VP, Product Design (Remote)

Global Sports Jobs Limited; United States; Remote; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual bonus

Restricted stock

Medical, dental & vision

401(k) plan

Paid vacation & sick days

Parental leave

Tuition reimbursement

Job summary

The Athletic is redefining what a sports app is and seeks a hands-on, opinionated design leader who loves sports, reporting to the Chief Product Officer and joining the leadership team. This role is 100% remote for US or Canada-based candidates and involves direct prototyping in Figma and close collaboration with engineering, data and marketing to set the product direction.

You will lead the design organization (about 10 people), shape AI-native workflows, and ensure velocity and craft rise

Qualifications

• Seasoned design leader with hands-on craft at senior levels.
• Experience guiding design org through AI tooling changes.
• Strong opinions on sports/product design and ability to defend them.

Responsibilities

• Own ongoing strategic design vision with cross-functional leaders.
• Prototype concepts showing next-gen sports app.
• Collaborate with VP Engineering, VP Data and CPO on priorities.
• Review flows and prototype in Figma daily.
• Shape design operations for AI-native workflows and teams.
• Build and coach a design org of ~10 people.
• Work with engineering, product, data, marketing and commercial leadership.

Skills

Design leadership

Hands-on craft

AI tooling/workflows

Cross-functional leadership

Figma prototyping

Tools

Figma

Job description

About the Role

The Athletic is redefining what a sports app is and is seeking a design leader who is hands‑on, opinionated and genuinely obsessed with sports, with a clear vision for what the essential sports app becomes over the next several years. The role reports into the Chief Product Officer and forms part of The Athletic's leadership team, working alongside engineering, product, data, marketing and commercial leads. It is 100% remote for candidates based in the United States or Canada.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the process and design output behind ongoing strategic visioning with cross‑functional leadership, producing working prototypes and opinionated concepts that show what the next‑generation sports app looks like and where the biggest opportunity to lead lies.
• Bring informed, data‑backed points of view to product planning and help design shape where the product goes.
• Partner directly with the VP Engineering, the VP Data and the Chief Product Officer on the business priorities and metrics that matter, ensuring design has a seat at the table.
• Stay in the work day to day, reviewing flows, working in Figma and prototyping directly alongside the design team.
• Set the direction for how design operates in an AI‑native world, covering tools, workflows and team structure so that velocity and craft rise together.
• Build, coach and manage a design organisation of approximately 10 people, with clear accountability for what each team and person delivers.
• Work hand in hand with other leads across engineering, product, data, marketing and commercial as part of the company's leadership team, going beyond a purely design remit.

Required Experience & Qualifications

• A sports fan who uses the product, has opinions about it and lets that passion show up in the work.
• A design leader with a track record of hands‑on craft at senior levels, evidenced by recent, personal work.
• Experience leading a design organisation through a step‑change in how it works, ideally involving AI tooling and workflow, at a company shipping consumer product at scale.
• Strong, well‑argued opinions about what makes a sports product, or a comparable habit‑forming consumer product, great, along with the conviction to defend them in a room of product and engineering leaders.
• Comfort operating in ambiguity.

Preferred Skills

• Experience starting or running your own company or side project.

Workplace

100% remote for candidates based in the United States or Canada.

Requires some regular travel.

Benefits & Perks

• Dependent on role, eligibility for variable pay such as an annual bonus and restricted stock.
• Medical, dental and vision benefits.
• Flexible Spending Accounts (F.S.A.s).
• Company‑matching 401(k) plan.
• Paid vacation and paid sick days.
• Paid parental leave.
• Tuition reimbursement and professional development programmes.

The Application Process

Applicants are asked to submit their own work and not use GenAI tools to generate substantive content during the application and interview process.

1. Submit your own work, rather than content generated by GenAI tools, throughout the application and interview process.
2. Candidates for a technical role will be told which specific tools they are permitted to use for their technical assessment.