Design Leadership Jobs in United Kingdom
Find your next Design Leadership role at companies that value creative talent
Showing 129 jobs
Design manager
🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
Talent Forte 🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
You will lead the technical delivery of commercial projects from design development through to construction and handover. This involves coordinating multidisciplinary teams, resolving technical issues, and ensuring compliance with building regulations and safety standards.
Design Manager
🇬🇧 Tottenham, England, United Kingdom
Hymans Robertson 🇬🇧 Tottenham, England, United Kingdom
The Design Manager will lead and develop the in-house design team to deliver high-quality creative work across various channels. They are responsible for owning and evolving the company's visual brand guidelines while managing workflows and collaborating with cross-functional stakeholders.
Design Manager
🇬🇧 Macclesfield, Cheshire East, England, United Kingdom
Sisk Group 🇬🇧 Macclesfield, Cheshire East, England, United Kingdom
The Design Manager coordinates the design process for life science projects to ensure outputs are compliant and aligned with client and statutory requirements. They work with consultants and supply chains to deliver integrated, buildable, and cost-effective technical solutions.
Design Manager
🇬🇧 Craigavon, BT64 1AT, United Kingdom
Almac Group 🇬🇧 Craigavon, BT64 1AT, United Kingdom
The Design Manager is responsible for gathering, analyzing, and documenting complex user requirements to ensure high-quality clinical technology systems. They lead requirements review sessions and translate business needs into functional requirements while managing project scope and timelines.
Pre-Construction Design Manager (HVAC / Building Services)
🇬🇧 Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England, United Kingdom
Ernest Gordon Recruitment 🇬🇧 Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England, United Kingdom
Lead the pre-contract design process for HVAC and plumbing systems, producing detailed Revit designs and technical specifications. Collaborate with clients, engineers, and commercial teams to ensure projects are technically compliant and commercially viable for tender.
Design Manager (Structural Steel)
🇬🇧 Fakenham, Norfolk, England, United Kingdom
Ernest Gordon Recruitment 🇬🇧 Fakenham, Norfolk, England, United Kingdom
The role involves completing technical designs for commercial, residential, and industrial steelworks. Additionally, the candidate will manage a team of three design engineers and prepare technical reports and specifications.
Senior Design Manager (m/f/d)
🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
Equinix 🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
The Senior Design Manager leads the design process for a portfolio of datacenter projects, ensuring technical excellence and mission-critical resilience. They manage relationships with design partners and equipment suppliers while aligning regional designs with global standards.
Design Manager
🇬🇧 Macclesfield, Cheshire East, England, United Kingdom
Sisk 🇬🇧 Macclesfield, Cheshire East, England, United Kingdom
The Design Manager is responsible for managing and coordinating the design process on allocated projects to ensure compliance and buildability. They work closely with project teams and consultants to deliver cost-effective design solutions while managing design risks and integration.
Design Manager
🇬🇧 Epsom, Surrey, England, United Kingdom
Atkinsréalis 🇬🇧 Epsom, Surrey, England, United Kingdom
The Design Manager is responsible for the successful delivery of multi-disciplinary projects from concept through to construction, ensuring targets for programme, budget, and quality are met. They will lead project teams, manage contractual risks, and facilitate effective communication between clients, subcontractors, and internal stakeholders.
Architectural Design Manager
🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
Stack Infrastructure 🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
Act as the Architectural Subject Matter Expert to review and assure designs for hyperscale data centre projects across Europe. Ensure architectural plans integrate with engineering requirements and comply with regulatory obligations throughout the project lifecycle.
Design Manager
🇬🇧 Epsom, Surrey, England, United Kingdom
Atkinsréalis 🇬🇧 Epsom, Surrey, England, United Kingdom
The Design Manager is responsible for delivering multi-disciplinary projects from concept to construction while meeting program, budget, and quality targets. This includes leading project teams, managing contractual risks, and facilitating communication between clients and subcontractors.
Digital Design Manager - 12 Month FTC
🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
Allsaints 🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
Manage the output of digital content across website, email, and performance marketing channels while leading a team of digital designers. Ensure all assets adhere to brand guidelines and commercial goals through a rigorous approval and workflow process.
Regional Design Manager
🇬🇧 England, United Kingdom
Build Search 🇬🇧 England, United Kingdom
Lead a team of approximately seven Design Managers to drive technical governance across bids and live projects. Provide strategic design input for key frameworks and implement design standardisation across the region.
Fashion Store Design Manager
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
Marks And Spencer 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
Define and deliver the future architectural look and feel of M&S stores across Fashion, Home, and Beauty. Lead the creation of signature styles, store blueprints, and customer-centric navigation schemes to enhance the shopping experience.
Head of Design
🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
Loba Group 🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
Lead and take ownership of the design function, managing a team of four or more Design Managers. Oversee the coordination and delivery of design across a portfolio of complex, high-specification residential projects.
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.