Design Leadership Jobs
Find your next Design Leadership role at companies that value creative talent
Showing 135 jobs
Unity Programme - Organisation Design Manager
🇬🇧 Glasgow, Glasgow City, Scotland, United Kingdom
Hm Revenue & Customs 🇬🇧 Glasgow, Glasgow City, Scotland, United Kingdom
The Organisation Design Manager will analyze current organizational processes and structures, identifying areas for improvement and translating process changes into organizational design impacts. The role involves collaboration with subject matter experts and may require travel across the UK.
FREELANCE DESIGN MANAGER
🇬🇧 Leeds, England, United Kingdom
Brown & Wills Recruitment 🇬🇧 Leeds, England, United Kingdom
The Design Manager will work closely with the site delivery team and report to the design director. They will leverage their expertise in technical support, building control, and design coordination.
Design Manager
🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
Wsp In The Uk & Ireland 🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
Act as a Design Manager on major property and infrastructure projects, coordinating between design teams and engineering specialists. Develop design strategies and manage the design program to ensure project goals and client requirements are met.
Design Manager
🇬🇧 Livingston, EH54 6GS, United Kingdom
Farrans Construction 🇬🇧 Livingston, EH54 6GS, United Kingdom
The Design Manager will coordinate design elements and interfaces for projects across the UK and ROI, ensuring quality and monitoring project delivery. Responsibilities include managing design processes, liaising with various teams, and providing technical input for live projects and tenders.
Design Manager
🇬🇧 Plymouth, England, United Kingdom
Babcock 🇬🇧 Plymouth, England, United Kingdom
The Design Manager acts as the Technical Authority responsible for the delivery of design projects across their entire lifecycle. They coordinate multi-disciplinary resources to ensure solutions meet safety, quality, time, and cost requirements within a safety-critical environment.
Design Manager
🇬🇧 Saxmundham, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom
Pt Renewables 🌳 🇬🇧 Saxmundham, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom
As Design Manager, you will lead permanent works design activities and manage design subcontract packages from end to end. You will implement project-specific Design Management Plans and ensure compliance with ISO 9001 and client requirements.
Design Manager
🇬🇧 Hounslow, England, United Kingdom
Vinci Building Uk 🇬🇧 Hounslow, England, United Kingdom
The Design Manager is responsible for managing design activities on medium to large-scale projects, ensuring compliance with project requirements and fostering collaboration among teams. This role also involves developing project-specific design management strategies and supporting business development activities.
Design Manager
🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
Wsp 🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
The Design Manager coordinates multi-disciplinary teams on major property and infrastructure projects from inception through to handover. They are responsible for managing design programmes, resolving risks, and ensuring deliverables meet high quality and regulatory standards.
Design Manager
🇬🇧 Livingston, EH54 6GS, United Kingdom
Farrans Recruitment Team 🇬🇧 Livingston, EH54 6GS, United Kingdom
Coordinate design elements and interfaces for projects across the UK and ROI while ensuring quality and monitoring delivery. Liaise with clients, project staff, procurement, and site management teams to develop design and procurement strategies.
Design Manager
🇬🇧 Bristol, City of Bristol, England, United Kingdom
Skilled Careers 🇬🇧 Bristol, City of Bristol, England, United Kingdom
The Design Manager oversees the design process, managing both internal and external design teams to ensure the delivery of construction issue deliverables. They are responsible for maintaining quality, compliance with legislation, and managing client expectations throughout the project.
Head of Design, Commercialisation and Innovation
🇬🇧 Swindon, SN1 1JZ, United Kingdom
Ukri 🇬🇧 Swindon, SN1 1JZ, United Kingdom
Provide strategic leadership for AHRC's work in design, commercialisation, and innovation while managing a small team and key strategic investments. Responsible for delivering the commercialisation strategy and maintaining relationships with external partners and the Design Council.
Design Manager
🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
Arcadis 🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
The Design Manager will lead multi-disciplinary design teams to meet client scopes, budgets, and timescales within the Defence or Technology sectors. They are responsible for coordinating design activities with procurement and construction teams while managing project risks and technical delivery.
Design Manager
🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
Kier Group 🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
As a Design Manager, you will coordinate and oversee design activities across multiple highway and infrastructure schemes. You will manage the complete design process from concept through to construction support and scheme close-out.
Design Manager
🇬🇧 Corby, NN17 1QB, United Kingdom
Rework Recruitment Group Ltd 🇬🇧 Corby, NN17 1QB, United Kingdom
The role involves managing and coordinating the design process from pre-construction through to project completion, working closely with various stakeholders. It also includes reviewing technical information and resolving design issues before they impact the project.
Senior Design Manager
🇬🇧 Leeds, England, United Kingdom
Ayesa Engineering - Uk And Ireland 🇬🇧 Leeds, England, United Kingdom
Lead and develop the design team to create industry-leading engineering designs for water and utilities infrastructure. Oversee design management, ensuring compliance with standards and effective stakeholder engagement.
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.