Design Leadership Jobs in United Kingdom
Find your next Design Leadership role at companies that value creative talent
Showing 139 jobs
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.
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.
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.