VP - Product Design

This is a Full Time Job

Position Summary
We are hiring a VP, Product Design of the Digital and Direct-to-Consumer business for Magnolia, a joint venture partnership between Discovery, Inc. and Chip and Jo Gaines. This VP of Product Design will shape the design vision and strategy while driving the execution of our customer facing products that engage, delight and resonate with fans of Magnolia. This VP of Product Design will bring the Magnolia vision to life for customers, placing customers at the core of their decision making. They will combine the inspiration of the Magnolia brand with data-driven decision making to drive compelling experiences that delight customers and increase engagement. They will design products that solve practical problems for customers, inspire customers, and improve their everyday lives.

This role will lead the design function of new digital and direct-to-consumer products for Magnolia. You will thrive in a customer focused, customer obsessed environment using research & data to design experiences people love.

JOB PURPOSE:
Discovery Digital is seeking an experienced VP of Product Design, a leader responsible for driving innovative and groundbreaking user experiences across our core, platforms, products and services. As VP, Product Design you will guide the Design & Product Teams to collaborate with fellow members of the Product, Engineering, Data, Business and Marketing Teams to conceptualize, design and develop vision and product roadmaps into usable, useful and delightful products and experiences. The VP of Product Design reports directly to the SVP & GM of Magnolia - DTC to inspire members of your team and colleagues to develop and deliver award-winning products, interfaces and experiences people love and engage with every day.

Responsibilities

1. Domain Expertise: UX- leaning product design leader who can also translate creative direction for application to digital/ DTC experiences
• Create valuable experiences that are delightful to engage with and are incredibly easy-to-use.
• Design flows and interactions that are simple and elegant across various platforms (web, mobile apps, connected TV, voice), leveraging customer insights, data and user research.
• Think systematically; streamline interaction patterns across the product yet optimize for each platform. Think at a high level about creative strategy and vision. Not just how it should look, but what should be built.
• Optimize the customer experiences in the face of technical constraints.
2. Collaborate & Partner: Be a highly respected senior partner and thought leader, working skillfully across teams (Magnolia, Magnolia JV and Discovery) and functions (product, engineering, data science, content, marketing, legal and others) to deliver world-class digital and direct to consumer product experiences
• Mature leader who is able to work cross functionally and collaboratively, understanding how to read an audience and when to ‘push and pull’.
• Able to understand and navigate unique political dynamics
3. Product Design Visionary: Establish a customer-centric product design vision for Magnolia digital and DTC products with the Magnolia leadership team that meets key customer needs and delivers compelling experiences. Build trust and inspire teams to align around a common vision that delivers on long-term product and business strategy.
• Must share Chip & Joanna’s vision and be excited to bring it to life; high customer empathy
• Great storyteller, able to take complex topics unknown to the viewer/reader and break it down in an understandable way
• Outstanding ability to champion design work to multiple audiences (executive, talent, engineering, marketing, content, etc)
4. Leadership: Set direction for the product design team, evangelizing a clear vision for success and guide teams to impact. Attract, develop, and motivate an expert team of product design managers, helping them enhance their skills and grow their careers. Build an innovative and disciplined team culture that builds trust, encourages collaborations, maintains strong accountability, delivers results, increases employee engagement, and has fun.
• Experience building teams from scratch
• Experience attracting and retaining high caliber talent
5. Build for Scale: Create and deliver solutions, processes and mechanisms to build for scale and ensure product design meets customer needs.
• Hands on and scrappy but also able to create process and structure

Requirements

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
* 10 years of experience as Design Leader and/or Sr. Product Designer within a large-scale consumer facing organization, agency or multi-platform product company.
* 5 years experience designing multi-platform apps and connected product experiences.
* BA Degree or higher in Product Design, Interactive Design, User Centric Design, HCI or Cognitive Psychology (OR) combined work experience with human factors training.
* Experience designing 10ft, VUI, Connected and Multi-Modal Product Design Systems required.
* Deep knowledge and experience in Mobile, Living Room & Connected Product Environments
* Expertise in Sketch, InVision Tools, Adobe Suite and rapid prototyping are required.
* Working experience with Principal, Story, and Atomic Design methods are important.
* Knowledge of emerging trends for digital products and cross-platform customer integrations.
* Experience managing high performance teams of 10 or more designers across internal and external teams – both direct and dotted line reports.
* Hands on experience with variety of user research techniques including user testing, personas, user tasks and scenarios, internal and external user interviews.
* Education in Interaction Design, HCI, UX Architecture, and/or Product Design required.

DESIRED CHARACTERISTICS
* Hands on team player that can work easily with multiple stakeholders including Design, Product, Engineering, Data & Research, Project Management, Marketing, Business and Sales.
* Experience working in a fast-paced environment with multiple projects and deadlines.
* Capable of leading Design Thinking & Design Sprint sessions to ensure that customer centered with clear vision is implemented through Design Th

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