Lead Product Designer

South China Morning Post; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 115,000 - 147,000; Full time

Job summary

South China Morning Post is seeking a Lead Product Designer in Hong Kong who will stay hands-on and tackle ambiguous, cross-product challenges across news platforms, subscriptions, education, or new initiatives.

You will report to the Director of Product Design and work with product, engineering, editorial, and commercial teams to ship AI-powered experiences that are useful, trustworthy, and aligned with SCMP's brand.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of product design experience with a strong portfolio.
• Experience across media, subscription, education or similar products.
• Hands-on with AI in design and shipped products.

Responsibilities

• Lead design from concept to launch and iterate post-release.
• Frame problems clearly, prioritizing what to solve when briefs are unclear.
• Design AI-powered experiences that are useful and trustworthy.
• Leverage AI tools to speed up research, ideation, and prototyping.
• Use research and data to guide decisions and run studies.
• Collaborate with engineers to ensure feasible designs within the design system.
• Set high design quality standards and mentor other designers.
• Collaborate with stakeholders at all levels to move ideas forward.

Skills

8+ years design

Shipped digital products

AI experience in design

Cross-functional collaboration

Job description

About the Team:

At the South China Morning Post, we are redefining how the world consumes news. We aren’t just building interfaces; we are crafting intelligent, personalized, and multi-modal experiences for a global audience.

Purpose of the Position:

We’re looking for a Lead Product Designer who wants to stay hands-on. This is an individual contributor role for someone who does their best work on the hardest problems. You’ll take on the most ambiguous, cross-product challenges, often where there isn’t a clear brief yet, and help set the direction. Depending on where the business needs you most, that could be our news platforms, subscription products, education products or new initiatives. You’ll report to the Director of Product Design and work closely with product, engineering, editorial and commercial teams.

In this role, you will:

• Lead design from early ideas through to launch, and keep improving it after release
• Frame problems clearly and work out what’s worth solving, especially when things are uncertain
• Design AI-powered experiences that are genuinely useful, trustworthy and right for a news brand
• Use AI tools to speed up your own work, from research and ideation to prototyping, and share what works with the team
• Use research and data to guide decisions, and run your own studies where needed
• Work closely with engineers from early on, so designs are feasible, well-built and fit our design system
• Set a high bar for design quality, and help other designers grow along the way
• Work with stakeholders at all levels, including senior leadership, to move ideas forward

Skills and Experience that will lead to success:

• 8+ years in product design, with a strong portfolio of shipped digital products
• Experience across different types of products, such as media, subscription, education or similar
• A track record of leading complex work without a clear brief
• Hands-on experience with AI, both as a design tool and in the products you’ve shipped, plus a good sense of where it adds value and where it doesn’t
• Strong craft, clear thinking, and comfort moving between strategy and detail
• Good communication and the ability to influence without authority

Candidate with the following skill/experience will be an advantage:

• Knowledge of the Greater Bay Area market and its digital landscape
• Cantonese and/or Mandarin, spoken and written
• Experience designing bilingual or multilingual products

Work location will be at Causeway Bay office.

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