Design Leadership Jobs in Pasadena, United States of America
Find your next Design Leadership role at companies that value creative talent
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Head of Design - Agentic Experience
🇺🇸 Pasadena, California, United States of America
Baker Tilly Us 🇺🇸 Pasadena, California, United States of America
Lead end-to-end design for AI-powered products, starting with BT Compass, and establish interaction principles and reusable design foundations for trustworthy, transparent agentic experiences. Partner with practitioners and cross-functional teams to research, prototype, validate, and continuously improve products while setting design standards and mentoring future team members.
Design Manager - Nuclear Facilities
🇺🇸 Pasadena, California, United States of America
Parsons Corporation 🇺🇸 Pasadena, California, United States of America
The Design Manager will lead a multidisciplinary team in the design of nuclear fuel production and waste processing facilities while managing staffing, budgets, and project schedules. They are responsible for ensuring design quality, resolving technical issues, and coordinating with project managers to meet regulatory and production requirements.
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.