Lead Product Designer (Editorial Technology)

About Us

Here at the FT, gold-standard journalism is just the beginning. 500-people strong, our Product & Tech team keeps us ahead of the ever-changing digital landscape by delivering cutting-edge products to over one million digital subscribers every day. Our plans for growth rely on a diverse, dedicated and dynamic group of product, tech, delivery and data specialists - everyone’s welcome in this friendly, forward-thinking team. And with entrepreneurial spirit, intelligence and opportunity at every turn, there’s no limits to where your FT career will take you.

Our commitment to diversity and inclusion in the workplace

At the FT, we aim for employees across all regions to have a voice so that diverse perspectives are heard and valued. We believe that a supportive workplace is one where employees feel they can be themselves at work and have the flexibility they need to meet their personal needs. We'll continue to remove barriers for all, and in particular barriers facing employees from underrepresented groups.

Are you passionate about joining the Editorial Technology team and collaborating with our editors to drive world-class journalism?

Do you have a background in designing SaaS products, web apps, and digital tools for internal users?

We are seeking a Product Design Lead to join our Editorial Technology team This is a lead practitioner role and not a management role. The Lead Product Designer, you will bring expertise and hands-on experience to support our team in creating internal products and tools used by editors and journalists. These essential tools allow our writers to publish stories vital to our subscribers and the journalism industry.

A significant aspect of this role will involve discovery, as you will work on complex and self-initiated discovery projects to identify high-value items that bring value to users and stakeholders.

As one of the first members of our newly established internal design team, you will help raise the bar for internal product design at the Financial Times and be part of a larger Product Design community of 30 Researchers and Designers across Customer and B2B products.

Key themes for the role:

Setting Product Design standards: Contribute to creating and establishing standards for internal products and tools at the Financial Times. Ensure cross-functional teams align to these standards and promote adoption across Product and Tech.

Designing the right thing: Collaborate with the Editorial Technology team to ensure we design and develop the right products. Start research projects to identify high-value items and prioritise based on insights and data. Use design thinking to solve user problems.

Building user-centricity: Ensure that products focus on the end-user's needs rather than just functions, features, and fixes. As the Lead Product Designer, help bring the focus back to users and with methods to solve user problems.

Advocating for internal tool development: Advocating for improvements in internal product development. For example, share best practices for building user-centric products and teach others through design sprints and visits to other organisations.

Hands on expert: You enjoy being a hands on designer and using your craft to set the tone and inspire other designers about how to create great products for our users. 

Requirements:

Experience in designing high-quality digital products and UX

Interest in designing digital products for internal users

Proactive researcher, comfortable with conducting research, usability testing, and synthesising information

Commitment to inclusive design and accessibility

Ability to facilitate workshops, design sprints, and remote collaboration sessions with cross-functional teams

Strong partnerships with key stakeholders and ability to influence positively

Collaborative, low-ego team player

Nice-to-haves (non-essential):

Experience in designing high-quality SaaS products

Experience building and testing web products with assistive technologies and designing with accessibility standards.

Join us in establishing the foundation for internal product development at the Financial Times. Get in touch today!

What’s in it for you? FT Benefits

Our benefits vary depending on location, but we are committed to providing best in class perks across all our offices as well as an inclusive environment to develop your career. Examples of our benefits include; generous annual leave allowances, flexible working, medical cover, enhanced maternity & paternity packages and subsidised gym memberships. Full details of our benefits can be found here.

Further Information

The FT are committed to providing an inclusive working environment for all. We are an equal opportunities employer who seeks to recruit and appoint the best talent regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio-economic background, religion and/or belief. We also promote flexible working and will consider specific requests around flexibility for all roles where it can be accommodated. Please let us know if you require any adjustments as part of the application process or to enable you to attend an interview. If you would like to discuss your requirements, or have any questions, please contact a member of our HR team who will be happy to help.

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