Vice President of Design

The Opportunity

Chicago Public Media is seeking a Vice President of Design to lead and shape design across the organization, including WBEZ, the Chicago Sun-Times, and CPM’s broader digital ecosystem.
This role is responsible for setting and owning the design vision, standards, and systems that define how audiences experience our journalism, products, and brands across platforms. The VP of Design is the final authority on design direction, quality, and standards across the newsroom and the organization as a whole, working in close partnership with editorial and marketing  leadership.

General Responsibilities

• Establish and champion a cohesive design vision across WBEZ, the Chicago Sun-Times, and CPM products in coordination with Marketing’s brand strategy
• Ensure design excellence across print, broadcast, web, mobile, and emerging platforms.
• Serve as the organization’s final decision-maker on design standards, quality, and governance.
• Represent design at the senior leadership level and contribute to organizational strategy.

• Lead, mentor, and develop designers across business teams, including product, marketing, and circulation.
• Collaborate closely with newsroom design, graphics, and interactive teams to ensure alignment with CPM-wide design standards and vision.
• Build a collaborative, inclusive design culture aligned with CPM’s mission and values.
• Provide guidance, critique, and professional development for design talent.

• Own CPM’s design system in close collaboration with Marketing, Editorial and other stakeholders.
• Own the implementation of CPM’s design system across the organization.
• Ensure consistency, accessibility, and scalability across platforms and products.
• Drive adoption of design tools and workflows, including deep experience with Figma.

• Partner closely with product management, engineering, editorial, marketing, and audience teams.
• Lead design contributions to new product development, from concept through launch and iteration.
• Embed user-centered thinking and accessibility into all design work.

Qualifications

• Significant design leadership experience in media, journalism, or related fields.
• Proven experience designing for legacy media, including newspapers or broadcast, as well as modern digital platforms.
• A strong, demonstrated track record in digital and product design.
• Experience building, owning, and maintaining design systems.
• Proficiency with modern design tools, including Figma.
• Experience working closely with digital product and engineering teams.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills across editorial and business functions.

• Experience in public media or mission-driven journalism organizations.
• Experience designing and launching new products.

This role reports to the Chief Product and Membership Officer and works collaboratively across Chicago Public Media, including editorial leadership, product, engineering, marketing, and circulation teams.

Compensation

The expected pay range for this position is $160,000 - $200,000  per ANNUM.

Chicago Public Media provides pay ranges representing its good faith estimate of what the organization reasonably expects to pay for a position.  The pay offered to a selected candidate will be determined based on factors such as (but not limited to the scope and responsibilities of the position, the qualifications of the selected candidate, departmental budget availability, internal equity, geographical location, and external market pay for comparable jobs.