YouTube Thumbnail & Graphic Designer

Role: YouTube Thumbnail & Graphic Designer

Based: London (Hybrid, min. 2 days in London Office)

Reports to: YouTube Lead

Hours: Full time | 37.5 hrs pw

About High Performance

High Performance was set up in 2021 after the huge success of the High Performance Podcast (hosted by Jake Humphrey and Damian Hughes). The brand creates inspirational and trusted content that drives personal growth and positive change.

Through multiple podcasts, live events, publications, and corporate work, our vision is to reach as many people as possible around the world and enable them to achieve healthier and happier lives.

Our Values

About the Position

We are looking for a creative, data-informed and YouTube-obsessed Thumbnail & Graphic Designer to join High Performance as we approach our next stage of accelerated growth.

In this role, you will own the design of thumbnails across our portfolio of YouTube channels, working closely with the YouTube Lead to turn every upload into a must-click moment. You will take charge of concepting, designing and testing thumbnails that stop the scroll, lift click-through rate (CTR) and drive audience growth. Alongside this, you'll be a versatile designer who can support creative work across other areas of the business.

The ideal candidate will be a highly capable graphic designer with a proven track record of creating high-CTR thumbnails on YouTube. You'll bring an expert toolkit (Photoshop / Illustrator / Canva / Figma), a sharp eye for faces, emotion, composition and colour, and a strong understanding of how thumbnails and titles work together to win the click.

This position requires a proactive, self-sufficient creative and good communicator, who is comfortable working at pace across a high volume of uploads. You will collaborate with producers and editors, ideate and run thumbnail A/B tests, and use performance data to provide actionable insights to the YouTube Lead and help shape our packaging strategy.

Responsibilities:

• Thumbnail design & delivery: Design high-impact, on-brand thumbnails for long-form episodes, clips and Shorts across the High Performance portfolio, delivered to agreed upload schedules.
• Creative concepts & ideation: Lead the creative thinking on every upload, pitching multiple YouTube-first concepts per episode to the YouTube Lead and producers, built around the strongest hook, emotion and story in each conversation.
• Win the click: Apply proven CTR principles (expressive faces, bold composition, contrast, minimal readable text, curiosity) so every thumbnail reads instantly on mobile and stands out on the homepage, in search and in Suggested.
• Brand consistency & templates: Maintain a recognisable visual identity for each show, with flexible thumbnail systems and a well-organised library of assets, cut-outs and templates.
• Outlier & trend research: Analyse outlier videos (those far outperforming their channel's average) in and outside our niche, alongside wider design and platform trends, and turn findings into clear recommendations.
• A/B testing & optimisation: Work with the YouTube team to assess A/B test results and iterate on new designs using data-backed analysis. Refresh new and archive videos to maximise their potential.
• Wider design support: Support design across the business, including podcast artwork for Apple and Spotify, social assets, show promotions, live events and other activities, keeping every touchpoint on-brand.

Skills & Experience:

• 1. A strong portfolio of YouTube thumbnails, ideally with evidence of measurable impact on CTR, views or channel growth.
• 2. Expert-level Photoshop skills (cut-outs, retouching, colour grading, compositing), with Illustrator, Figma, Lightroom or Canva a bonus.
• 3. A deep understanding of YouTube packaging and CTR, and how thumbnails and titles work together to drive clicks while staying authentic and on-brand.
• 4. Strong graphic design fundamentals: typography, colour theory, composition, visual hierarchy and legibility at small sizes and on mobile.
• 5. Confident using AI to speed up and scale production, from generative AI image tools (e.g. Photoshop Generative Fill, Midjourney) to automated workflows with tools such as Claude.
• 6. A test and measure mindset: comfortable using YouTube Studio Analytics to assess performance and make clear, data-backed recommendations.
• 7. Able to work under pressure in a fast-paced environment, adapting to shifting priorities and deadlines.
• 8. Strong organisational and communication skills, a high degree of autonomy and an impeccable attention to detail.

High Performance is committed to creating an inclusive and diverse workplace. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is fair and accessible. If you require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know. Applicants must have the right to work in the UK

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