VP, Product & Design

Job Description

Job Description

Description:

America's Test Kitchen ( ATK) and Food52 are seeking a visionary and pragmatic VP, Product & Design to lead product and design across both organizations. Together, ATK and Food52 reach millions of home cooks through recipes, video, equipment reviews, taste tests, cookbooks, editorial, community, and commerce. This is a rare opportunity to shape the digital experiences across two of the most trusted and beloved brands in food.

In this role, you will own the product and design vision, strategy, and execution across both brands' web and app platforms, balancing the distinct identity and audience of each with the operational leverage of a shared product and design organization. You will be responsible for building experiences that deepen engagement, drive retention and subscription growth, and help home cooks become more confident in the kitchen.

Reporting to the Chief Product and Technology Officer , you will lead and grow a team of product managers and designers, set the operating rhythm for how the function works, and partner closely with leaders across Content, Engineering, Marketing, Commerce, and Research & Data. As a senior leader, you will operate with a high degree of autonomy and accountability, making thoughtful tradeoffs that serve members, the mission, and the business.

Responsibilities

• Set the product and design vision across both organizations, defining a cohesive strategy that honors the distinct brand identities of America's Test Kitchen and Food52 while capturing the leverage of a shared platform.
• Own the product and design roadmap end to end, prioritizing initiatives that deepen engagement, increase retention, and grow subscriptions and commerce across web and mobile.
• Lead, mentor, and grow the product and design organization, building a high-trust, high-performing team and establishing the hiring plan, structure, and career paths needed to scale it.
• Establish the operating model for product and design, including discovery practices, design standards, prioritization frameworks, and delivery rhythms that work consistently across two brands.
• Champion craft and a unified design language, elevating the quality, usability, and emotional resonance of every experience while allowing each brand to retain its distinct voice.
• Translate customer needs, behavioral insights, and business goals into clear strategy, well-scoped initiatives, and measurable outcomes.
• Partner with senior leaders across Engineering, Content, Marketing, Commerce, and Research & Data to align on priorities and drive execution from discovery through delivery.
• Define the metrics that matter and hold the organization accountable to them, partnering with Research to monitor performance, evaluate impact, and inform ongoing prioritization.
• Drive discovery and experimentation, including user research, concept validation, prototyping, and iterative improvement across both platforms.
• Guide the integration and shared infrastructure opportunities across the two brands, identifying where common platforms, components, and services create value without diluting either brand experience.
• Communicate product and design vision, progress, learnings, and results clearly to the executive team and the broader organizations.
• Stay ahead of trends in digital media, commerce, community, and AI to identify new opportunities for innovation across content and cooking experiences.

Skills & Qualifications

Required

• 12+ years of product and/or design leadership experience, including several years leading combined or cross-functional product and design organizations.
• Proven track record of setting vision and strategy for consumer-facing digital products at scale, and translating it into shipped outcomes.
• Experience leading both product management and design functions, or deep fluency in one with demonstrated ability to lead the other.
• Demonstrated success building, growing, and retaining high-performing teams, including managing managers.
• Experience with content-driven, subscription, or commerce-based consumer products, ideally in media, publishing, or a mission-driven brand.
• Strong command of user experience and content design principles, interaction patterns, and usability best practices across mobile and web.
• Strong analytical mindset and fluency using data, experimentation, and research to inform decisions.
• Excellent communication and executive presence, with the ability to influence peers, leadership, and the board.
• Comfort operating in a two-brand or multi-brand context, balancing shared leverage against distinct brand needs.

Preferred

• Familiarity with CMS-driven products, content workflows, and commerce or subscription services.
• Experience with retention-focused, habitual, or community-driven product experiences.
• Passion for food, storytelling, and helping make cooking more approachable, joyful, and rewarding for home cooks.

This position is based in our Boston, MA, office in the Seaport district. Our organization currently follows a hybrid work schedule of three days in the office per week (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday) and two days remote per week.

About Product & Design at America's Test Kitchen and Food52

Our team is responsible for digital product and design across America's Test Kitchen and Food52. We want to understand our customers inside and out, and help them use our platforms to become better, more confident cooks. We value working collaboratively, asking for help when needed, saying yes to trying new things, helping one another succeed, and prioritizing our members in everything we do. Success requires trust and risk-taking, so we practice and seek radical candor from our teammates.

Salary Range: $240,000 to $270,000

The range provided is based on what we reasonably expect to pay for this job as of the time of posting. The actual salary offered will be determined based on multiple factors, including but not limited to the candidate’s relevant experience, job-related knowledge, skills, geographical location, and other job-related factors permitted by law.

Requirements: