YouTube Thumbnail Designer / Packaging Strategist

We're looking for a dedicated part-time thumbnail designer to own thumbnail production for Richard Yu's YouTube channel (business / AI / online-entrepreneurship). This role is all about giving the channel focused, consistent, high-quality thumbnails from someone whose sole job is to nail them.

You'll start at ~2 days a week, and the role is built to grow. Your work splits into two parts:

1. Execution (majority of the role). ~9 thumbnails per week built from concepts we've already mapped out , reference, text, colors, and direction provided on a Miro board with a Loom walkthrough. You execute the direction faithfully and precisely. This is the bread-and-butter and the non-negotiable core skill.

2. Repackaging (the growth lane). Your remaining time goes to repackaging published videos: we send you the title of an existing video, and you create a new thumbnail you believe will outperform the current one , your own ideation and execution. This is where you show your strategic instinct.

We're hiring the ceiling, not just the floor. The path is real:

• Now: 2 days/week, mostly execution, some repackaging. $500-$1,000/mo.
• Next: more days, higher volume, more repackaging ownership as they prove reliability and CTR results. Comp scales toward the top of the band.
• Ceiling: a thumbnail/packaging strategist for the channel , owning testing strategy, packaging direction, and briefing rather than just executing.

Fixed monthly rate for the two days , not per-thumbnail, not hourly.

Must have:

• Strong thumbnail design with real proof in business / finance / AI / info-education niches (not gaming, reaction, or entertainment portfolios)
• Elite attention to detail, matches a detailed brief exactly (text, colors, layout, placement). This is the #1 screen; most candidates fail here.
• Photoshop proficiency; competent AI-tool use for backgrounds/elementswithout distorting real people (keep Richard looking like Richard , a hard rule)
• Reliable, fast, fully async communication: stays on top of messages, clear in writing, hits every committed deadline. With no calls to fall back on, reliability is the entire trust mechanism.
• Can sustain the weekly volume (~9 execution + repackaging) consistently across 2 days, with fast first-draft turnaround
• Strategic CTR instinct (contrast, focal point, curiosity, small-size legibility) , especially for the growth path
• Spoken English fluency

Nice to have:

• Familiarity with Richard Yu's channel and brand
• A/B testing / repackaging experience

Hard disqualifiers:

• Can't follow a detailed brief precisely
• AI-distorts or mangles real people's faces
• Off-niche portfolio with no business/info work
• Can't commit to consistent weekly volume or 2 fixed days
• Unreliable or slow async communication; goes quiet; misses self-set deadlines

Predictable income. A fixed monthly rate for two set days a week, not the feast-or-famine of per-thumbnail freelancing.

A real, earned growth path. Clear progression from execution to a thumbnail/packagingstrategy role , more days, more ownership, higher comp for someone who proves out.

Real creative ownership on the repackaging side , your ideas, your execution, measured against real performance.

A real system to work within. Clear briefs, established brand guidelines, and a team that knows what performs , you're not guessing.