Design Leadership Jobs in United Kingdom
Find your next Design Leadership role at companies that value creative talent
Showing 116 jobs
Head Of Design
🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
Harmony Fire 🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
Lead and establish the design function for the Building Fabric division, overseeing technical quality and compliance for passive fire and building fabric works. Manage a team of designers and surveyors while collaborating with pre-construction and delivery teams to ensure buildable and competitively priced designs.
Design Manager
🇬🇧 Surrey, England, United Kingdom
Mitie 🇬🇧 Surrey, England, United Kingdom
Manage the full design and build process from inception to completion, ensuring technical accuracy and compliance across RIBA stages 0-7. Coordinate with stakeholders and consultants to deliver project briefs, manage design schedules, and oversee testing and commissioning phases.
EMEA Design Manager Data Centres
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
Iron Mountain 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
Lead the end-to-end design delivery for critical data centre construction projects across key European markets. Manage third-party consultants and collaborate with internal teams to ensure infrastructure meets engineering standards and safety regulations.
Senior Design Manager
🇬🇧 Poyntzpass, Armagh, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Sweet Projects 🇬🇧 Poyntzpass, Armagh, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
The Senior Design Manager provides strategic oversight of design performance, governance, and risk management for major construction projects from bid stage through handover. They lead multi-disciplinary teams to ensure technical compliance, drive value engineering, and manage stakeholder relationships.
Design Manager, Europe
🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
Sazerac Company 🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
Lead the visual brand building and retail design process for over 40 priority brands across Europe. Manage internal creative teams and external vendors to deliver assets for off-premise, on-premise, and eCommerce channels.
Design Manager, Europe
🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
Sazerac Company 🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
The Design Manager will lead visual brand building and retail design processes across multiple marketing platforms for a portfolio of over 40 brands. They are responsible for managing external vendor relationships, mentoring team members, and refining cross-functional processes to support global market expansion.
Design Manager - West Midlands
🇬🇧 Coventry, England, United Kingdom
Graham Group 🇬🇧 Coventry, England, United Kingdom
The Design Manager will lead design and technical teams to oversee permanent and temporary works for projects and tenders across the Midlands. Key duties include managing design programmes, ensuring buildability, and fulfilling Designer duties under CDM Regulations.
Head of Design - Gas
🇬🇧 Manchester, England, United Kingdom
Ies Utilities Group Ltd 🇬🇧 Manchester, England, United Kingdom
The Head of Design will lead, build, and manage the in-house Design Department to ensure safe and efficient delivery of multi-disciplinary infrastructure designs. They are responsible for design governance, technical leadership, and supporting business growth through effective pre-construction management and client engagement.
Senior Design Manager
🇬🇧 Newcastle upon Tyne, England, United Kingdom
Jacobs 🇬🇧 Newcastle upon Tyne, England, United Kingdom
Lead multidisciplinary design teams to deliver coordinated and buildable infrastructure for major UK water and wastewater programmes. Manage design scope, technical interfaces, and client relationships while ensuring technical soundness and commercial deliverability.
Creative Design Manager
🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
Tata Consultancy Services 🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
The role is responsible for delivering a consistent brand experience across the UK market through physical and digital touchpoints. This includes managing office and event branding, creating marketing collaterals, and coordinating with creative agencies and global teams.
Design Manager
🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
Accenture Uk & Ireland 🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
The Design Manager will lead multi-disciplinary teams to deliver technically robust designs for hyperscale, enterprise, and colocation data centers. Responsibilities include overseeing the full design cycle from concept to construction, ensuring regulatory compliance and integrated technical solutions.
Design Manager
🇬🇧 Manchester, England, United Kingdom
Ground Control 🇬🇧 Manchester, England, United Kingdom
Lead and coordinate the design function for landscape construction and civil engineering projects, ensuring solutions are buildable, compliant, and cost-effective. Act as the technical authority for design decisions, managing both internal teams and external consultants while overseeing temporary works and CDM compliance.
Design Manager
🇬🇧 Manchester, England, United Kingdom
Ground Control 🇬🇧 Manchester, England, United Kingdom
The Design Manager will lead and coordinate design activities across landscape construction and civil engineering projects, acting as the technical authority. They are responsible for managing internal and external design teams, ensuring compliance with safety standards, and overseeing project buildability and commercial objectives.
Design Manager
🇬🇧 Maidenhead, SL6 1QB, United Kingdom
Avk-seg 🇬🇧 Maidenhead, SL6 1QB, United Kingdom
Lead and oversee the design and implementation of Standby projects from sales handover to service delivery. Manage a team of engineers and collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure project execution meets client requirements and industry regulations.
Senior Design Manager (Building Services)
🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
Wsp In The Uk & Ireland 🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
Lead and coordinate multidisciplinary Building Services design teams to deliver technically robust and compliant solutions for complex aviation projects. Manage design delivery plans, technical assurance processes, and stakeholder relationships to ensure projects are delivered on time and within budget.
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.