Director, Product Design - ASCAP

About ASCAP

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) is a membership association of more than one million songwriters, composers and music publishers, and represents some of the world’s most talented music creators. Founded and governed by songwriters, composers and publishers, it is the only performing rights organization in the U.S. that operates on a not-for-profit basis. ASCAP licenses a repertory of over 20 million musical works to hundreds of thousands of businesses that use music, including streaming services, cable television, radio and satellite radio and brick and mortar businesses such as retail stores, hotels, clubs, restaurants and bars. ASCAP collects the licensing fees; identifies, matches and processes trillions of performances every year; and returns nearly 90 cents of every dollar back to its members as royalties. The ASCAP blanket license offers an efficient solution for businesses to legally perform ASCAP music while respecting the right of songwriters and composers to be paid fairly. ASCAP puts music creators first, advocating for their rights and the value of music on Capitol Hill, driving innovation that moves the industry forward, building community and providing the resources and support that creators need to succeed in their careers. Learn more and stay in touch at www.ascap.com, on X and Instagram @ASCAP and on Facebook.

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Job Description:

The Director, Product Design will lead the entire design and user experience process for ASCAP’s Product Team, furthering the organization’s strategic and brand direction by recommending and implementing creative solutions that address member needs. The successful candidate will blend creative vision, data analysis, and user testing to solve complex business problems through visual, interactive, and experience design and will lead the entire design and user experience process for ASCAP’s Product Team. While this is a very hands-on role, the Director will also manage and mentor a group of designers and user experience professionals to deliver all design and UX elements for both new product development projects and enhancements to existing ASCAP products, working seamlessly within the larger Product Team. The Director will be a good storyteller, an innovation champion, and the organization’s subject matter expert for design, user experience, and usability testing.

Responsibilities:

Creative Execution

• Take new ideas from concepts to implementation in collaboration with Engineers and Product Leads
• Identify new opportunities for innovation and differentiation for ASCAP Products which include mobile web and our ASCAP mobile application
• Develop strategic design plans and projected timelines in conjunction with the Product Leads (and other core cross-team members as needed)
• Contribute to the Product Discovery Phase and throughout the Product Development Lifecycle by analyzing market research and design best practices

Process

• Enhance and employ new process efficiencies to ensure that design assets are delivered on time
• Management and ongoing improvements of the current design request process
• Lead interpretation of design requests and ensure alignment with requestor ask and business
• Enhance and employ new process efficiencies to ensure that design assets are delivered on time

Leadership

• Provide overall Design/ UX leadership: analytics, research (usability testing), design methodology best practices, and scalable design system
• Lead the creative vision and standard of output across the design team via mentoring, coaching, and problem-solving
  • Communicate and mentor the design team in communicating clear and concise creative vision within the Product Department and to cross-team members
  • Lead and motivate the design team by providing regular feedback
• Ensure ongoing individual design team member professional development via career planning methodology and action plan

Usability Testing

• Collaborate with Product leads to identify opportunities for user testing and leverage results to evaluate proposed new or enhanced functionality and make sure members can easily perform intended functions and/or navigate through new experiences
• Key decision maker for recommended usability testing models, such as card sorting, guerilla testing, etc.
• Leverage usability test results to help inform the final implementation/functionality approach for product initiatives as needed

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Graphic Design, Fine Arts, Advertising, or related field is highly desirable
• 5 - 7 years’ experience as a Senior Level Designer
• Minimum 3 years of managerial experience with creative teams (designers, UX professionals)
• Mobile application experience needed
• Strong branding experience
• Extensive usability testing experience
• Strong cross-functional communication and collaboration skills (engineering, marketing, product)
• Experience working in an Agile/Scrum development environment
• Excellent communication skills

Besides providing a unique and dynamic work environment, there are a few other reasons you should consider ASCAP in your career planning. We also offer generous benefit options that are comprehensive and provide the flexibility that most employees want and need. These health care and financial plan options include the following:

• A choice of either network-only provider medical and dental plans or more flexible medical and dental plans where you can see providers in-network or out-of-network
• Vision plan that offers both in-network and out-of-network provider options
• Immediate eligibility for 401(k) participation with an employer provided match
• An additional employer paid retirement savings program regardless of your participation in the 401(k) Plan
• Generous time-off policy
• Health care and dependent care flexible spending accounts
• Short term disability Insurance/salary continuation and long-term disability insurance
• Company provided basic life and accidental death and dismemberment insurance
• Supplemental and dependent life insurance options

Occasional travel for in-person meetings may be required.

Please be aware that ASCAP is not a nut-free or other allergen-free workplace.

ASCAP is an equal opportunity employer. All ASCAP employment decisions are made on the basis of individual qualifications and performance and not on the basis of race, national origin, ethnicity, sex, age, marital status, sexual orientation or preference, gender identity, genetic information, disability, handicap, color, creed, religion, veteran status, or any characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local laws.

The anticipated base salary range for this position is $155,000.00 to $170,000.00 and will be determined on an individualized basis depending on several factors that are unique to each candidate including geographic location (due to differences in the cost of labor), skills, education and prior relevant experience.