With over 100 million passionate visitors a month, Red Ventures Media & Commerce brands comprise some of the world’s leading brands like CNET, Metacritic, ZDNet, GameSpot and more. We are looking for an experienced and visionary Visual Design Director to lead designers and artists and be a driving force in elevating world-class content through magnificent visual storytelling. This role would report to the VP of Design and calls for a highly organized and driven leader who enjoys operating as a player/coach - inspiring others through bold creative visions and implementing processes to uplevel quality and evolve teams by defining high standards and practices. You will be responsible for building, leading, and mentoring a high-performing team of skilled creatives.

What You'll Do:

• Lead the visual design team (approx 5+) across our Media and Commerce vertical in employing diverse styles/treatments (illustration, compositions, mixed media, animation, data viz) to produce engrossing editorial design, story art, social graphics, maps, charts, explainers and brand marketing material for brands like CNET, Metacritic, Gamespot, ZDNet and more.
  
  • Examples:
    • Surprising history of credit cards
    • Black holes dark matter debate
    • How Russia crumbled online freedoms
    • Deepfake election threats
    • Welcome to Mars package
    • Nuclear power climate solution
• Operate in a player/coach role; lead by example by producing bold creative designs that push the creative envelope as well as motivating designers to deliver their best work, setting a high bar for performance. Coordinate and manage freelancers and ensure effective project and resource management.
  
• Lead collaborative brainstorming, concept development and creative execution with writers, designers, animators, engineers and social media managers to take complex topics (i.e. - cyber security, climate change, politics, finance, etc) and turn them into powerful visual stories, accessible to broad audiences.
• Recruit, develop, challenge and manage performance of a team of designers working across multiple projects. Build a formidable team organized around strengths, velocity and impact. Actively promote employee growth paths and talent retention.
• Regularly connect with the VP of Design to ensure concepts are aligned with strategies and deliver on goals. Participate in business strategy conversations and advocate for creative solutions that drive value.
• Build strong relationships with Business, Editorial, Design and Marketing leaders to create and iterate world-class features and stories - employing a deep knowledge of design methodology and best practices to ensure you and your team apply suitable aesthetics and techniques that suit the tone, content and context of the project.
• Ensure concepts are platform-optimized to take advantage of a multi-platform strategy to engage audiences wherever they are - Website, Apple News, IGTV, Google stories, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, etc.
• Mentor direct reports through clear and usable design feedback. Elevate work through coaching and design critiques: share your insights and experience in 1:1 and team sessions. Nurture areas of development.
• Provide visibility and accountability for your team’s work. Manage requests from other teams - work with them to manage scope, prioritization and timelines. Present work to stakeholders and partners, explaining the creative process and how concepts align with business goals and customer needs.

What We're Looking For:

• 5+ yrs design leadership and management experience (local and remote) with a focus in editorial design and visual design (ideally from major media publishers). You enjoy managing designers and love to lead through encouragement and example. Experience working with cross-functional teams.
  
• An avid evangelist of storytelling exemplified through a strong visual portfolio that demonstrates command of storytelling, graphic design, colour theory, typography, illustration and conceptual thinking. Great attention to detail and a master at fundamentals of design.
• A gifted storyteller:  You are someone who can quickly and astutely determine the core angle of a brief and apply excellent conceptual skills, audience insights, and content judgement to determine what aspects of the story to focus on with a fresh creative angle.
• An Innovator: You have your finger on the pulse of noteworthy publishers & creatives and with great understanding of modern web’s limits and capabilities, seek to push the envelope for how to entice and reward audiences through rich innovative narratives on site and social.
• Proficient with standard creative and project management tools: Adobe Creative Suite, Figma, Asana.
• An inclusive leader who believes in building an environment where everyone belongs and you create teams that are highly engaged and galvanized around common goals.
• Experience managing and developing local and remote talent; You love coaching and mentoring designers and can decisively assign the right talent profile to the right project.
• Great communicator and positive attitude who can present bold visions to cross-functional teams and stakeholders with credibility, clarity, and confidence while nurturing a culture of trust and collaboration.
• Experience leading workshops and facilitating collaboration and iteration within a team environment (local and remote). Thrives under pressure in a busy, often quickly changing environment of breaking news.