Design Leadership Jobs in United Kingdom
Find your next Design Leadership role at companies that value creative talent
Showing 116 jobs
Senior Design Manager (Building Services)
🇬🇧 Surrey, England, United Kingdom
Wsp In The Uk & Ireland 🇬🇧 Surrey, England, United Kingdom
Lead and coordinate multidisciplinary Building Services design teams to deliver technically robust and compliant solutions for major projects at Heathrow Airport. Manage design delivery plans, technical assurance processes, and stakeholder relationships to ensure projects are delivered on time and within budget.
Senior Design Manager (Building Services)
🇬🇧 Basingstoke, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom
Wsp In The Uk & Ireland 🇬🇧 Basingstoke, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom
Lead the planning and coordination of multidisciplinary Building Services designs for major projects, primarily at Heathrow Airport. Ensure technical quality, compliance, and efficiency while mentoring senior engineers and managing design delivery plans.
Head of Design
🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
Orbital 🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
Lead the design strategy and agenda for an AI-native commercial real estate legal assistant, reporting directly to the CTO. Build and scale the design function while defining interaction patterns that ensure trust and explainability in AI outputs.
Senior Design Manager - Bioresources
🇬🇧 Coventry, England, United Kingdom
Egis Group 🇬🇧 Coventry, England, United Kingdom
The Senior Design Manager will lead the design coordination and technical integration for bioresources and sludge management projects within the AMP8 programme. They will act as a primary interface between clients, contractors, and suppliers to ensure high-quality, safe, and sustainable engineering solutions.
Senior Design Manager (Building Services)
🇬🇧 Guildford, Surrey, England, United Kingdom
Wsp 🇬🇧 Guildford, Surrey, England, United Kingdom
Lead and coordinate multidisciplinary building services design teams to ensure technical quality, compliance, and efficient delivery across major projects. Act as the central point of integration between MEP, structural, and architectural disciplines while managing design programmes, risks, and stakeholder relationships.
Design Manager
🇬🇧 Altrincham, Trafford, England, United Kingdom
Dandara 🇬🇧 Altrincham, Trafford, England, United Kingdom
Lead and coordinate internal and external design teams to manage the remedial design process for residential projects. Ensure all solutions comply with the Building Safety Act and manage project deliverables from initial surveys through to final compliance.
Design Manager
🇬🇧 Manchester, England, United Kingdom
Hdr 🇬🇧 Manchester, England, United Kingdom
Direct and coordinate multidiscipline teams throughout the entire project lifecycle from initiation to close-out. Manage project finances, staffing, and deliverables while maintaining client relations and implementing QA/QC procedures.
Design Manager
🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
Hdr 🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
Direct and coordinate multidiscipline teams throughout the entire project lifecycle from initiation to close-out. Manage large-scale projects, maintain client relations, track financial aspects, and implement QA/QC procedures.
Senior Design Manager
🇬🇧 Newcastle upon Tyne, England, United Kingdom
Cundall 🇬🇧 Newcastle upon Tyne, England, United Kingdom
Lead and support the design management of large-scale data centre projects by coordinating multidisciplinary teams and managing deliverables. Drive project meetings and workshops while working closely with clients to ensure successful outcomes and business growth.
Senior Design Manager
🇬🇧 Manchester, England, United Kingdom
Cundall 🇬🇧 Manchester, England, United Kingdom
Lead and support the design management of large-scale data centre projects by coordinating multidisciplinary teams and managing deliverables. Drive project meetings and workshops while working closely with clients to ensure successful outcomes and business growth.
Senior Design Manager
🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
Cundall 🇬🇧 City of London, London, United Kingdom
Lead or support the design management of large-scale data centre projects by coordinating multidisciplinary teams and managing deliverables. Drive project meetings and workshops while working closely with clients to ensure successful outcomes and sustainable design goals.
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.