The Team
The product design team aims to deliver clean, engaging ways of attracting customers and telling stories. Our overarching aim is to deliver a beautiful product that serves our journalism in the best way possible, with new and innovative ways of reaching existing subscribers and attracting potential new readers. We’re an inquisitive team who love to talk design, take inspiration from each other, collaborate closely, and often lunch together.
You will join a team that defines the digital product experiences for thetimes.com, native mobile apps, newsletters, subscriber journeys and editorial publishing tools.
The role
You will be self-motivated, have a fascination with solving problems, demonstrate strong attention to detail, and be at ease working independently or collaboratively as part of a team. You will be passionate about developing a suite of products that will engage our subscribers so they get the best experience possible when reading The Times and The Sunday Times.
You will be brimming with creative ideas and have a demonstrable interest in current affairs and culture.
This role is initially split between two growing areas of focus for the business:
The newly formed Experimentation team, collaborating closely with Product Managers to translate hypotheses into testable designs for features, flows, and UI elements. Acting as the design voice in stand-ups and cross-departmental planning sessions, clearly articulating the design rationale behind each test variant.
The Times Design System is being refreshed and widely relaunched, with success hinging on adoption across editorial, brand, product, and commercial teams. In this role, you’ll ensure rigorous component testing, clear approval processes, a healthy contribution model, and effective internal comms to drive alignment, educate users, and make the system a trusted tool across the business.
What we’re looking for from you
Product design capabilities
Understanding of human-centred design principles. A track record of making impactful change through smart, data-driven UX implementation. Strong knowledge of the latest industry standards in web and app user experience. A commitment to accessibility, ensuring that products are inclusive and usable by all audiencesTools
Experience and knowledge of industry-standard product design software, such as Figma, as well as research tools such as Userzoom etc.Strong communication skills
The ability to collaborate with other disciplines, to sell your ideas confidently, while always knowing when to push and when to pull. Experience of facilitating working sessions with cross-functional teams.Attention to detail
An awareness of product design trends and the care deeply about delivering seamless, user-centred solutions. Be keen to self-evaluate your work, but always be open to feedback from peers.Research and data
Use customer interviews, research tools, testing and data analysis to help understand the customers and validate design decisions.Continuous discovery
Be outcome-oriented with the goal of weekly touchpoints with customers, creating a feedback loop with users, testing in small increments and frequently.Design System
Champion and contribute to the use of the design system as it evolves, with a strong understanding of design tokens and their role in ensuring scalability, consistency, and cross-platform execution within the product experience.Think creatively
The skill to think outside the box and solve problems, not just be an artworker. Be enthusiastic about an idea and bring people along with you. Encourage design innovation, exploring new ideas and approaches that push the quality of the product experience forwardIndustry experience
Ideally editorial/publishing or subscriber-based product experience, but not essential.Coding
An understanding of the structural components of the web, eg HTML and CSS.Collaboration
Collaboration is key. You’ll be working closely with BAs and engineering, alongside other stakeholders, which means a lot of discussions – it’s good to talk, but you should know when you need to crack on to hit that deadline
This job is for you if…
You love product design and you’re interested in news and current affairs.
You enjoy collaborating with a variety of stakeholders from different disciplines/sections of the paper, all wanting their say. We don’t design by committee, but you love balancing all the opinions to create the best possible outcome.
You value working at scale within a large corporation, contributing to the evolution of a historic legacy brand like The Times, and want the opposite of a small design agency experience
If you think you have what it takes but don’t tick every requirement on the list, please do apply. We recognise that considering someone’s potential as well as their experience is a great way to hire. We want to hear from people who have a passion to learn and develop.
News UK is one of the leading media businesses in the UK and Ireland. Our newsbrands include The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun, The Sun on Sunday and The TLS. Our national broadcast brands include talkSPORT, Times Radio and Virgin Radio UK, and we have market-leading local stations across Ireland. Our world-famous brands provide news, analysis, opinion and entertainment to almost 40 million people each month. Spanning print and pixel, audio and video, events and experiences, our multi-format brands are home to a plurality of opinion, representing the diverse communities we serve. Driven by passion, guided by principles and acting with purpose, we exist to promote a fair society, freedom of speech and a little bit of fun. Rethinking continually the business of storytelling, we represent, reflect and reach the nation, telling the stories that matter.
At News UK, we embrace a hybrid work model, currently requiring a minimum of three days per week in the office. This approach fosters collaboration, innovation, and team spirit within our workspace. Certain roles may necessitate additional in-office days; please discuss this with your recruiter for specific requirements.
Life at News
Driven by passion, guided by principles and acting with purpose. We represent, reflect and reach the nation, telling the stories that matter. We inform our audiences so that they can make decisions based on trusted information.
We represent, reflect and reach the nation, telling the stories that matter most. To ensure these stories resonate with as broad an audience as possible, it is essential that our organisation reflects the diversity of the people we reach. Whether through age, gender, ethnicity, disability, social class or sexuality, we are committed to representing the rich variety of voices that make up our society. And we champion a culture where everyone has the opportunity to contribute and thrive as we continue to innovate and drive long term sustainable growth. This is done through our Diversity Strategy.
At News UK, we take pride in our exceptional employee-led networks that bring together individuals with shared interests and create a vibrant sense of community. We believe our networks play a vital role in fostering a collaborative and supportive work culture at News UK. Groups that we support include the African & Caribbean Network, Parents and Carers, and LGBTQ+ group News Is Out, and the Apprentice Society.
Benefits
Some of our benefits include:
Private medical insurance including coverage for pre-existing conditions
Discounted gym memberships, free ClassPass at Home, weekly in person/ virtual exercise classes
‘Bikes for Work’ and ‘Electric Car’ scheme
Up to 60% discount on Harper Collins books
Maternity leave up to 18 weeks full basic salary & paternity leave up to 2 weeks
Access to exclusive events and competitions with exciting brands such as talkSPORT, Virgin Radio UK & The Times. Weekly virtual panel chats with top journalists and celebrities
Access to wellbeing benefits such as EAP, physio/massage and counselling
A generous pension scheme with employer contributions of up to 5%
Wide range of training available, plus full LinkedIn Learning access
25 days holiday, plus bank holidays and up to 4 volunteering days per year
We want to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to perform to their best when applying for a role. If you would like to receive any information in a different way or for us to do anything differently to support you to apply for any of our roles please contact us on [email protected].