VERSANT (Nasdaq: VSNT) is an industry-changing media and entertainment business and home to trusted brands that shape culture, inform audiences, and build lasting connections. It operates across four core markets: political news and opinion, business news and personal finance, golf, and sports and genre entertainment. These markets are served through a powerful portfolio of iconic and innovative brands, including CNBC, MS NOW, USA Network, Golf Channel, Oxygen, E!, SYFY, and Versant's sports division USA Sports, along with complementary digital assets including Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow and GolfPass. We are looking for an experienced Product Design Director to help build the future of CNBC's digital products. This is an exciting time to be joining the product and technology team at Versant Media as we re-imagine CNBC’s digital experience for the future. CNBC has a large, affluent and influential audience, with deep brand resonance among retail investors. The opportunity is to translate that audience relationship into digital products and experiences that deliver greater value to consumers and support CNBC’s growth, including its subscription business. As Product Design Director, you will lead the design strategy and execution for CNBC’s digital products across web, mobile apps and OTT. You will work closely with product, technology, editorial, marketing and other cross-functional partners to understand customer needs, identify opportunities and create experiences that are useful, intuitive and distinctly CNBC.You will lead and develop a team of product designers and play a key role in establishing a high bar for product design across the organization. You will help the team balance customer needs, business objectives, editorial requirements and technical possibilities, while bringing strong product judgment and design taste to the products we build. This role is particularly well suited to someone with experience designing products for retail investors, fintech, financial information. Media experience a plus. A strong understanding of how investors consume financial news, research markets, discover investment ideas and use tools to make decisions is highly valuable. Experience designing AI-powered, personalized or data-rich products is also highly desired.
Key responsibilities:- Lead the end-to-end product design strategy for CNBC’s digital products across web, mobile apps and OTTPartner with the product leadership and cross-functional stakeholders to translate CNBC’s product strategy into compelling customer experiences
- Lead and mentor a team of product designers, establishing clear expectations for quality, collaboration and professional growth
- Work closely with product managers to identify customer problems, explore solutions and validate concepts through research, testing and data
- Ensure design decisions are grounded in a deep understanding of CNBC customers, particularly retail investors and other financially engaged audiences
- Translate complex financial information, editorial content, data and tools into clear, intuitive and useful experiences
- Establish and evolve scalable design systems and patterns across CNBC’s digital products while maintaining a distinctive CNBC brand experience
- Partner closely with technology to ensure designs are technically feasible, scalable and implemented to a high standard
- Ensure design work balances customer understanding, product judgment, visual quality and the art of the possible
- Help shape experiences that increase engagement, retention and the value customers derive from CNBC, including subscription experiences
- Explore opportunities for personalization, recommendations, alerts, AI-powered tools and other emerging capabilities
- Help transform how the product and design organization works by incorporating AI into research, ideation, prototyping, documentation and other design workflows
- Advocate for accessibility, responsive design and consistent cross-platform experiences
- Present design strategy, concepts and recommendations clearly to senior executives and cross-functional stakeholders
- At CNBC Headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, NJ, you’ll have access to great perks and amenities:
- Sweat it out-- Free onsite fitness center with state-of-the-art equipment, plus daily group classes
- Eat up-- Gourmet cafeteria with daily specials plus soup and salad bars
- Extras-- Dry cleaning
Don’t have a car? No problem! We offer free shuttle transportation to and from multiple locations in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Hoboken and Jersey CityThis position is eligible for company sponsored benefits, including medical, dental and vision insurance, 401(k), paid leave, and a variety of other discounts and perks.
Salary range: $180,000-$220,000.
Required Qualifications:- 7+ years of experience in product design, with significant experience leading product designers or a design organization
- Proven experience designing and launching digital products used at significant scale
- Strong experience across web and mobile products, with experience in OTT or other digital platforms a plus
- Demonstrated ability to lead product design from discovery and concept development through launch and iteration
- Strong understanding of customer-centered design, user research, usability testing and product discovery
- Demonstrated ability to hire, coach and develop product designers and build high-performing design teams
- Strong product judgment and design taste, with the ability to balance customer needs, business objectives and technical constraints
- Experience designing for retail investors, financial services, fintech, or financial information
- Understanding of the needs and behaviors of retail investors, including how they consume financial news, research companies and markets, monitor investments and discover actionable information
- Experience designing complex, data-rich or personalized digital products
- Experience with AI-powered product experiences and/or incorporating AI into design and product development workflows
- Strong communication and presentation skills, including the ability to articulate design rationale and influence senior stakeholders
Desired Qualifications:- Experience with subscription products or other consumer digital businesses with a direct relationship with customers
- Experience designing products that combine content, data, tools and services
- Experience with personalization, recommendations, alerts or other systems that tailor experiences to individual users
- Experience designing AI-powered experiences, including conversational interfaces, summarization, recommendations or insights
- Experience establishing and scaling design systems across multiple platforms
- Experience working in an Agile, product-led or cross-functional product organization
- Media experience a plus
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience
Additional Requirements: Must have unrestricted work authorization to work in the United States
Hybrid:
This position has been designated as hybrid, generally contributing from the office a minimum of three days per week. As part of our selection process, external candidates may be required to attend an in-person interview with a VERSANT Media employee at one of our locations prior to a hiring decision. VERSANT Media's policy is to provide equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, gender identity or expression, age, national origin or ancestry, citizenship, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy, veteran status, membership in the uniformed services, genetic information, or any other basis protected by applicable law. If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran and require support throughout the application and/or recruitment process as a result of your disability, you have the right to request a reasonable accommodation. You can submit your request to candidateaccessibility@versantmedia.com.VERSANT Media is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. We include a good faith pay range for each position to comply with applicable state and local pay transparency laws and to promote equity across our organization. Actual compensation will be based on factors such as the candidate's skills, qualifications, experience, and location and may include additional forms of compensation and benefits such as health insurance, retirement plans, paid time off, etc.
