Head of Design & Experience

Who we are

Semafor is a global news platform for an increasingly complex world in which consumers are overwhelmed by too many news sources and unsure what to trust. We are building Semafor to enable world-class journalists to deliver reporting and insights with rigor in journalistic forms that ensure a new level of transparency. Our editors and reporters distill the most important stories from all over in formats that uncover the forces shaping the stories, explain the interests behind polarizing narratives, and replenish the stock of shared facts. As a global platform, Semafor recognizes that smart people can disagree and that informed readers need to understand alternative points of view from competing centers of power and culture in a multi-polar world. Want to join us? Read on. 

About this Role

Semafor is seeking a Head of Design & Experience to build Semafor’s first design function and lead the next evolution of Semafor’s visual identity and experience system across brand, editorial, product, and live journalism platforms. This role will own how Semafor shows up across every major touchpoint: newsletters, digital products, app, editorial franchises, marketing, campaigns, partnerships, corporate materials, and physical convenings and events, including Semafor World Economy, Silicon Valley & the World, and 50+ other forums and roundtables.

This is a creative leadership role. The ideal candidate will set Semafor’s design vision and elevate our ambition, while orchestrating execution across a variety of design disciplines. They bring strong creative judgment, systems thinking, and proven ability to lead and develop a design function within a complex organization. They'll partner closely with peer leaders across Brand, Events, Product, Editorial, and Marketing while leading design strategically.

This person must be able to translate Semafor’s brand strategy into a cohesive design system that works across screens, stages, spaces, products, and live environments. They should bring the creative judgment to elevate the brand, the technical knowledge to guide execution, and the operational discipline to move ambitious work from concept through production at a high standard and high velocity.

The role requires someone who can think systemically and strategically: building design languages that are distinctive, scalable, and ownable, while ensuring every expression of Semafor feels sophisticated, consistent, modern, and unmistakably connected to the brand.

Key Responsibilities: 

Brand Systems & Integration

• Own and evolve Semafor's visual identity as the primary expression of brand and business strategy
• Build and govern a unified design system that scales across digital products, editorial surfaces, brand and marketing, and live experiences
• Ensure Semafor's core brand and sub-brands integrate coherently across every touchpoint - digital, editorial, events, marketing, and partnerships

Design & Creative Direction

• Set the creative bar across all Semafor design work and serve as senior arbiter of creative quality and brand coherence
• Provide art direction, feedback, and approval at decision points across digital products, editorial design, brand campaigns, and events
• Lead the creative system for Semafor events across staging and physical environmental builds, stage and motion graphics, signage and wayfinding, digital and printed promotional materials, partner assets, and onsite digital surfaces
• Ensure live experiences feel cohesive, premium, navigable, technically polished, and unmistakably connected to Semafor’s brand and journalism
• Own the visual design system for Semafor’s core reader products, including newsletters, app, website surfaces, editorial franchises, special reports, recurring formats, and new digital products
• Establish Semafor's design as a clear source of competitive differentiation in a crowded media landscape

Design Leadership

• Build and develop the design function - hire, structure, and develop a team that can span product, brand, editorial, and experiential design disciplines. 
• Deepen Semafor’s design community of practice and clarify the bar for craft excellence 
• Establish design workflows, decision-making processes, and quality standards across embedded and centralized teams.
• Build and manage a vendor bench across motion, illustration, editorial, experiential, and scenic/fabrication work
• Lead cross-functional partnerships with Product, Editorial, Events, and Marketing - both through embedded designer relationships and direct peer collaboration
• Champion design as a strategic discipline at the leadership level, ensuring design considerations shape business and editorial decisions

Experience & Skills

• 15+ years of experience in design or creative leadership across digital, brand, editorial, or experiential disciplines - ideally in media, premium content, or comparable sectors. Significant experience leading design spanning design disciplines (e.g., digital and physical environments), including brand systems, newsletters, apps, websites, live events, stage environments, signage, wayfinding, and built experiences
• Proven ability to own and evolve a sophisticated visual identity system across a complex, multi-platform organization
• Deep understanding of digital publishing, editorial products, reader experience, UX, typography, information design, newsletter design, app design, and reusable product design systems
• Demonstrated experience designing for premium live experiences, executive convenings, conferences, brand environments, or large-scale event platforms
• Technical fluency in physical production, including scenic design, fabrication, AV, lighting, motion graphics, materials, environmental graphics, installation, and onsite execution
• Experience sourcing, RFPing, briefing, managing, and holding accountable external agencies, with a bonus if experience overseeing production vendors, fabricators, motion designers, product designers, AV partners, and experiential specialists
• Minimum of 5+ years of management experience, with a record of developing design talent, leading high-performing creative teams, and establishing clear standards of excellence
• Strong systems thinker, with the ability to create scalable design languages, templates, guidelines, workflows, and governance across brand, product, editorial, and event touchpoints
• Exceptional creative judgment, with high standards for typography, hierarchy, layout, motion, materials, spatial design, usability, and finish
• Strong cross-functional leadership skills, with experience partnering across Brand, Editorial, Product, Events, Marketing, Sales, Partnerships, Production, and senior leadership
• Strong project management and prioritization skills, with the ability to lead multiple high-priority workstreams from concept through execution
• Experience managing budgets, scopes, timelines, production schedules, creative reviews, approval workflows, and onsite 
• Entrepreneurial mindset with a builder’s orientation, high standards for quality, and deep ownership of outcomes
• Bachelor’s degree, preferably in graphic design, communication design, product design, architecture, environmental design, industrial design, or a related field. Advanced degree a plus
• Willingness to work in person four days per week in New York and travel domestically and internationally as needed.
• Salary Range is $220,000 - $240,000 base salary plus annual performance bonus.

Additional job details

Semafor offers a Flexible Paid Time Off (PTO) policy to our full-time, salaried employees who may take paid time off as-needed without a prescribed limit or defined balance.

Semafor, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer and enthusiastically encourages people from all backgrounds and experiences to apply. Semafor, Inc. will consider all applicants without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical and/or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, age, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law.