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 looking for a product designer to support the experience of our core product, which encompasses how users discover and consume content across all our platforms. The ideal candidate is also able to help drive the future vision of our products, through world-class designs that add value to both our business and to our users.
As a Product Designer on the Core team, you will be counted on to help lead new projects and initiatives related to our core offering. 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.
- Work closely with engineers and PMs 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 sports apps, sports media, and news related products.
- Actively contribute to The Athletic’s Design System.
Requirements
- Demonstrable expertise in designing shipped product experiences across both web and native mobile applications.
- Strong Visual and Interaction Design skills, as exemplified in an online portfolio or presentation.
- Subject matter expertise related to sports and/or media. You have a strong understanding of what makes a great sports and/or media 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 collaborating with engineers, product managers, other XFN partners, and stakeholders with a high standard of quality and professionalism.
- Ability to manage your time effectively, sometimes across several projects.
- Expert Figma skills and knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite.
- Hands-on experience using AI to develop concepts and live experiences.
- Experience with prototyping and animation as a means to explore and convey design solutions.
- 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.
We are excited to learn more about you and your experience. To keep our hiring process as fair and authentic as possible, we ask that you submit your own work and not use GenAI tools to generate substantive content during the application and interview process. If you are a candidate for a technical role, we will let you know what specific tools you are permitted to use for your technical assessment.
Skills Required
- Demonstrable expertise designing shipped product experiences across web and native mobile
- Strong visual and interaction design skills demonstrated in an online portfolio
- Subject matter expertise related to sports and/or media
- Experience working with other designers and giving/receiving design feedback
- Experience collaborating with engineers, product managers, and cross-functional partners
- Ability to manage time effectively across multiple projects
- Expert Figma skills
- Knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite
- Hands-on experience using AI to develop concepts and live experiences
- Experience with prototyping and animation to explore and convey design solutions
- Enthusiasm for multidisciplinary design studios and collaborative design processes
What We Do
Here for every sports story that matters. -- The Athletic (http://theathletic.com) is a subscription-based media publisher of smarter sports coverage for die-hard fans. Founded in 2016, The Athletic’s all-star team of writers have produced thousands of quality stories for subscribers free of ads, pop-ups and auto-play videos. The Athletic now offers in-depth local coverage in 47 North American pro sports markets along with premium national coverage across MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, NCAA & more. Readers can count on original, authentic storytelling written by talented local and national sports journalists like Ken Rosenthal, Pierre LeBrun, Seth Davis, Stewart Mandel, Shams Charania and many more. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, CA.
