Senior Product Designer - UK Football (London)

About Us

The Athletic is a subscription-based media publisher of smarter sports coverage for die-hard fans. Founded in 2016, The Athletic’s full-time writers, alongside talented contributors and freelancers, have produced thousands of in-depth articles for subscribers free of ads, pop-ups and auto-play videos. With existing coverage in 45 markets and counting across North America, The Athletic is officially expanding into the United Kingdom. Our employees are talented reporters, writers, editors, engineers, designers, marketers, brand strategists and more, who are committed to helping sports fans fall in love with the sports page again.

About the Role

Our product mission is to be the best place for sports fans. We already provide an unrivaled breadth and depth of sports coverage. We are now looking for a product designer who can help us drive the future vision of our products, with a focus on content experiences related to the Premier League, Champions League, World Cup and more. The ideal candidate will be able to construct world-class designs that add value to both our business and to our users.

As a Senior Product Designer on the UK team, you will be helping to lead new projects and initiatives showcasing our expanded global coverage of football. You’ll work closely with the product team to bring new experiences to life, while collaborating with engineers, editors and other designers on the team. There’s ample opportunity here for a designer who works well independently and is well versed in both user experience and visual design.

Responsibilities

• Create user flows, wireframes, prototypes, and production-ready design deliverables.
• Support high-level product strategy, ensuring we're asking the right questions and solving for the most important internal and external user needs.
• Lead and conduct design and user research, as necessary.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, partnering with Product Managers, Engineers, Content Operations, SEO Strategists, Product Analysts, and fellow designers to take concepts from ideation to execution.
• Experience working closely with engineers to evaluate constraints and trade offs.
• Lead design projects with input from other members of the design team to ensure design quality and consistency across the user experience.
• Understand the competitive environment and stay on top of great user experiences, especially within football apps, sports apps, and sports media.
• Actively contribute to The Athletic’s Design System.

Requirements

• 5-7 years of experience working as a designer or art director for a consumer/content driven product design experience or digital agency.
• Expertise in designing for both web and native applications.
• Strong Visual and Interaction Design skills, as exemplified in an online portfolio or presentation.
• Subject matter expertise related to football and sports apps. You have a strong understanding of what makes a great sports app, and ideas on how you could make our experience even better.
• Experience working with other designers directly on projects, and also indirectly to provide and receive feedback on work.
• Experience seeing work through with engineers and vendors with a high standard of quality and professionalism.
• Ability to manage your time effectively, sometimes across several projects.
• Expert Figma skills, knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite.
• Experience with prototyping as a means to explore and convey design solutions.
• Ability to draft micro-interactions and full scale product animations in After Effects.
• An eagerness to try new things, innovate and learn - and a willingness to learn from mistakes.
• Enthusiasm for being part of a multidisciplinary design studio and a collaborative design process.

The Company is backed by Founders Fund, Evolution Media, Courtside Ventures, Comcast Ventures, Bedrock Capital, Advancit Capital, Y Combinator, and other leading investors. The Athletic is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

The Athletic Media Company is an equal opportunity employer and enthusiastically encourages people from all backgrounds and experiences to apply. The Athletic will consider all applicants without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical and/or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, age, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law.