Social Media Manager

Mission This role consists of: First, design YouTube thumbnails that earn the click from a cautious, forty plus investor who has been burned before. Second, act as our general graphic designer: Instagram carousel designs/templates, static image ads for paid, post graphics and whatever else the brand needs. Everything you make should look credible, never cluttered, never hype. Outcomes Deliver two thumbnail concepts within 24 hours. Ideation: read the title, brief and outline, and decide what promise the thumbnail should make to this specific audience. Concepting: turn that promise into one simple visual idea. What is in frame, what the words say, where the eye lands first. Execution: produce the finished file, cleanly and to spec. In addition to that you must understand that a viewer’s eye typically lands on the thumbnail, the thumbnail creates interest, then the viewer reads the title to decide whether or not they will click on the video. But it ALL starts with the thumbnail. Deliver two concepts minimum per long-form video, genuinely different ideas rather than colour variations of one. A single concept is acceptable only when it is clearly outstanding and agreed with the Head of Organic in advance. Deliver ad hoc graphic design within 48 hours of request. Static image ads, Instagram carousels, post graphics and similar. Return revisions the same working day they are requested. Deliver files to spec: 1280 x 720, under 2MB, named to the video slug, attached to the ClickUp card. Reply to messages in Slack within 3 hours of being tagged, within the agreed work hours. Maintain a less than 10% revision rate caused by missed brief instructions or careless errors. Competencies Thumbnail ideation Can read a title and outline and work out what promise will make our viewer click. Ideas are rooted in who the audience is, not in what looks impressive in a portfolio. Our audience is wealthy and sceptical. Nothing that looks like hype, bait, or a meme coin advert. Can explain why a thumbnail should work before designing it. Visual concepting Reduces an idea to one clear subject and one clear message. Simple beats busy. Few colours, few words, no stacked graphics or effects. Text kept to a few words and readable at the size it appears on a phone. Design execution Clean cutouts, correct crops, no artifacts, no typos. Strong focal contrast and deliberate composition. Keeps the channels visually consistent once a look is established. Proven YouTube thumbnail work, with links to the live videos. Speed Produces high-quality work quickly and hits deadlines without being chased. Comfortable starting from a title, a brief and raw footage stills rather than waiting for a finished video. Coachable Reacts calmly to feedback and iterates without friction. Adapts based on CTR data rather than personal taste. Communication Clear, respectful, professional and timely, written and verbal. Flags blockers early instead of missing a deadline silently. Position description You work directly with the Head of Content, who owns content strategy for both channels. The Head of Organic supplies the approved title, the thumbnail brief and the outline. You own the thumbnail from idea to finished file. We collaborate on direction when a video is unusual or the brief is deliberately open. One scheduled call each week (at least until things are figured out and are set in smooth motion). Everything else runs async in Slack and ClickUp. You work in parallel with the video editors, never behind them. Your work starts while the video is still being cut. How the work reaches you Trigger: the video's card moves to Ready To Film in ClickUp and is assigned to you. That is your start signal, not the finished video. Brief: the THUMBNAIL BRIEF section and the approved title on the card. Source imagery: the Raw footage link on the card for stills, plus Frank's photo library for posed shots. Delivery: attach both concepts to the card and tag the Head of Organic in Slack. Approval: The Head of Organic picks the winner. Where the channel is eligible, two concepts run as a YouTube Test and Compare and the data decides. How to apply Send links to live YouTube videos whose thumbnails you designed. Links to the videos themselves, not image files, so we can see each thumbnail in the context it competed in. For two of them, tell us in a sentence what the idea was and why you believed it would earn the click. Tell us which were yours alone and which were team work. THUMBNAIL DESIGNER — How to Apply: Start your application with 'YIELDSCHOOL' so I know it's not spam. Keep your application short and relevant - we don't read the long ones. Structure your application exactly like this please: "YIELDSCHOOL" (Record a short 30-60 second loom explaining why you're the right fit for this role). (This loom is to assess your communication skills - no loom makes us assume your communication skills are low). Top 3 Thumbnails: Include ONLY links to the top 3 live YouTube videos whose thumbnails you designed (links to the videos themselves, not image files, so we can see each thumbnail in the wild - no more than 3). insert link insert link insert link Why they click: For 2 of the 3, tell us in one sentence each what the idea was and why you believed it would earn the click. Yours vs team: In 1-2 sentences, tell us which of these were yours alone and which were team work. Graphic design: In 1-3 sentences, describe your experience with non-thumbnail design work: Instagram carousels, static image ads, post graphics. Other notes: insert 1-4 sentences of anything else you want me to know.