Director of Design

WEBTOON Entertainment Inc. (Wattpad & WEBTOON Family of Brands); Toronto; Hybrid; CAD 170,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading digital storytelling company in Toronto is seeking a Director of Design to lead and elevate their design organization. This role involves setting a clear design vision, mentoring design teams, and ensuring design influences product direction. Candidates should have proven experience in leading design teams and a strong understanding of user-centered design principles. This position offers a competitive salary of CAD $170,000 – $210,000 per year along with a comprehensive suite of benefits.

Benefits

Career development and mentorship

Top industry health benefits

Generous vacation

Work from almost anywhere

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading and scaling design teams in a product driven organization.
• Strong design point of view with the ability to set direction and make hard trade-offs.
• Ability to move fluidly between strategy and hands‑on execution.

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor a team of product designers and user researchers.
• Define and evolve a clear design vision aligned to product strategy.
• Actively contribute to high-impact initiatives.

Skills

Team leadership

Design strategy

User-centered design

Cross-functional collaboration

Emotional resonance in design

Job description

Wattpad’s vision is to entertain and connect the world through stories. A leading global webnovel platform, Wattpad has democratized storytelling for a new generation of diverse Gen Z writers and their fans. Wattpad is part of WEBTOON Entertainment’s IP & Creator Ecosystem, where approximately 155 million monthly active users discover incredible stories in multiple formats. Come build the future of entertainment and storytelling with our global team, and write your next chapter with us!

Wattpad is part of the WEBTOON Entertainment family of brands, home to some of the world's largest storytelling. With approximately 155 million monthly active users, WEBTOON Entertainment’s IP & Creator Ecosystem of aligned brands and platforms include WEBTOON, Wattpad—the world’s leading webnovel platform—WEBTOON Productions, Studio N, Studio LICO, WEBTOON Unscrolled, LINE MANGA, and eBookJapan, among others. To read more about our family of Brands, check out our website here.

We are looking for a Director of Design to lead, grow, and elevate our design organization. This role is responsible for setting a clear design vision and strategy across our products while coaching and developing our team of designers and researchers.

You will shape how design influences product direction by blending strategic direction with hands‑on involvement in our most critical design initiatives to deliver intuitive and emotionally resonant experiences for readers, writers, and advertisers.

Why this role matters

Design plays a critical role in how users experience our platform and how quickly they reach enjoyment and stay in flow. This role will shape not only what we build, but how we think about building it. You will help ensure that design is a driving force behind clarity, cohesion, and joy in our products.

What you’ll do: Lead and grow the design organization

• Lead, coach, and mentor a team of product designers and user researchers and provide active coaching, feedback, and skill development
• Foster a culture of strong design thinking, craft excellence, and accountability to outcomes
• Establish clear expectations for quality, clarity, and impact, while giving teams autonomy in how they get there

What you’ll do: Set the design vision and strategy

• Define and evolve a clear design vision aligned to product strategy and user needs
• Shape cohesive, intuitive experiences across the reader, writer, and ads ecosystems
• Translate ambiguous problem spaces into clear experience direction teams can confidently execute against
• Ensure design decisions ladder to user value, platform goals, and long‑term strategy

What you’ll do: Be hands‑on where it matters most

• Actively contribute to high‑impact initiatives and critical product moments
• Partner closely with product and engineering leaders during discovery, definition, and delivery
• Provide strong critique and feedback that raises the bar without prescribing solutions
• Govern and evolve the design system to ensure consistency, scalability, and accessibility
• Balance speed and craft by enabling teams to move fast without compromising quality
• Balance speed and craft, knowing when to push for exploration and when to drive toward execution
• Set clear standards for usability, accessibility, and visual cohesion across surfaces

What you’ll do: Champion user‑centred practices

• Champion the user perspective by ensuring user goals are never abstract or assumed
• Partner with product and research to ensure insights meaningfully shape product direction
• Manage and support the user research team, ensuring research is actionable and strategic
• Use evidence, data, and research to influence decisions and challenge assumptions

