Design Leadership Jobs in Oxford, United Kingdom
Find your next Design Leadership role at companies that value creative talent
Showing 2 jobs
Design Manager
🇬🇧 Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom
Mercury 🇬🇧 Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom
The Design Manager is responsible for leading the engineering and design team to ensure projects are delivered safely, on time, and within budget. They will manage all aspects of design coordination, interface with clients, and oversee adherence to project specifications and Mercury procedures.
Design Manager
🇬🇧 Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom
Mclaughlin & Harvey Ltd 🇬🇧 Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom
The Design Manager is responsible for managing design teams and processes to ensure construction deliverables meet project requirements, quality standards, and timelines. They will lead design coordination, manage consultant teams, and ensure compliance with health, safety, and legislative standards throughout the project lifecycle.
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.