With a small group of people, we're building Blendle. And that's nice, because each and every small change is noticed by hundreds of thousands of users instantly (and counting).

Our ultimate goal? To provide a seamless and fantastic user experience for journalism. We believe a combination of stories that change your perspective on what's going on and butter-smooth apps will help people to look at the world differently.

We have a second goal: build an organisation that helps people grow in their skills. You can read more on how we do this in our public handbook. This is why we spend a ton of time on coaching and feedback within Blendle. We'll help you set audacious goals and grow new skills.

But why would you give up your current (probably also very nice) job? Good question. Four reasons why Blendle is an awesome place to work:

1. Blendle fulfils an important task

Journalism is a vital component of any society, but even the greatest newspapers and magazines continuously show a decrease in sales. Blendle offers a new revenue stream which will help ensure the continuity of great journalism.

2. People pay us because we spend so much time on crafting a better user experience for reading and listening

Which makes your job a nice job, because you get to spend your time on building exactly that: the very best product you can think of. And that product is enjoyed by over 1 million users worldwide.

3. A really fun team

Currently almost ninety people help Blendle become the future of journalism and the atmosphere is great. We love throwing our famous annual Christmas party (it can get a bit out of hand if we’re honest). But maybe you don’t like parties? That’s totally fine. You can do whatever you feel comfortable with.

We believe you and your team know what works best for you, so you can decide when and where you work. Huibert starts his day with a run and by opening his laptop in his garden in The Hague and Jean regularly spends the night talking to himself in our chat program whilst coding.

4. Extras

Of course you will get your salary on the bankaccount of your choice, but you can also count on an amazing second life. There’s a lovely lunch prepared every day and we’ll also make sure there’s dinner if you want. Once a week you can zone out during a professional massage.

Oh and you don’t have to keep track of how many vacations days you’ve used: we don’t care, we offer you unlimited holidays, as long as your team is okay with it. 

And much, much more awesome stuff in our Employee Handbook: https://www.notion.so/blendle/Blendle-s-Employee-Handbook-7692ffe24f07450785f093b94bbe1a09

So, why should you join?

• Big impact on the product. You’ll get a leading role in mapping out the future of our products.
• Creative freedom. You can work on anything you want as long as you feel that’s important for the company. 
• You get to lead a Design Team and help them with their personal growth
• Politics are best left to politicians. Transparency, openness and honesty are our company's core values
• You like responsibilities. We value autonomy and don't care for needless signing off on things you want to get done.
• Oh and did we mention our Christmas party yet? Ah yes, we did.

This is what you’ll be doing:

These are some high-level examples:

• Set the overall direction for Blendle’s design direction that covers everything: from online marketing to features in our native apps
• Lead and inspire the team that designs Blendle’s products and features, and actively participate in designing those features yourself
• Build and improve on Blendle’s visual brand identity
• Actively develop, mentor and coach the team of designers
• Contribute to strategic planning for the Design team and the product team
• Work closely together with Product and Engineering to make sure that high quality product is shipped to our users

So… to be more concrete:

• Project check-in with Rick (Head of Product), Alexander (CEO), Noortje & Ayden (PMs)
• Daily standup with Design Team (Jeffrey & Bram)
• 1-1 with Design Team
• Design kick-off every Monday morning
• Analyse current design set-up (baseline measurement) and come up with ideas how design team should play a role within Blendle
• Define personal OKRs with designers 
• Weekly Design critiques

We’re looking for someone that:

• Has at least 5 years of experience working on consumer products (e.g. web, iOS and Android applications) and understands what it takes to create awesome experiences
• Has 5+ years of experience leading a design team and is able to help young and ambitious designers grow in their role
• Knows how to rapidly produce multiple concepts and prototypes
• Knows how to lay a strong foundation for a visual brand identity, and how to iteratively develop that identity
• Has experience with working based on data and knows how to use data to validate ideas
• Has experience working with and managing stakeholders
• Is able to measure the impact of the work of the Design Team
• Is a creative thinker who will help us come up with fantastic ideas for both product and marketing (the more unconventional, the better)
• Has a strong ability to motivate and inspire people
• Has a high attention to detail and knowledge of best practises
• Has a proven design process and knows how to apply it within Blendle

We’ll offer you:

• A full-time job. That’s 40 hours that you’re free to plan into your week however you’d like
• A competitive salary
• Unlimited holidays
• Full travel reimbursement
• A MacBook (or a windows laptop if you prefer)
• Freedom to work anywhere, everywhere
• Free and delicious lunches
• Free weekly massages
• An awesome team of young and ambitious boys and girls that all share the same passion: to make journalism accessible and help people make better choices
• An ideal location in Utrecht, the heart of the Netherlands, at a 3-minute walk from the central station
• Very generous parental / birth leave for daddy → https://www.notion.so/Parenthood-ad337961a7fe4e7ea19015b1dfa88877

Join us!

We hope you're as excited as we are. Are you hesitating to apply? Please don't. We often meet fantastic people that were afraid to send in our small form but did it anyway.

At Blendle, we value diversity and we encourage people with other believes and backgrounds to apply. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability status.

We're currently not offering full-time remote positions, however we do help with relocation if you’re coming from overseas.