Design Lead (Madrid only, contract)

Hold the strategic view of the product and turn its objectives, priorities and brand evolution into a clear design direction and a deliverable plan.

Anticipate needs and frame decisions proactively; work with the Project Director on scope, estimates and growth opportunities.

Act as the trusted creative partner to the client: lead day-to-day communication, build relationships with Product Managers, manage expectations, take feedback with composure, and present to senior stakeholders in a multi-vendor environment.

Set and hold the quality bar: run critiques, review all significant output before it reaches the client, and give direct feedback.

Manage and coach the remote delivery team (Senior Product Designers and Product Designers across European time zones); grow seniors into leads.

Set briefs, manage sprint workloads, protect focus, and coordinate with vendors and engineering partners.

Define quality gates, review workflows and design operations frameworks that scale across engagements.

Stay hands-on for explorations, key screens and defining moments.

Architect and govern an atomic design system (tokens, components, patterns) across responsive web, native mobile and connected TV.

Design for high-density real-time data (live results, schedules, medals), editorial storytelling and content discovery, plus TV-specific interaction (remote navigation, 10-foot UI, lean-back viewing).

Build in accessibility (WCAG 2.1 AA), multilingual support and RTL from the start.

Define contribution models, handoff protocols, documentation and versioning so client teams and vendors can extend the system safely.

Work where design meets code: tokens, coded prototypes and the component library as living sources of truth.

Use AI for prototyping, asset generation, automated QA and routine production; champion adoption with the team and client, with judgement on where craft stays human.

Shape and support user testing with the client and research partners, turning findings into design decisions.

Build the evidence base for recommendations: testing, analytics and benchmarks.