What you’ll do: Collaborate and influence across the organization

• Partner closely with Product, Engineering, Content, Trust and Safety, and Ads to align on experience outcomes and tradeoffs
• Influence product direction through clear design narratives, not just artifacts
• Facilitate design critiques, workshops, and working sessions that move teams toward clarity and alignment
• Drive alignment on priorities, tradeoffs, and outcomes through strong design storytelling
• Advocate for the role of design as a strategic partner, not a downstream function
• Help the organization understand how great design drives engagement, trust, and growth

Required Qualifications

• Proven experience leading and scaling design teams in a product driven organization
• Strong design point of view with the ability to set direction and make hard tradeoffs
• Deep experience shaping end-to-end product experiences across multiple surfaces
• Ability to move fluidly between strategy and hands‑on execution
• Track record of influencing product direction through design narrative and user insight
• Strong cross functional collaborator who can partner effectively with senior leaders
• Passion for designing for real human needs, delight, and emotional resonance

$170,000 – $210,000 a year (CAD)

Please note, the above range is listed in CAD. This position qualifies for the full suite of benefits.

What we offer (For Full‑Time Only)

• Career development; we believe in mentorship and investing in your learning, supporting you to achieve your goals
• Top industry health benefits, including vision and dental
• Your own health/wellness account to spend each year
• RRSP Contributions (Canada), 401K Contributions (USA)
• Generous vacation and Maternity/Parental leave top‑up program
• Corporate discount for gym memberships for you and your family
• Work from almost anywhere in the world for part of the year
• Winter break shutdown and a whole lot more!

Wattpad is conducting all interviews in a distributed manner using applicable third party software where needed and using visual interface tools such as Google Meet and Zoom.

About Wattpad

Who are we?

Entrepreneurs and Do‑ers. Our vision is to entertain and connect the world through stories, and our mission is to use the power of community and technology to unleash the full potential of stories to the world.

What does that mean?

We are visionaries, community builders, passionate problem solvers, storytellers, coffee snobs (tea drinkers, too!), curious by nature, and culturally diverse.

What are we obsessed with?

Our users. Solving complex problems and maximizing flow. Learning constantly. Building the next great storytelling product. Finding the greatest stories ever told. Dogs (and cats), coffee, and good snacks.

How do we work?

Autonomously, collaboratively, respectfully. Balancing with work, family, and play...and all while having a great time.

Wattpad is a remote friendly company and encourages remote candidates to apply as long as they are located and authorized to work in either the US or Canada (excluding Quebec) as a precondition of employment. We are not able to sponsor applicants for work permits.

Unlock the best of both worlds with a remote role that keeps you connected! We're looking for passionate individuals in the Greater Toronto Area to join our team. While you'll enjoy the flexibility of working from home, you can take advantage of periodically coming to our vibrant downtown Toronto office to connect with colleagues, collaborate on exciting projects, and take part in company events. This is your opportunity to be a part of our thriving workplace culture.

Culture and Diversity

Wattpad is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate. Period.

Wattpad welcomes and encourages applications from people with disabilities. Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process. We have taken a leadership position on creating a culture and an organization that truly values diversity. We are committed to fostering a global team that reflects the diversity of the Wattpad community. At Wattpad, we believe cultural fit doesn’t mean culturally identical, and diversity of thought helps us to challenge one another to think big and think differently. We consider employment applicants without regard to age, race, colour, national origin, citizenship, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, veteran status, marital status, disability status or any other protected status.

If you have any special needs or accessibility requirements, please let us know. We will do our utmost to accommodate, in accordance with applicable local legislation.

Don’t meet all the requirements? Studies show women and people of colour are less likely to apply to jobs if they do not meet all the qualifications. Therefore, in an effort to build a more diverse workplace, we encourage you to apply anyways. You might actually be the right person or you may be a good fit for a number of other openings we currently have.

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