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