Careers

Notes from a small studio in the Cotswolds. Last updated May 2026.

What it is like to work at Telos

Telos is a small studio. Eleven of us, working between an old mill in Stow-on-the-Wold and our own kitchen tables. We make saunas, ice baths and plunge tubs in cedar, hinoki and oak, designed to last decades and to be repaired rather than replaced. The work is slow, considered and quiet. A cabin takes us six to eight weeks to build, sometimes longer if we are matching boards by hand.

That pace is not for everyone. We do not ship daily. We do not run permanent sales. We talk to fewer customers than a busy DTC brand and we spend more time with each one. There is no open-plan brainstorm energy here. There is glue, sawdust, tea, the radio, and long stretches of focused work. If that sounds like a relief rather than a constraint, you might enjoy it.

Everyone at Telos uses what we make. Cabinetmakers sit in cabins they have built. Customer-care colleagues take cold plunges before they answer the phones. The Editor reviews drafts in the sauna. We think being close to the product is the only honest way to design and sell it.

What we look for

We do not have a long list of hard requirements. We hire for craft, judgement and the ability to take care of a thing from start to finish.

• Craft. A high standard of work in your discipline, whatever that is. We are not impressed by speed alone; we are impressed by people who finish the back of the cabinet as carefully as the front.
• Independence. You can run with a piece of work without being told what to do every day, and you tell us when you are stuck.
• Honesty. You say what you think, even when it is not what we want to hear. You correct yourself when you have got something wrong.
• Care. For colleagues, for customers, for the timber in front of you, for the people who will live with what we make.

We do not require a degree for any role. For some roles we do not require prior commercial experience. We do read every application carefully.

How hiring works

Our process is small and slow on purpose.

1. Application. Email careers@teloswellness.co.uk with the role title in the subject line, a short note (a paragraph or two) about why you are interested, and either a CV or links to your work. No covering letter, no questionnaire.
2. First conversation. About 30 minutes by telephone or in person at the atelier, depending on the role. Usually with one of the founders or the head of the relevant team.
3. Paid case-study task. If both sides are still interested, we ask you to spend a day or two on a piece of work that resembles the role. We pay you the day rate equivalent of the salary band for the work, regardless of outcome. We do not do whiteboard puzzles or unpaid trials.
4. Final visit. A half-day at the atelier (or a longer call for fully remote roles), meeting two or three colleagues you would work with day to day. We answer your questions as openly as we ask ours.
5. Offer. Within a week of the final visit, with a clear written offer including salary, equipment, holiday and start date. We always tell candidates we are not taking forward; we try to give a useful reason.

The whole process usually takes three to five weeks. We do not rush it. If you are weighing other offers, tell us and we will do our best to align.

Open roles

Cabinetmaker · Cotswolds Atelier

We are looking for a cabinetmaker to join our small bench team in Stow-on-the-Wold. You will build cabins from rough timber to finished install, working with cedar, hinoki and English oak under the guidance of our workshop lead. The bench is six people; you will be the seventh. The work is varied: jointing, planing, finishing, dry-fitting full cabins on the workshop floor, occasional client installs in the south of England.

• What the day looks like:
  • Morning: collecting and stickering boards for two or three cabins in production, working through the cut list with the lead.
  • Mid-day: bench work — joinery, fitting, hand-finishing.
  • Afternoon: dry-build of a finished cabin in the assembly hall, snagging, walk-around with the customer-care lead before crating.
• What we would hope you bring:
  • Three or more years of full-time bench cabinetmaking, joinery or fine furniture experience.
  • Confidence cutting and fitting hand-cut joinery and machine-cut joinery to the same standard.
  • The patience to slow down when the wood is asking you to.

Salary: £32,000–£40,000 plus profit share. Tools provided. Atelier-based, four days on site, one optional remote day. To apply: email careers@teloswellness.co.uk with “Cabinetmaker” in the subject.

Industrial Designer · Cotswolds Atelier

We are looking for an industrial designer to join the founders on the next two product families: a smaller ice bath for indoor rooms and a four-person hinoki cabin. You will own each design from first sketch through prototype, supplier liaison, manufacturing notes and the final spec. We design slowly here — each piece spends six to nine months in development — and we expect every detail you draw to be defended in person on the workshop floor.

• What the day looks like:
  • A long sit with prototype-in-progress and the workshop lead, walking through a question that came up the previous afternoon.
  • Drawing time — hand sketch, then Rhino or Fusion. We are not religious about software but you should be fluent in at least one parametric tool.
  • Calls with our heater partner in Helsinki or our chiller partner in Hamburg about a small change to a fitting or housing.
• What we would hope you bring:
  • Five-plus years designing physical products that have been manufactured at scale, ideally including timber, metal and electrical components.
  • A portfolio that shows restraint as much as flair.
  • Comfort speaking to suppliers, makers and customers — you will do all three every week.

