Design Leadership Jobs
Find your next Design Leadership role at companies that value creative talent
Showing 112 jobs
Head of Design, Decarbonisation
🇬🇧 Birmingham, England, United Kingdom
Key Talent Solutions 🇬🇧 Birmingham, England, United Kingdom
You will build and mentor a Birmingham-based design team while setting technical standards and design governance for low-carbon building services. You will also lead multidisciplinary design strategy and coordinate between mechanical, electrical, BIM, and manufacturing teams to ensure buildable and compliant projects.
Design Manager
🇬🇧 Leeds, England, United Kingdom
Mott Macdonald 🇬🇧 Leeds, England, United Kingdom
Lead multidisciplinary teams in the technical delivery of complex, sustainable water and wastewater infrastructure projects from definition to handover. Manage design performance across cost, quality, risk, and technical assurance while maintaining strong client relationships.
Design Manager
🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
Wates Group 🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
Lead and manage the design process for social housing refurbishment and retrofit projects by coordinating consultants and architects. Ensure all design deliverables are compliant, buildable, and aligned with project programmes and commercial objectives.
Design Manager
🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
Wps 🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
Lead and manage the design process for social housing refurbishment and retrofit projects, coordinating consultants and architects to ensure compliant and buildable solutions. You will manage design programmes, chair team meetings, and work with operational teams to ensure successful project delivery.
Design Manager
🇬🇧 Swindon, SN1 1JZ, United Kingdom
Beard 🇬🇧 Swindon, SN1 1JZ, United Kingdom
Manage the design process from pre-construction through to the construction phase for projects up to £12m. You will be responsible for project planning, identifying challenges, ensuring compliance with legislation, and maintaining stakeholder relationships.
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Design Manager
🇬🇧 Acton, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Vvb Engineering 🇬🇧 Acton, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Supervise multi-disciplinary design activities for power and infrastructure projects, ensuring coordination between engineers, suppliers, and clients. Manage design resources, budgets, and schedules while ensuring compliance with technical standards and safety regulations.
Design Manager
🇬🇧 England, United Kingdom
Jmg Solutions Ltd 🇬🇧 England, United Kingdom
Lead and coordinate multidisciplinary design activities across various engineering disciplines throughout the entire project lifecycle. Manage technical deliverables, consultants, and subcontractors to ensure designs are safe, compliant, and commercially aligned with project goals.
Senior Design Manager
🇬🇧 Warwick, Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom
Costain Group Plc 🇬🇧 Warwick, Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom
Manage design delivery partners and project teams to ensure design scope, programs, and budgets are met for the AMP8 framework. Oversee design compliance, risk management, and technical assurance while promoting low carbon and buildable design solutions.
Senior Design Manager
🇬🇧 Birmingham, England, United Kingdom
Journey 🇬🇧 Birmingham, England, United Kingdom
Lead the full design lifecycle from creative concept to production handover, managing multidisciplinary teams of artists, technicians, and engineers. Coordinate design strategies, budgets, and timelines while ensuring technical feasibility and compliance with safety guidelines.
Design Manager – Solar PV
🇬🇧 Leicester, City of Leicester, England, United Kingdom
Net Zero Evolution 🇬🇧 Leicester, City of Leicester, England, United Kingdom
Oversee the entire design lifecycle for multiple commercial solar projects, including coordinating layouts, schematics, and shading analyses. You will define design manuals, lead technical workshops, and mentor junior designers to ensure high-quality, compliant outputs.
Design Manager - Aviation / Building Services
🇬🇧 Essex, England, United Kingdom
Galliford Try 🇬🇧 Essex, England, United Kingdom
Lead and coordinate electrical and building services design activities while managing a design team to deliver high-quality engineering solutions. Oversee design resource allocation, ensure regulatory compliance, and provide technical leadership throughout the project lifecycle.
Senior Design Manager
🇬🇧 Newcastle upon Tyne, England, United Kingdom
Jacobs 🇬🇧 Newcastle upon Tyne, England, United Kingdom
Lead multidisciplinary detailed design for major water and wastewater infrastructure programmes, ensuring coordinated and buildable designs. Manage design scope, technical interfaces, and assurance while collaborating with project managers and client stakeholders to resolve complex issues.
Design Manager
🇬🇧 Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England, United Kingdom
Bovis 🇬🇧 Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England, United Kingdom
The Design Manager is responsible for delivering design management from pre-bid to handover, integrating with senior project teams and representing the business to clients and consultants. They manage consultant design, oversee design review processes, and ensure compliance with planning, building control, and internal governance.
Design Manager - Womenswear Jersey
🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
Trp Recruitment Ltd 🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
The Design Manager will lead the womenswear jersey design team, ensuring high standards of creativity and performance while driving the development of commercially successful collections. They will also build relationships with Buyers and present seasonal concepts and product ranges.
Senior Design Manager
🇬🇧 Reading, England, United Kingdom
Mobile Broadband Network Ltd (mbnl) 🇬🇧 Reading, England, United Kingdom
The role involves interpreting building safety and fire safety legislation to develop and maintain regulatory compliance frameworks for telecommunications infrastructure. You will provide technical architectural judgement to ensure mobile infrastructure safely integrates with existing buildings across a national estate.
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.