VP, Product Design, Product Creative - CNN

Role Overview

CNN is seeking a VP Product Design, Product Creative to lead our agile Product Creative team. This role functions as a high-level player-coach, responsible for owning the creation of premium visual assets that sit directly adjacent to the UI. You will define and execute the creative direction for critical touchpoints—including partnering with the design systems team to develop and implement product style guides, ensure our digital products reflect CNN’s brand promise, delivering creative cohesion at scale through our design system and in targeted product UI.

In this role, you will collaborate closely with leadership in Product Design, Editorial Visuals, Merchandising and Brand to align and execute a cohesive creative direction across all CNN digital products. You will oversee a specialized agile team of visual and product designers. You must be as comfortable utilizing your hands-on, high-fidelity craft as you are driving executive alignment and shaping the overarching creative strategy.

• Lead the Product Creative Team:
  Oversee a specialized, agile team of visual and product designers dedicated to defining creative direction and executing high-fidelity work that sits close to the product UI.
• Own UI-Adjacent Assets:
  Direct and execute the creation of critical visual touchpoints, including avatar systems, interactive collection headers, dynamic backgrounds, curated hubs, bespoke promotion CTAs, and UI templates.
• Operate as a Player-Coach:
  Act as an Executive Creative Director who balances hands on design execution and craft with high-level strategic alignment.
• Drive Cross-Functional Cohesion:
  Work intimately with leadership in Editorial Visuals and Brand—maintaining adopted reporting line to these groups—to align and execute a unified creative vision across all CNN products, playing a key role in guiding our Design Council initiatives.
• Elevate the Product Design Quality Bar:
  Provide expert craft guidance and detailed feedback to your team, ensuring that all visual assets achieve tactile resonance, support our narrative-led design philosophy, and maintain strict brand integrity.
• Systematize Creative Intent:
  Collaborate with platform and design system teams to translate the creative aspirations of Marketing and Editorial partners into scalable product style guides that bake the “CNN Look” into the platform.

• 15+ Years of Hybrid
  
  Experience:
  
  A robust background spanning visual design, product design, and creative direction. Content creation (Broadcast, UGC, Agency, or Editorial) experience is a strong plus.
• Player-Coach Mentality:
  You possess the strategic vision of a high-level leader but remain deeply connected to the craft, highly comfortable executing world-class design work yourself.
• Creative Director’s Eye:
  Exceptional visual judgment with a track record of providing detailed, actionable feedback that helps designers elevate the fidelity of their work.
• Agile Team Leadership: A proven history of developing and inspiring top-tier talent within specialized, fast-moving visual and product design teams.
• Strategic
  
  Collaboration:
  
  You view other creative cultures not as competitors, but as partners. You excel at navigating matrixed environments and guiding conversations toward shared visual goals through diplomacy and design expertise.
• Experience in News, Media, UGC or Entertainment streaming services is a nice to have.
• Understanding of frontend technologies to have informed conversations with engineering regarding the implementation of dynamic backgrounds and interactive components.
• Experience implementing innovative design workflows at an enterprise scale.

Base pay range: $ - $ salary per year. Other rewards may include annual bonuses, short‑ and long‑term incentives, and program specific awards. In addition, Warner Bros. Discovery provides a variety of benefits to employees, including health insurance coverage, an employee wellness program, life and disability insurance, a retirement savings plan, paid holidays and sick time and vacation.

Warner Bros. Discovery embraces the opportunity to build a workforce that reflects a wide array of perspectives, backgrounds and experiences. We are an equal opportunity employer and consider qualified candidates on the basis of merit, without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, mental or physical disability, genetic information, marital status, citizenship status, military status, protected veteran status or any other category protected by law.