Senior Design Director (Publishing Platform)

TL;DR

Senior Design Director (Publishing Platform): Defining the design vision for hirify.global's shared publishing platform including design systems, component libraries, editorial tooling, newsletters, puzzles, and games with an accent on balancing scale and brand expression. Focus on leading craft excellence through player-coach approach, integrating AI tools into workflows, and aligning design with product, engineering, and commercial outcomes.

Location: The Adelphi, London, GB. Teams come together in the office four days a week (Monday - Thursday). 10 remote days (from home or a country with a hirify.global office location).

Company

hirify.global is a global media company producing high-quality content across brands like Vogue, Vanity Fair, GQ, The New Yorker, and Wired through print, digital, video, and social platforms.

What you will do

• Define the design vision for the Publishing Platform in collaboration with Product and Engineering, ensuring it is clear, shared, and actionable.
• Own decisions on unifying elements versus bespoke brand expressions, developing frameworks for design systems, typography, interactions, ads, and accessibility.
• Lead as a player-coach: participate in reviews, critiques, and details to set craft standards and build team capability.
• Bring technical depth in front-end technologies, design systems, performance metrics like Core Web Vitals, and align with engineering strategy.
• Lead with AI integration in design practice, prototyping, and workflows, establishing best practices proactively.
• Partner cross-functionally with Product, Engineering, Editorial, and Revenue, influencing through clarity and representing design in strategic conversations.
• Embed insights-driven approach: ground decisions in research, analytics, track outcomes, and connect to OKRs and commercial goals like subscriptions and advertising.
• Build and develop the design team: attract talent, organize structure, invest in development, and foster psychological safety.

Requirements

• Based in London, GB with office presence four days a week (Mon-Thu).
• Substantial experience leading platform-level design systems, component libraries, or publishing tooling at scale across multiple brands.
• Deep technical fluency in front-end architecture, design tokens, theming, accessibility, and performance trade-offs.
• Hands-on experience with AI tools in design practice and leadership through change.
• Sophisticated understanding of typography, narrative structure, visual storytelling, and publishing design challenges.
• Player-coach leadership: lead senior ICs, set standards through doing, manage org design in global distributed teams.
• Strategic approach to unification vs. expression in multi-brand environments, fluency in commercial aspects.
• Excellent communication to influence stakeholders and leverage OKRs for outcomes.

Nice to have

• Experience in media, publishing, or content-led consumer products.
• Experience in large global organizations with distributed teams across time zones.

Culture & Benefits

• 25 days holiday plus bank holidays, extra leave for moving house or volunteering.
• Competitive pension, Bupa Private Healthcare, season ticket loans, eye tests.
• Wellbeing support: core hours, 10 remote days, Employee Assistance Programme, gym membership, cycle to work.
• Dog-friendly office, discounts, magazine subscriptions.
• Professional growth via hirify.global Learning Hub with courses in local languages.
• Employee Resource Groups for community priorities.