Senior Manager Content Designer (Individual Contributor) at Capital_One — New York, NY
Full job description
Senior Manager Content Designer (Individual Contributor)
We are seeking a future-focused Senior Manager of Content Design (Individual Contributor) to join our team. In this role, you will sit at the intersection of language, product strategy, system logic, and emerging technology, ensuring our digital experiences scale cleanly while maintaining an uncompromising standard of craft.
This is not a traditional copywriting or purely embedded writing role. Instead of focusing only on isolated product screens, you will focus on building the foundational tools—including content design systems, voice guidelines, and structured prompt libraries—that empower broader product design teams to handle day-to-day writing tasks independently. You will own the high-level strategy, taxonomy, and rationale for complex content problems, while using AI tools to scale that core design intent across multiple domains and platforms. As automated tools redefine interface and text production, you will transition from a traditional asset creator to a logic planner, experience auditor, and automation coach. Depending on the project, you will oscillate between being deeply embedded in high-leverage initiatives and serving as a consultative expert to other teams.
Key Responsibilities & Competencies
- Foundational Content Systems & Governance: Build, govern, and maintain comprehensive content design libraries, terminology standards, and voice guidelines. Create structured prompt criteria and automated writing guardrails that enable teams to draft baseline copy that aligns with brand standards.
- Strategic Content Architecture: Lead high-leverage, complex content initiatives, owning the underlying logic, user flows, and taxonomy. Focus on the overarching communication strategy and ensure that automated outputs remain accurate, clear, and accessible.
- Consultative & Embedded Partnership: Work flexibly across product lines to solve complex design problems and influence strategy. Embed deeply within high-impact initiatives when needed, while acting as a consultative peer to upskill product designers and scale content standards across the organization.
- Quality Assurance & Narrative Auditing: Serve as the final guardian of narrative quality across live product experiences by performing rigorous evaluations to ensure independent builders do not create a fragmented or incoherent customer journey.
- Cross-Functional Pod Leadership: Act as a core catalyst within a dedicated cross-functional pod, serving as a strategic partner to engineering, product, and enterprise teams. Partner seamlessly with Enterprise Design Systems teams to ensure local content systems align or intentionally deviate from macro enterprise standards.
- Practice Maturation & Enablement: Act as a mentor and consultant for the design team to mature the content discipline. Lead workshops, facilitate onboarding, and coach product designers on scaling their systemic thinking and integrating automated content tools safely into their daily workflows.
Expected Outputs
- Scalable Content Design Systems: Living, accessible content libraries, taxonomy rules, and design token schemas implemented across design tools and repositories.
- AI-Native Content Guardrails: Playbooks, logic schemas, and prompt criteria that dictate how automated tools generate standard layouts and microcopy without losing brand integrity.
- Journey Optimization & Gap Analysis: Thorough gap analyses and "North Star" roadmaps that align content strategy with overarching business intent and technical scalability.
- Systemic Documentation: High-fidelity spec sheets, terminology guidelines, and clear documentation governing the interaction between human design intent and automated execution.
- Contribution Frameworks & Enablement Programs: Scalable onboarding materials, contribution guardrails, and educational workshops that upskill product teams on using advanced tokens and AI-assisted design tooling.
Basic Qualifications
- At least 8 years of experience in a Content Design, Content Strategy, or Product Design role.
- At least 6 years of experience building, maintaining, or contributing to multi-level design systems or content governance models.
Preferred Qualifications
- At least 10+ years of experience in content design, content strategy, or UX writing.
- Demonstrated experience building or maintaining content systems, prompt libraries, or automated frameworks within design and development pipelines.
- Deep experience partnering with product managers, engineers, and business leaders to shape strategy, roadmaps, and operating models.
- Proficiency with design and prototyping tools, such as Figma, with a strong understanding of how content elements map to advanced system components and tokens.
- Experience operating in an internal consultative or agency model, managing multiple stakeholders and balancing competing priorities across complex environments.
McLean, VA: $200,700 - $229,100 for Sr. Manager, Design
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