Lead Thumbnail Designer

A Impact Media; Rio de Janeiro; Teletrabalho; BRL 226.000 - 357.000; Tempo integral

Resumo da oferta

A leading media company is seeking a Lead Thumbnail Designer to build and develop a team of designers, focusing on high-quality thumbnail creation for real estate leaders. This player-coach role involves significant leadership while still engaging in creative design work. The ideal candidate has over 6 years of design experience, with a strong emphasis on mentoring and team performance. This position is fully remote, allowing for flexible work arrangements, and emphasizes a culture of accountability and excellence.

Serviços

Medical, Vision, Dental Benefits

Flexible PTO policy

Leadership development program

Qualificações

• 6+ years of professional design experience.
• 2+ years managing creative teams.
• Proven track record scaling design teams.

Responsabilidades

• Manage a team of thumbnail designers.
• Lead bi-weekly team design reviews.
• Design high-impact thumbnails for clients.

Conhecimentos

Team Development

Design Leadership

Creative Excellence

Project Management

Communication Skills

A/B Testing

Formação académica

Bachelor's in Design or relevant field

Ferramentas

Photoshop

Illustrator

Figma

Descrição da oferta de emprego

LEAD THUMBNAIL DESIGNER | REMOTE

To Apply: https://righteous-chestnut-b59.notion.site/2a1353fd5db581a2a72ef5a9d4919a8b?pvs=105

ROLE:

As the Lead Thumbnail Designer at Knwn Local, you'll build and develop a team of 5-10+ thumbnail designers who create scroll-stopping visuals that drive channel growth for America's top real estate leaders. This is a player-coach leadership role where you'll spend 60-80% of your time managing, mentoring, and building systems, and 20-40% hands-on designing complex projects.

You'll own design quality standards, team development, and creative operations across the agency, partnering closely with Pod Managers, Creative Director, and leadership on strategic initiatives. Your success is measured not by how many thumbnails you design, but by how well your team performs, grows, and delivers results that drive client success.

This role is perfect for someone who loves developing designers as much as designing itself - someone who gets energized by building systems, coaching talent, and multiplying impact through others. If you want to stay purely hands-on without management responsibilities, this isn't the right fit.

Apply now: https://righteous-chestnut-b59.notion.site/2a1353fd5db581a2a72ef5a9d4919a8b?pvs=105

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Team Leadership & Development (50-70% of role)

• Directly manage 5-8 thumbnail designers conducting weekly 1-on-1s focused on skill development and performance
• Lead bi-weekly team design reviews with constructive feedback and best practice sharing
• Build comprehensive onboarding programs and training materials for new designer hires
• Create career development pathways with clear promotion criteria for design team members
• Conduct performance reviews and manage accountability through the Clarify Instrument Coach Decide framework
• Handle hiring (writing JDs, screening portfolios, conducting interviews, making offers)
• Build 2-5+ year relationships with designers through proactive retention and engagement strategies
• Conduct skip-level meetings with junior designers to assess team health and identify early warning signs

Creative Excellence & Standards (20-30% of role)

• Design 15-30 high-impact thumbnails per month for VIP clients and complex projects
• Own and evolve agency-wide creative quality standards, brand guidelines, and style guides
• Establish QA processes that maintain 90%+ first-approval rate across all designers
• Lead A/B testing strategy and performance analysis across the entire client portfolio
• Serve as final creative approval for all thumbnails before client delivery
• Drive creative innovation through monthly experimentation initiatives and "Good Flops"
• Create and maintain design team's template library and asset management systems

Strategic Collaboration & Systems (10-20% of role)

• Partner with Pod Managers on client strategy and creative direction for key accounts
• Present creative strategy and performance insights in Monthly Client Strategy Calls with clients
• Collaborate with executive leadership on agency-wide creative vision and initiatives
• Build scalable workflows, capacity planning, and resource allocation systems
• Create performance dashboards tracking team metrics (CTR, approval rates, turnaround times)
• Document best practices, SOPs, and knowledge base for the design function
• Contribute to quarterly planning, annual strategy summits, and company OKRs

REQUIREMENTS:

Leadership & Design Experience

• 6+ years of professional design experience with 2+ years managing creative teams
• Proven track record leading, developing, and scaling design teams of 5+ people
• Minimum 3+ years creating high-performing YouTube thumbnails with proven CTR results
• Experience hiring designers, conducting performance reviews, and managing accountability
• Portfolio showcasing thumbnails that contributed to channel growth (include CTR data)
• Comfortable with difficult conversations (performance issues, firing, conflict resolution)

Technical & Strategic Skills

• Expert-level proficiency in Photoshop, Illustrator, and Figma (portfolio required)
• Deep understanding of YouTube algorithms, CTR optimization, and viewer psychology
• Data-driven approach with ability to interpret analytics and translate into design strategy
• Experience with A/B testing methodologies, performance analysis, and optimization
• Strong presentation skills for client-facing strategy calls and executive meetings
• Understanding of creative team economics (capacity planning, resourcing, budgeting)