Salary: £50,000–£65,000 plus profit share. Atelier-based, three days on site minimum. To apply: email careers@teloswellness.co.uk with “Industrial Designer” in the subject.

Customer Care Lead · Remote (UK)

We are hiring a Customer Care Lead to take ownership of the customer journey from enquiry to first sauna session. You will speak to customers by telephone and email, run our 60-night home trial, coordinate with our installation partner and feed insights back into product and operations. You will also build the small playbook the next two hires use. We answer the phone here — it is the part of the business we are most stubborn about.

• What the day looks like:
  • An hour clearing the inbox and responding to the most considered enquiries first.
  • Two scheduled phone calls with customers thinking about a cabin — questions about base, electrics, oils, hinoki versus cedar.
  • A late-afternoon huddle with operations and the workshop lead about deliveries scheduled for the following week.
• What we would hope you bring:
  • Several years in a senior customer-care or concierge role for a considered brand.
  • A natural calm on the phone and clarity in writing.
  • The instinct to flag a problem early rather than smooth it over.

Salary: £38,000–£45,000 plus profit share. Fully remote within the UK; one Cotswolds day each month. To apply: email careers@teloswellness.co.uk with “Customer Care Lead” in the subject.

Photographer · Freelance (UK)

We are looking for a freelance photographer to shoot one cabin install per month in customers’ homes across the UK, plus quarterly atelier days in Stow-on-the-Wold. The work is quiet, tightly art-directed and often outdoors at the wrong time of year. We use natural light wherever possible. We are happy to consider photographers earlier in their career; the brief is more about taste than gear.

• What the day looks like:
  • Travel to a customer’s home, usually a long drive into Devon, the Borders, the Lakes or Norfolk.
  • A morning shooting the cabin in situ — architecture, then detail, then the customer if they are willing.
  • Drive home; selects to us within five working days.
• What we would hope you bring:
  • A portfolio of considered, quiet work — architecture, interiors or still life.
  • Confidence working alone in someone’s home and treating it as such.
  • Reliable kit; a UK driving licence; access to a car (mileage paid).

Day rate: £650–£850 depending on experience, plus expenses. Twelve to fifteen days a year, with the chance to grow. To apply: email careers@teloswellness.co.uk with “Photographer” in the subject and a link to your work.

Journal Editor · Remote (UK)

The Telos Journal is our small publication on saunas, cold exposure, materials and craft. We publish around 20 pieces a year. We are looking for an editor to commission, edit and occasionally write. You will set the editorial calendar with the founders, run the network of around a dozen freelance writers we already work with, and hold the line on accuracy and tone. The Journal is editorially independent of the shop; you will report to a Director, not to marketing.

• What the day looks like:
  • A morning of editing two pieces in flight — one essay on hinoki, one interview with a Finnish heater maker.
  • A 45-minute call with a writer pitching a longread.
  • Quiet reading time — a paper on cold-water immersion that may or may not be the basis of the next commission.
• What we would hope you bring:
  • Five or more years editing on a magazine, broadsheet or considered brand publication.
  • An instinct for what a Telos reader will and will not find interesting.
  • Fact-checking discipline and a comfortable working relationship with researchers and writers.

Salary: £52,000–£60,000 (full time) or pro-rated for four days. Fully remote within the UK; quarterly atelier days. To apply: email careers@teloswellness.co.uk with “Journal Editor” in the subject.

Finance & Operations Manager · Remote (UK), part-time

We are looking for a part-time Finance & Operations Manager to take everything from monthly close and management accounts through to supplier payments, VAT returns and people admin. You will work alongside our external accountant and report to a Director. The role is part-time on purpose; we want depth, not headcount.

• What the day looks like:
  • Bank reconciliations and the supplier payment run.
  • An hour preparing the monthly board pack.
  • A call with our accountant about the next quarter’s VAT return.
• What we would hope you bring:
  • ACA, ACCA, CIMA or equivalent, plus several years post-qualification in a small business.
  • Comfort with Xero, Shopify and a payroll system.
  • An eye for the small things that get out of hand if no one watches them.

Salary: £45,000–£55,000 full-time-equivalent for a three-day week. Fully remote within the UK; one Cotswolds day each month. To apply: email careers@teloswellness.co.uk with “Finance & Operations” in the subject.

Equity, diversity and inclusion

We welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds and experiences, in line with our Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Policy. We make reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process for candidates who need them — just tell us in your first email what would help. We anonymise CVs at the screening stage where the role allows, and we publish a salary range with every role and do not negotiate below it.

Speculative applications

If none of the above fits, but you have read this far and you have a strong sense of what you would bring to a small Cotswolds maker, write anyway. Email careers@teloswellness.co.uk with “Speculative” in the subject, a paragraph about you and what you would do here, and links to whatever you have made or written that you are proud of. We answer every speculative application that gives us something to respond to.