Lead Digital Designer

The Guardian; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Vacation & holidays

401(k) match

Healthcare coverage

Parental leave

Disability insurance

Life insurance

Flexible hybrid schedule

Employee assistance program

Job summary

The Guardian US is seeking a Lead Digital Designer to shape our visual storytelling and lead the US editorial design practice. You will collaborate with editors, designers and developers to define how stories are structured and experienced across platforms.

You will guide design teams on enterprise packages and breaking-news explainers, building reusable templates and workflows while maintaining high editorial standards. Hybrid work in New York supports flexible, reader-focused storytelling.

Qualifications

• At least 5 years of experience in digital design, editorial design, visual journalism or a comparable environment.
• Experience in a deadline-driven news environment.
• A strong portfolio demonstrating exceptional digital design, interactive design, editorial judgment and craft within brand guidelines.
• Experience designing intuitive user journeys for mobile and desktop.
• Advanced proficiency in Figma and the Adobe Creative Suite.
• Experience creating wireframes, prototypes, design systems and polished editorial experiences.
• Ability to balance fast-turn assignments with longer projects.
• Strong awareness of emerging visual trends in digital design.

Responsibilities

• Work with a small design team, help set priorities and foster a collaborative design culture.
• Translate complex journalism into immersive, scalable digital experiences, including interactive formats.
• Design story experiences integrating text, graphics, maps, photography and video.
• Develop wireframes, prototypes, and polished editorial treatments.
• Collaborate with developers to ensure designs are feasible, accessible, and on schedule.
• Identify opportunities to create reusable design templates and workflows across the visuals team.
• Contribute to quick-turn news coverage with clear, visually distinctive treatments on deadline.
• Help develop new editorial formats and digital storytelling approaches.

Skills

Digital design

Editorial design

Visual journalism

Figma

Adobe Creative Suite

Tools

Figma

Adobe Creative Suite

Job description

The Guardian is a global news organization that delivers fearless, independent journalism. From breaking news and award‑winning investigations to in‑depth coverage of technology, sports, film, culture, and lifestyle, the Guardian offers a global view that deepens our audiences' understanding of America and the world.

Headquartered in New York City, Guardian US is an entirely digital operation that seeks to engage US readers by combining the Guardian's international coverage with US voices and expertise. Core coverage areas include US politics, technology, the climate emergency, economic and racial inequality, health, sports, culture, and more. Guardian US launched in 2011 and has bureaus in New York, Washington DC, New Orleans, and Los Angeles. The Guardian is an independently owned, mission‑driven organization funded by readers around the globe.

We're looking for a Lead Digital Designer to help shape our visual storytelling. A hands‑on web/app/UI designer, you will lead the US editorial design practice day to day while also pushing the newsroom toward more ambitious, distinctive and reader‑focused digital experiences. This role requires strong editorial judgment, refined visual taste, a deep understanding of digital storytelling and the ability to translate complex journalism into clear, accessible and visually compelling experiences. You will work closely with editors, photo editors, designers and developers in our global newsrooms to determine how stories should be structured, designed and experienced across platforms.

You will be equally comfortable directing a designer on a major enterprise package, developing the visual system for a breaking news explainer, designing a deeply reported interactive feature, or creating reusable templates and workflows that help the newsroom move faster without sacrificing craft. You should understand how digital stories are built, how audiences encounter them on mobile and desktop, and how design, graphics, photography, video, audio, motion and interactive elements can work together to strengthen journalism. You should also have enough technical fluency to collaborate closely with developers, prototype ideas, understand product limitations and evaluate the feasibility of custom digital work.

Department: Editorial

Reports to: Creative Director, Visuals

Location: New York, NY

Hybrid/Remote/In‑Person: Hybrid

Terms and conditions: Full‑time, Permanent, News Media Guild position

Key Responsibilities

• Work with a small design team, help set priorities and foster a collaborative, engaged and ambitious design culture.
• Translate complex journalism into clear, immersive and scalable digital experiences, including visual story packages, interactives, explainers, tools, templates and experimental formats.
• Design story experiences that thoughtfully integrate text, graphics, maps, photography, illustration, video, audio, motion and interactive elements where appropriate.
• Develop wireframes, prototypes, and polished editorial treatments.
• Collaborate with developers to ensure designs are technically feasible, effective, accessible and achievable within project timelines.
• Identify opportunities to improve reusable design treatments, templates, workflows and production processes across the visuals team.
• Contribute to quick‑turn news coverage by developing clear, effective and visually distinctive treatments on deadline.
• Help develop new editorial formats and digital storytelling approaches that can reach audiences in fresh and useful ways.
• Collaborate with and cultivate relationships with illustrators, artists, designers and other contributors from concept through final execution.
• Apply and evolve our design guidelines across daily news and feature stories, with sound judgment about story priority and the broader news agenda.

Basic Qualifications

• At least 5 years of experience in digital design, editorial design, visual journalism or a comparable creative environment.
• Experience working in news or a similarly deadline‑driven editorial environment.
• A strong portfolio demonstrating exceptional digital design, interactive design, editorial judgment and visual craft within brand guidelines and systems.
• Experience designing intuitive, accessible user journeys from concept through final execution, including complex templates or scalable story formats for mobile and desktop audiences.
• Advanced proficiency in Figma and the Adobe Creative Suite.
• Experience creating wireframes, prototypes, design systems and polished editorial experiences.
• Ability to balance fast‑turn assignments with more ambitious medium‑ and long‑term projects.
• Strong awareness of and curiosity about emerging visual trends in digital design.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience developing reusable templates, design systems or story formats for a newsroom.
• Experience designing election results experiences or other complex data‑driven storytelling.

Compensation and Benefits

• 25 days of vacation leave in addition to 12 company holidays
• Employee Assistance Programs
• 401(k) Match
• Subsidized healthcare coverage including medical, vision, and dental
• Medical and Dependent Flexible Spending Accounts
• Generous parental leave with 100% pay
• Long Term and Short Term Disability insurance
• Life insurance
• Work/Life balance: Flexible hybrid schedule

Sustainability

Our goal is to become an environmentally regenerative company and we have signed up to a sustainability vision and strategy to reach it. Find more information about sustainability at GNM here.

The Guardian is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of age, color, national origin, ethnic origin, citizenship status, disability, race, religion, creed, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law in its employment policies. In addition, the Guardian will provide reasonable accommodation for qualified individuals with disabilities.