Director of Product Design - Media & Publishing - Onsite

Washington, United States

About the Job

We are partnered with a fast-growing, multi-brand local media company on the search for its Head of Product Design. The company operates beloved city publications and digital properties across several U.S. markets, along with email newsletters, events listings, ticketing, and podcasts, and is expanding into new markets.

This is a hands-on leadership role. The Head of Product Design will own end-to-end user experience (UX) and visual design direction across the company's digital properties: websites, email/marketing templates, and future mobile app work. This leader sets design vision and standards for a multi-brand, multi-market publisher while staying close enough to the work to design a page template, refine an email system, or prototype a mobile concept personally.

The role partners with editorial, membership, advertising, and product leaders to ensure design serves both readers and the business, works directly with engineering to ship designs, and engages at the C-suite level to establish design as a company-wide priority.

The Mandate

This organization is clear about what it is—and is not—seeking.

They are not looking for a design manager who directs from a distance, or a visual stylist who hands off mockups and moves on.

They are seeking a technical design leader: someone who can build a cohesive design language across multiple brands while preserving each publication's voice, stand up the design system that lets a small team ship consistent work, and partner with engineers through the implementation constraints that get designs into production.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and own the UX/visual design vision for the company's digital properties, building a cohesive design language that flexes across brands while preserving each publication's voice
• Own end-to-end website design, including information architecture, interaction, visual design, and responsive behavior, from concept to shipped experience
• Design and maintain the system for email templates and marketing formats (newsletters, membership, ticketing, promotions), ensuring consistency and deliverability across markets
• Lead early-stage design exploration for future mobile app initiatives, from concept through user testing
• Build and maintain a scalable design system and component library so a small team can ship consistent, on-brand work across properties
• Partner with engineering to translate designs into shipped product, and with product, editorial, membership, and advertising leaders to align design with business goals like growth, conversion, and retention
• Conduct or commission user research and usability testing to validate and iterate on design decisions
• Establish and maintain accessibility, usability, and brand standards across all digital touchpoints
• Build the case for growing a design function over time, then hire, mentor, and manage that team as it is approved

Ideal Profile

• 7+ years of UX/product design experience, including owning end-to-end design for a consumer-facing product at scale
• A strong portfolio spanning web and email/marketing design, ideally with early-stage mobile app work
• Experience building or evolving a design system used across multiple products or brands
• Experience partnering directly with engineers from concept to shipped product, with fluency in implementation constraints
• Strong communication skills, including presenting and defending design…