Thumbnail Designer

THE ROLE We are hiring a Lead Thumbnail Designer to own the visual front door of every long-form video PlotPointe publishes on YouTube. This is a senior, leadership-level role for a designer who can sustain elite individual output while building and leading a team that scales with our publishing volume. PlotPointe ships around 48 long-form YouTube videos a month, and the bar for every one is a 9% click-through rate. You will design at that bar, run A/B tests as a default operating rhythm, read YouTube Studio data fluently, and within months hire and lead a thumbnail team built around your standards. WHAT YOU'LL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR - Driving a sustained 9%+ CTR across the long-form publishing slate of roughly 48 videos a month. - Designing thumbnails personally at lead-level quality while building the systems that allow a team to match your bar. - Recruiting, training, and managing a thumbnail team that grows alongside our channel portfolio. - Setting visual standards across typography, facial expression direction, contrast logic, composition, and asset prep workflows. - Running A/B testing as a default behavior. Designing the test, reading the result, and iterating fast. - Turning impression, CTR, and average view duration data into design decisions. - Collaborating with writers, editors, and channel leads to align thumbnails with story hooks and audience intent. - Owning quality control across every thumbnail that ships under PlotPointe channels. - Building a sourcing pipeline of strong designers you can grow the team with. WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR - 4+ years designing thumbnails for storytelling channels at scale. - Demonstrated personal track record of 8 to 10%+ CTR on channels delivering 1M+ views per video, supported by analytics you can speak to. - Steady-state experience producing 20+ thumbnails per week. - Fluency with YouTube Studio analytics, A/B testing methodology, and CTR benchmarking by niche. - Experience leading or training designers, with the appetite to build a team further. - Strong communication skills and confidence working across editorial, production, and channel leadership. - Experience using AI tools WHAT YOU BRING CANDIDATES SHOULD BRING A PORTFOLIO OF HIGH-CTR WORK BACKED BY PERFORMANCE DATA, EXAMPLES OF DESIGN DECISIONS DEFENDED WITH ANALYTICS, AND THE OPERATIONAL MATURITY TO LEAD A TEAM WITHOUT LOSING THE INDIVIDUAL BAR. WE CARE ABOUT HOW YOU COMMUNICATE, HOW YOU GIVE FEEDBACK TO JUNIOR DESIGNERS, AND HOW YOU CARRY YOURSELF INSIDE A HIGH-VOLUME PUBLISHING SCHEDULE WHERE DECISIONS MOVE DAILY. SKILLS - YouTube thumbnail design - A/B testing methodology - YouTube Studio analytics - Adobe Photoshop and Creative Suite - Visual storytelling and hook design - Team leadership and mentorship - High-volume creative production -