Director, Product Design User Interface

The Washington Post•Washington, DC

6d•$159,100 - $265,100•Onsite

About The Position

The Washington Post is seeking a senior craft leader to lead the visual and interaction design of its digital products across web, mobile apps, and emerging platforms. This role owns the design language, component systems, interaction patterns, and quality standards that shape the reader experience, and translates product and design strategy into consistently excellent execution. Working closely with Product, Engineering, Content Design, newsroom partners, and the broader Product Design organization, the Director will develop scalable systems that help teams design and build experiences more efficiently. The position is based in Washington, D.C., and is distinct from the broader Product Design leader, who owns the Product Design organization and cross-company design alignment.

Requirements

Significant experience in product design, UI design, interaction design, or a related discipline, with deep expertise designing high-quality digital product experiences.
Demonstrated experience defining or evolving visual design languages, interaction patterns, component systems, or large-scale design systems.
Strong visual and interaction-design craft, including expertise in typography, layout, hierarchy, interaction, motion, responsive design, and component-based interfaces.
Experience designing across multiple digital surfaces, including web and mobile applications.
Experience leading the development, adoption, or governance of reusable design systems in partnership with Engineering.
Ability to provide design direction, critique complex product experiences, and raise work quality from concept through launch.
Experience partnering closely with Product Management and Engineering to translate product strategy and user needs into scalable, technically feasible product experiences.
Strong understanding of accessibility and its application to interface and design-system decisions.
Experience mentoring and developing designers and strengthening design craft across teams.
Ability to influence quality and execution across multidisciplinary teams as a senior craft leader.
Strong communication, collaboration, and presentation skills, including the ability to explain design decisions and standards to design, product, engineering, editorial, and senior stakeholders.
Ability to identify inconsistencies and systemic design problems and translate them into reusable patterns, standards, and scalable solutions.
Familiarity with modern product-design and prototyping tools and emerging AI-enabled design or development workflows, with sound judgment about their use.

Responsibilities

Define and evolve The Post’s UI design language across web, mobile apps, and emerging product surfaces.
Establish a high-quality bar for visual design, interaction design, motion, and interface craft.
Lead development, adoption, and governance of a scalable design system in partnership with Engineering.
Establish reusable components, interaction patterns, and standards to help teams build cohesive product experiences consistently and efficiently.
Review major product experiences from early concepts through launch and provide craft direction and feedback.
Partner with Product Management to translate product strategy and customer needs into intuitive, distinctive interfaces.
Partner with Engineering to ensure the design system is practical to implement, accessible, scalable, and adaptable.
Work with Content Design and newsroom partners to ensure interfaces reflect the quality, authority, and distinctiveness of The Post’s journalism.
Mentor and develop designers and strengthen visual and interaction-design craft across the organization.
Identify opportunities to simplify inconsistent experiences, reduce duplicate design and development work, and improve cohesion across the product ecosystem.
Stay current on interface-design practices, platforms, and tools, including AI-enabled workflows, and assess where they can improve quality and speed.