Design Leadership Jobs in Australia
Find your next Design Leadership role at companies that value creative talent
Showing 40 jobs
Senior Design Manager
🇦🇺 Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Cimic 🇦🇺 Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
The Senior Design Manager will lead multidisciplinary teams to manage the entire design process from conceptual studies to detailed engineering. They are responsible for monitoring technical performance, managing project budgets and schedules, and ensuring compliance with Australian standards.
Design Manager – Water Infrastructure
🇦🇺 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Aecom 🇦🇺 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
You will lead multidisciplinary project delivery teams for water infrastructure projects, ensuring they are completed within quality, time, and budget constraints. Additionally, you will collaborate with clients and contractors to make key design decisions and support business initiatives.
Associate Director - Design Manager, Water Infrastructure
🇦🇺 Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Aecom 🇦🇺 Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Lead and coordinate multidisciplinary water infrastructure design for major projects from concept through to construction. Manage scope, budgets, and resources while collaborating with clients and stakeholders to align technical and commercial outcomes.
Design Manager – Water Infrastructure
🇦🇺 Newcastle-Maitland, New South Wales, Australia
Aecom 🇦🇺 Newcastle-Maitland, New South Wales, Australia
Lead multidisciplinary project delivery teams to ensure water infrastructure projects are delivered on time, within budget, and to quality standards. Manage overall design delivery and make critical design project decisions while collaborating with clients and contractors.
Senior Design Manager
🇦🇺 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Built Australia 🇦🇺 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
The Senior Design Manager will provide expert design leadership and independent insight across tenders and live projects to strengthen design outcomes. They will act as a trusted advisor to project teams, reviewing documentation and navigating complex design challenges throughout the project lifecycle.
Associate Director - Design Manager, Water Infrastructure
🇦🇺 Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Aecom 🇦🇺 Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Lead and coordinate multidisciplinary water infrastructure design projects from concept through to construction. Manage project scope, budgets, and technical outputs while collaborating with clients and stakeholders to ensure high-quality delivery.
Design Manager – Water Infrastructure
🇦🇺 Newcastle-Maitland, New South Wales, Australia
Aecom 🇦🇺 Newcastle-Maitland, New South Wales, Australia
The Design Manager will lead multidisciplinary project delivery teams to ensure water infrastructure projects are completed within quality, time, and budget constraints. They will act as the primary decision-maker for design delivery while collaborating closely with clients and contractors.
Senior Design Manager - Based in Newcastle / Irish Construction Experience
🇦🇺 Newcastle NSW 2300, Australia
White Space Recruitment 🇦🇺 Newcastle NSW 2300, Australia
Lead and manage multiple complex projects and project teams within a new Newcastle studio. Act as the primary client-facing lead across various project stages, ensuring strong design delivery and technical compliance.
Design Manager- Data Centres
🇦🇺 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Goodman 🇦🇺 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
The Design Manager will lead the design management process across critical services, managing multidisciplinary consultants and ensuring design quality and compliance. They will coordinate design interfaces and support procurement and operational readiness.
Design Manager- Data Centres
🇦🇺 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Goodman 🇦🇺 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Lead the design management process for critical data centre services, including mechanical, electrical, and integrated systems. Coordinate between multidisciplinary consultants, vendors, and internal stakeholders to ensure design intent is realized through to operational handover.
About Design Leadership careers
Design leaders in 2026 set the strategic vision for design organizations navigating an AI-saturated market. This role requires a balance of craft expertise and high-level business acumen to advocate for design's value at the executive level.
Effective leaders foster a culture of technical agency, establishing systems that allow human creativity and machine efficiency to coexist.
Companies like Stripe and Airbnb seek VPs and Directors of Design who can scale teams and align design strategy with long-term business objectives.
We feature senior leadership positions including Design Directors, Heads of Design, VP of Design, Chief Design Officers, and design team leads at companies like Meta, Google, Airbnb, Stripe, and fast-growing AI companies like OpenAI and Anthropic. These roles span product design, brand, and cross-functional design organizations.
Many companies offer remote design leadership roles, including distributed-first companies like Notion, Linear, GitLab, and Vercel. AI companies like Midjourney and Anthropic also hire remote design leaders. Some companies prefer hybrid arrangements for VP+ positions.
Most positions require 8–15+ years of design experience with 3–5+ years managing teams. Strong candidates demonstrate strategic thinking, team building, stakeholder management, and a track record of shipping successful products at companies like Figma, Spotify, Netflix, or emerging AI startups. Browse leadership portfolios to see how experienced designers showcase their impact.
Design leadership salaries are highly competitive: Design Directors earn $160k–$240k, VPs of Design $220k–$350k+, and CDOs at major companies can exceed $400k with significant equity packages. AI companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Databricks often offer premium total compensation. Consult our salary guide for detailed breakdowns.