Associate Design Director, Digital Live

You will support the Creative Director in leading the Live Design team, helping to maintain and raise our ambition to be a world leader in visual news design. You will lead the daily and weekly design output across the Telegraph Live sections for digital, working at the heart of the newsroom alongside editors, production, and planning. This is a hands‑on leadership role: you will set standards, drive pace and quality, mentor and develop designers, and ensure Live design is both reactive to breaking news and proactive in planning and storytelling.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the daily and weekly design output for Live sections on digital; champion the Live Design team across the editorial floor.
• Manage the Live team to ensure creativity, efficiency, and high performance (including people management and development).
• Ensure Live output is produced to the highest standards, in close collaboration with the Editor, section heads, and Head of Production.
• Advocate for smart, innovative design solutions to editorial challenges; ensure the team can respond quickly to the news agenda while also improving longer‑term storytelling formats.
• Improve ways of working to maximise creative output and team efficiency (process, tooling, templates, collaboration patterns).
• Attend relevant daily and weekly editorial conferences across news, features, and planning.
• Maintain high standards of brand consistency, editorial judgement, and compliance (including awareness of IPSO Editors’ Code of Practice).

Key Skills

• A detail oriented manager, who is passionate and confident about presenting stories in a visually compelling way that matches the standard of the Telegraph’s journalism.
• Be equally comfortable reacting to breaking news events and planning managing longer term design challenges.
• An experienced manager who sets clear standards and benchmarks and ensures that they are monitored and met.
• Be able to conceive and execute all aspects of the design process and direct other designers.
• Be a strong visual voice on the floor, debating the news and features output with editors and section editors.
• Be confident and capable working collaboratively with many stakeholders from across the Telegraph including the Newsroom, Product, Technology, Marketing and occasionally Commercial and native content areas.
• Have a keen awareness of current affairs and a passion for storytelling.
• Excel at articulating motivation and reasoning behind design decisions.
• Be curious and aware of the printed and digital media landscape.
• Proven track record of team management and leadership skills within a large organisation.
• Have experience of effective people management and staff development.
• Have experience of leading and administering a significant editorial department.
• Strong portfolio of work demonstrating exceptional skills in typography, art direction, page layout, commissioning (illustration and photography) and redesign work.
• Experience working with printed and online media using newsroom pagemakeup systems and CMS.
• Understanding of the IPSO Editors’ Code of Practice.
• Experience in the media industry is preferable.
• Proven background in producing high quality content, appropriate to The Telegraph brand.
• Proficient in the full Adobe Creative Suite.

Our benefits

The nature of our industry means life at the Telegraph Media Group is fast‑paced, demanding, and interesting. We also want it to be rewarding for everyone who works here by creating a suite of benefits that contribute to lifestyle choices and leisure activities. From dynamic working opportunities, medical cover, and parental leave (six months fully paid maternity leave and enhanced paternity/partner leave), to life assurance and season ticket loans, you can choose from a range of flexible benefits, designed to support your lifestyle and help you achieve a healthy work‑life balance.

Training and development

With support from your manager and colleagues, you’ll also have access to a variety of training and development opportunities through The Academy. Covering a range of personal and professional skills, our courses enable you to develop an enjoyable and rewarding career.

Our commitment to inclusion

At Telegraph Media Group, we foster a diverse and inclusive workplace and we are committed to building a team that reflects a wide variety of skills, perspectives and backgrounds. We believe in equality of opportunity and welcome candidates from all backgrounds, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio‑economic background, religion and/or belief. We are proud to be a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader as part of the government’s Disability Confident Scheme. If you are disabled or have a long‑term health condition and would like support in applying for any of our roles or if you require any reasonable adjustments in the recruitment process with us, please make us aware.