[Hiring] Director, Design, People App @Dotdash Meredith

Role Description

We are looking for a Director of Product Design, Games to help define and deliver a brand new, intuitive, and engaging casual game experience for one of our most important brands, People. In this role you will work closely with our Creative Director, Editorial Team, and Product and Engineering to craft simple, habit-forming game experiences (such as puzzles, word games, and daily challenges) that engage and delight our audience on a daily basis, driving player engagement, retention, and long-term enjoyment.

As a Director of Product Design at People Inc., you will:

• Thoroughly understand the wants and needs of our users, and participate in the discovery and definition of problems and solutions that come from those needs.
• Translate user needs and business requirements into concrete game design ideas, user flows, and wireframes.
• Create and refine core gameplay mechanics and interaction patterns — designing them as scalable, reusable systems that support multiple titles and cross-game retention and monetization strategies.
• Build interactive prototypes suitable for validating design decisions and game concepts with users.
• Collaborate with the creative team and brand stakeholders to develop and maintain the visual language of our product.
• Document design guidelines, share knowledge, and collaborate with the engineering team to ensure products ship on time and as designed.
• Champion and promote design thinking, research, and process across the organization.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree, or equivalent education and experience.
• 10+ years in product and/or game design, with 2–5+ years leading design teams.
• Strong UX and Game Design skills, including user flows, wireframing, game mechanics, and interaction design.
• Direct experience developing and shipping casual games (e.g., puzzles, word games, daily challenges) with a focus on player engagement and retention.
• Strong visual design skills, especially visual interface and typography.
• Experience building interactive prototypes suitable for validating design decisions with users.
• Familiarity with atomic design methodology and an interest in the challenges that come with building and maintaining design systems.
• Expertise in UX software such as Figma, Adobe Suite, etc.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills and a strong attention to detail.
• Self-motivated and highly-organized.

Requirements

• Ensure a constant high-level of execution across the products you work with.
• Manage your team’s workflow and set clear, realistic, action-oriented goals to ensure their success.
• Develop effective, growth-centered mentor relationships with the UX Designers on their team.
• Design end-to-end user experiences for casual games, from onboarding flows to daily play.
• Use business requirements, user stories, and data to produce user flows, prototypes, and high fidelity mockups.
• Develop features and systems that encourage daily engagement (e.g., streaks, progression, hints, rewards) and long-term player retention.
• Set clear design standards and reusable templates to ensure a consistent player experience across our games.
• Prototype game concepts and test new game ideas quickly and iteratively.
• Create and document rigorous user interface specifications, ensuring the designs are accessible for a wide range of players.
• Participate in and lead brainstorming and critique sessions that foster big-picture thinking.
• Collaborate across teams to understand opportunities, develop potential solutions, and test ideas.
• Present design solutions and build consensus among a broad range of stakeholders.
• Work closely with our engineering team to ensure the designs are executed at the highest level of fidelity and craft.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, and prescription drug coverage.
• Unlimited paid time off (PTO).
• Adoption or surrogate assistance.
• Donation matching.
• Tuition reimbursement.
• Basic life insurance and accidental death & dismemberment coverage.
• Supplemental life and accident insurance.
• Commuter benefits.
• Short term and long term disability.
• Health savings and flexible spending accounts.
• Family care benefits.
• A generous 401K savings plan with a company match program.
• 10-12 paid holidays annually.
• Generous paid parental leave (birthing and non-birthing parents).
• Voluntary benefits such as pet insurance, accident, critical and hospital indemnity health insurance coverage, life and disability insurance.