Communication & Cultural Leadership

• Exceptional written and verbal communication for feedback, presentations, and documentation
• Demonstrated ability to give feedback that accelerates growth and elevates work quality
• Extreme Ownership - Takes full accountability for team results; never blames or makes excuses
• Beyond Excellence - Sets impossibly high standards and inspires team to exceed them
• Proactive Curiosity - Anticipates problems, asks better questions, and stays ahead of needs
• Mission Focus - Obsesses about client success and team development over personal recognition

RESULTS:

Team Performance

• Your design team consistently maintains 90%+ first-approval rate across all designers
• Designer retention rate exceeds 85% annually with clear development and career progression
• New designers productive at 80% capacity within 30-60 days through your training systems
• 100% of direct reports show measurable skill improvement quarter-over-quarter
• Team operates at 80-90% capacity utilization - productive output without burnout

Quality & Impact

• Zero client escalations due to design quality issues or missed deadlines from your team
• Agency-wide thumbnail CTR averages 5-10% (significantly above platform benchmarks)
• 95%+ on-time delivery rate across your entire team's project portfolio
• Design workflows, templates, and style guides documented and adopted agency-wide
• Your team generates innovative thumbnail strategies that drive agency-wide adoption

Strategic Leadership

• Design function viewed as strategic partner by Pod Managers and leadership
• Successfully contribute to client strategy with design insights that drive performance
• Client satisfaction scores remain >4.5/5 for design quality and communication
• At least 1-2 designers promoted or advancement-ready annually due to your mentorship
• Leadership views design as a strategic differentiator, not just an execution function

COMPENSATION & GROWTH:

Salary & Benefits

• Starting Range: $##,000 - $##,000 USD/year depending on experience and team size managed
• Medical, Vision, Dental Benefits (employer-subsidized, starts after 60-90 day trial)
• Flexible PTO policy, professional development budget, home office stipend
• Leadership development program, quarterly team offsites, and annual strategy summit

Growth Path

• Current Role: Lead Thumbnail Designer (managing 5-8 designers, 60-70% leadership)
• Next Step (18-24 months): Creative Director (full design function, brand, all creative output)
• Future Opportunity (36-48 months): VP of Creative or functional leadership with P&L ownership

Performance Metrics You'll Own

• Team Performance: Design Quality Score, First-Approval Rate (90%+), CTR performance
• Team Development: Skill progression, promotion readiness, retention rate (85%+)
• Operational Excellence: Capacity utilization (80-90%), on-time delivery (95%+)
• Strategic Impact: Innovation initiatives, process improvements, client satisfaction (>4.5/5)

LOCATION:

• 100% Remote (work from anywhere in the United States)
• Occasional travel for quarterly team offsites and annual strategy summit (2-4x/year)

WHO WE ARE:

Knwn Local helps America's top real estate leaders (ranked by Wall Street Journal Real Trends) attract more clients and grow their brands through strategic YouTube presence. Our clients manage $30M-$300M+ real estate teams and brokerages.

We're scaling from 55+ to 200+ channels with the mission of helping agents dominate their local markets through long-form video content that builds trust and authority.

Our Core Values: Extreme Ownership, Beyond Excellence, Proactive Curiosity, Mission Focus

YOU'LL THRIVE HERE IF YOU:

• Want to build a world-class design team and leave a lasting legacy
• See leadership as multiplication (impact through others) not addition (personal output)
• Get energized by developing talent and watching designers grow beyond your abilities
• Can balance hands-on creative excellence with strategic systems thinking
• Thrive in fast-paced, high-growth environments where you build the plane while flying it
• Want to be measured on results, not hours, and value autonomy with accountability

YOU WON'T FIT IF YOU:

• Prefer being a solo IC without management or leadership responsibilities
• Want to manage teams but avoid hands-on creative work (this is player-coach)
• Need extensive direction or struggle with ambiguity and rapidly changing priorities
• Avoid difficult conversations or can't deliver direct feedback without sugarcoating
• Expect stability without growth challenges in an early-stage, scaling environment
• Value title and recognition over team development and client success

MAKE SURE YOU'RE COMFORTABLE WITH:

• Remote team leadership (building culture and managing performance without in-person oversight)
• Rigorous hiring process including portfolio review, leadership case study, design test, and interviews
• 90-day paid trial period with clear success metrics and transparent evaluation
• Player-coach expectations (10-30% IC work even as you grow the team)
• High-growth environment (processes evolve, priorities shift, resilience required)
• Accountability culture (measured on results with clear metrics and transparent feedback)

TO APPLY:

If you're ready to build a world-class design team and multiply your creative impact 10x by developing others, please submit: https://righteous-chestnut-b59.notion.site/2a1353fd5db581a2a72ef5a9d4919a8b?pvs=105

FYI we primarily look at those who apply using the above site

Pay 42k - 66k+ USD a year