageous.
• Highly collaborative, influential, and adept at aligning diverse stakeholders independently of formal hierarchy.
• Production-oriented mindset focused on continuous workflow enhancements, improved quality, and operational efficiency.
• Awareness of current trends in photography, visual production, and AI-supported content creation, with practical application skills.
• Expert proficiency in Capture One software, with robust understanding of color grading and image editing; familiarity with additional photography, automation, or AI tools is a bonus.
• Ability to analyze creative briefs and convert them into executable photographic approaches that balance creative vision, practical production factors, and visual standards.
• Excellent communication skills in English, both oral and written.

Additional Information

Applicants are required to provide a portfolio showcasing recent and relevant photographic work when applying.