Design Leadership Jobs in Australia
Find your next Design Leadership role at companies that value creative talent
Showing 54 jobs
Design Manager
🇦🇺 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Consultanz Civil Engineering, Construction, Surveying Recruitment 🇦🇺 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
The Design Manager will lead and mentor a team of design engineers while preparing and reviewing designs for bored piers, CFA piles, and retaining walls. They will coordinate with project managers and external consultants to deliver practical foundation solutions for major civil infrastructure projects.
Design Manager
🇦🇺 Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Mayfield Industries Pty Ltd 🇦🇺 Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Lead and mentor the Switchboard Design team to deliver high-quality, compliant, and cost-effective designs. Oversee end-to-end project delivery while collaborating with production and procurement to ensure manufacturability.
Design Manager - Residential
🇦🇺 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Bluestone Recruitment 🇦🇺 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Manage pre-construction design activities and collaborate with architects, engineers, and contractors to ensure timely and cost-effective project delivery. Oversee design development, approvals, and compliance with building codes while advising on buildability and methodology.
Design Manager
🇦🇺 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Moose Toys 🇦🇺 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
The Design Manager leads product development from concept to production while managing the performance and output of the creative team and vendors. They are responsible for ensuring products meet brand standards, budget constraints, and technical specifications across an allocated portfolio.
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Principal Design Manager
🇦🇺 South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Stantec 🇦🇺 South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Lead technical teams to develop and deliver integrated technical solutions for water and wastewater projects while managing multidisciplinary activities. Coordinate studies, investigations, and design processes to ensure high-quality outputs are delivered on time and within budget.
Principal Design Manager
🇦🇺 South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Stantec 🇦🇺 South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Lead technical teams in the development and delivery of water and wastewater projects in Queensland, ensuring outputs are on budget and high quality. Coordinate multi-disciplinary activities, manage subcontractors, and maintain strong relationships with utility clients.
Principal Design Manager
🇦🇺 South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Stantec 🇦🇺 South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Lead technical teams in the design and delivery of water and wastewater projects in Queensland, ensuring outputs are on budget and high quality. Coordinate multidisciplinary activities, manage subcontractors, and develop strong relationships with utility clients.
Design Manager - South Sydney
🇦🇺 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Hays 🇦🇺 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
You will lead the civil design function by managing a team of engineers and drafters to deliver multiple projects from concept to completion. Key duties include coordinating design reviews, ensuring technical accuracy, and supporting business development through client relationship management.
Head of Design
🇦🇺 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Recruitmark 🇦🇺 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Lead the end-to-end design and engineering function for modular data centre solutions while defining technical direction and strategy. Oversee multi-disciplinary teams to ensure designs are innovative, compliant with Australian standards, and commercially viable.
Design Manager
🇦🇺 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Icon 🇦🇺 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Manage and oversee design activities across multiple large-scale construction projects to ensure compliance with specifications and regulations. Collaborate with architects, engineers, and project managers to maintain design schedules, budgets, and accurate documentation.
Senior Design Manager
🇦🇺 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Roberts Co 🇦🇺 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Manage the end-to-end design process for residential, education, or health projects, ensuring compliance with Australian Standards and building codes. Collaborate with stakeholders to deliver cost-effective, sustainable solutions while overseeing budgets, timelines, and documentation.
Design Manager
🇦🇺 Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
Roberts Co 🇦🇺 Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
Manage the end-to-end design process for luxury multi-storey residential projects from concept through to delivery. Ensure compliance with Australian Standards and building codes while collaborating with stakeholders to deliver cost-effective and sustainable solutions.
Design Manager
🇦🇺 Sunshine Beach QLD 4567, Australia
Zinfra 🇦🇺 Sunshine Beach QLD 4567, Australia
Lead multidisciplinary engineering design teams to deliver complex energy and infrastructure projects while managing scope, budgets, and schedules. Ensure high-quality design outcomes through technical leadership, stakeholder engagement, and rigorous design governance.
Design Manager
🇦🇺 Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Profound People 🇦🇺 Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
The Design Manager will lead and manage a small design team across multiple engineering projects, overseeing the full design lifecycle from concept to commissioning. They will ensure compliance with engineering standards and provide technical guidance to engineers and designers.
Design Manager- Data Centres
🇦🇺 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Goodman 🇦🇺 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
The Design Manager will lead the design management process across critical services, managing multidisciplinary consultants and ensuring design quality and compliance. They will coordinate design interfaces and support procurement and operational readiness.
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.